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The New Delhi-born chef, Suvir Saran is a celebrated cook, author, and restauranteur who specialises in bringing Indian flavours to any kitchen that he walks into. After moving to New York, the Top Chef Master earned a Michelin star, building a legacy across the borders. As of now, he has moved back to India.
Currently associated as the Culinary Curator at Lord Elgin, Amritsar, he is back in India and is planning to open restaurants in his birthplace New Delhi. But where did it all start from? Be it getting a Michelin star, starring in MasterChef, or opening new restaurants, Slurrp conducted an exclusive interview with Suvir Saran to learn more about the journey and inspiration of the celebrity chef.
What are your earliest memories of food and your journey as a chef?
My earliest memories on earth connect me with food. My Dadi would wake up early morning and pray to Thakur ji and that entailed waking them up, bathing and adorning them, feeding them and praying to them and then mixing the food into the larger pots of food, and taking a generous helping to the birds on the rooftop. The birds I was made to believe would bring the prasad to the Gods in their celestial abode in the skies.
This connection between Food and Divinity made me appreciate from a young age the deep connection between food and soul, food and wellness, and food and healing, it made the saying “you are what you eat” and the “holiness” attached to food come alive very tangibly for me.
My arrival in New York City at age 20 had me the most homesick for the veritable feast that was the home kitchen of my family. Every day Daal, Chaawal, Phulkas and Sabzis were made with passion and pride, with reverence and a connection to our family’s past. It was this vegetarian fare that I craved and I couldn’t find in Indian restaurants, even homes, and especially the cookbooks. Everywhere I found butter chicken, dal makhani, paneer malai and such stuff that I neither loved nor had any connection to.
This hunger that never got sated had me calling my mother and our Brahman chef at home in Delhi, Panditji almost daily, and they gave me lessons in cooking and with that a trip down memory lane. Soon I was cooking the food of my family in Manhattan and word spread that a 20-year-old was cooking up some of the best food in NYC. Celebrities and lay people would come to eat and savour, celebrate the simple food and its richness of flavour with lightness of taste and ease of digestion. They appreciated the seasonal and regional aspects of Indian home cooking and wanted more and more of it.
This is how my life went from design and retail to catering and cheffing and creating Devi with Hemant Mathur who became the first non-Northern European restaurant to get a Michelin star when the guidebook arrived in America.
How did your upbringing and family traditions shape your culinary perspective?
I learned at a young age that food and eating at the table were beyond just nutrition and diet. Cooking, sharing and conversations at the table were a social therapy and also a class in general studies. At our table, I got my first lessons in gourmand indulgence, statecraft and politics, governance and debating, on handling relationships and friendships. The food provided the glue that kept us together even if discussions heated up.
Which dishes from your childhood have influenced your cooking style?
There are so many dishes I can think of. Bharwaan Karelas (stuffed bitter gourd), Zimikand Koftas (Yam balls in a tomato broth), Hare Kele Ke Pasinde (plantain torpedos in a light-spice broth), Arbi Chaap (colocasia chops), Gobhi Dam (cauliflower steak), Chukee Matar (sautéed fresh winter peas), Matar Kee Kachori (green pea stuffed fluffy bread), Matar Hara Pyaaz (green peas cooked in a broth of spring onions), Chana Paani (black chickpeas cooked in a yoghurt broth), Mangauchi (pea-sized mung bean dumplings in jhol), Tahree (the most incredible pilaf made with chunky chopped vegetables and spices powders, a hybrid between khichree and pilaf), Kathal Biryani, Gujiyas (made with the most delicate patti with chironji, khoya and love), A gazillion seasonal achaars, a million recipes for potatoes, and just as many Dal preparations.
These had me fascinated by the heft and might of Indian vegetarian cooking and I felt lucky that our home cooking was unlike what I had found at the tables of classmates and neighbours. It gave me pride and joy to share this food.
What inspired you to be a chef?
My mother was an incredible cook and baker, she was a masterful culinarian who would have easily become a certified master chef had she trained at the Culinary Institute of America. When Panditji would go rest in the afternoon, my mom would prep mis en place (measure and prepare all ingredients) and then bake the best cakes, puddings, trifle, ille flotante (floating islands), doughnuts, lasagnas and baked dishes, the most fanciful birthday cakes seen across Delhi, and jams, jellies, macaroons, rose cookies, brownies, biscuits and ice creams.
She was cooking these in the 1970s and 1980s before people knew what these confections and desserts were, and I was lucky enough to have had the good luck of watching her and helping her even if only by licking mixing bowls clean. My mom and our family chef Panditji were my inspiration.
What has your time in Lord Elgin, Amritsar been like?
Kavish and Shruti Khurana are rightly called the King and Queen of Hospitality in Punjab. Theirs is a vision and commitment that is global in nuance and Punjabi in its magnanimity. The Khuranas had Chef Vardaan Marwaah and I engaged way before Lord Elgin opened. This holistic investment in their hospitality brand is what separates this group from others. They had us working with their teams across the different restaurants in their clutch. It was their way of getting us familiar with Amritsar and their team used to our standards and wants.
Chef Vardaan Marwah and I curated a menu that’s equal parts discovery and comfort. It trots the globe and brings to the table bold flavours, exciting presentations and novel pairings, always giving the diner a taste of nostalgia and pleasure. Old dishes, classics, innovative techniques, familiar ingredients, exotic comestibles, veggies, cheeses, grains and such have been put to work together.
Vardaan is in his late twenties and I am 51, together we bridge the gulf between the aspirations, cravings, and hankerings of a broad segment of our customer base. Together, we also bring a wealth and assortment of strengths that together make our duo a formidable talent. It was this that we used to create a small offering that pleases broadly and gives everyone something to relate to, something to be surprised by and something to swoon over.
Amritsar, being Vikas Khanna’s birthplace, can you share your fondest memories with him?
I first met Vikas during a fundraiser in New York City. We were both much younger and both beginning our careers in Manhattan. I was helming Devi and was representing it with a dish at the event. The next thing I knew a handsome and polite man came to me with a cookbook in their hands. This cookbook, his first, was dedicated to me. I was caught unaware and was tickled pink. He gave me more credit than I deserved and put his words and thoughts into print with that deed. Years have gone by and Vikas has grown from that moment into becoming the most visible culinarian of India - what has still remained constant is his affectionate and charming manner, and also he seems to have aged in reverse, as he still looks as youthful and fetching as I remember him over two decades ago.
Can you share your experience being on MasterChef and the journey forward?
Vikas Khanna I believe is the reason I was invited to be a visiting judge on MasterChef, India. I am certain he made that happen. Even before I arrived on the set for taping, Vikas was already texting and sharing his excitement and enthusiasm. His is a very palpable show of emotions and his generosity of self is that which brings alive that Punjabiyat which speaks of magnanimity that is unmatched anywhere else.
We taped with Vikas closely watching over me and my well-being. Forever watchful over my interests and comfort. At one point he had me return to my vanity and then brought back with an entourage of security all around me, and this was all being taped. It was videotaped and released a few days before the show date with Vikas calling me the “Kohinoor of India” and just like that in his peerlessly generous way, he gave me a most gracious introduction on Masterchef and to his loyal fans.
Since then I have visited him a week or so before the opening of Bungalow in NYC, where he has my cookbook Indian Home Cooking placed alongside others he uses and respects, and I know with his affection and blessings, I will always have a guardian angel caring after me.
