His Punjabi origins notwithstanding, the celebrity chef learned to prepare sambhar correctly before he learned to cook butter chicken
Published Oct 07, 2023 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 07, 2023 | 9:00 AM
Chef Kunal Kapur's Kala Chana Dosa with Dahi ki Chutney, a crossover of South and North Indian dishes, got over 108K likes on Instagram. (Supplied)
When he speaks in Tamil, chef Kunal Kapur is often amused to see people do a doubletake. Not many know that he started his career in the hospitality industry in Chennai and Bengaluru. This is where he picked up the local language and his love for South Indian cuisine.
“I love the south of India. I think it’s more beautiful and more picturesque and culturally richer than the north. Since I love nature, I find the coast, greenery, temples and architecture all very fascinating,” he says.
Over the course of a two-decade career in the food business, his love for this region and its myriad cuisine has remained intact.
This is why he does his best to present South Indian dishes with a twist to his 2.5 million followers on Instagram and 53 lakh subscribers on YouTube. His Kala Chana Dosa with Dahi ki Chutney, a crossover of South and North Indian dishes, got over 108K likes on Instagram.
Coastal Coconut Curry. (Supplied)
Known for flashing his boyish smile while sharing easy-to-prepare gourmet dishes, Kunal started his journey as a restauranteur in 2015 with Patiala at Souk Al Bahar at Dubai Mall. He followed it up with Namak at Dusit Thani Abu Dhabi two years later.
Since then, he has introduced several other restaurants, including Quarter Plate in Delhi and Noida, and his latest project, Pincode, which is present in Dubai Hills Mall and Delhi’s Civil Lines and Select Citywalk.
All these properties carry the indelible mark of his Punjabi lineage coupled with memories from his youth in Delhi.
“That is because there were certain expectations from a Punjabi chef. Which is ironic because even before I learned to make butter chicken, I learned how to make the right sambar!” he laughs.
He rattles off the various sambhar variants he can whip up like a local —from a TamBrahm version made with radish, eggplant and drumsticks to a fresh coconut-based Onam variant or the Kudu-style preparation.
Yet, he played to the gallery because people expected to be served Punjabi fare from a restaurant run by a Punjabi chef.
“It’s the same incongruity that would strike a diner if a Chinese chef were to make them Rajma-Chole-Chawal,” Kunal explains.
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He is grateful that with changing times, patrons are willing to experiment beyond the crowded culinary confines and test contemporary gastronomic creations, irrespective of the chef’s lineage. This excites Kunal since it offers him several opportunities to recreate existing dishes.
“Sometimes, when you keep doing certain menus, you get bored of them. The moment you broaden the concept, there is so much that you can think and execute,” he elaborates.
Typically, when one talks about Indian food, the standard is butter chicken, curry, naans, and maybe biryani, if one were to stretch the envelope a bit.
People are ignorant or appreciative of the massive diversity that exists in India, especially south of the Vindhyas, thanks to the Punjabification of Indian food.
“Chicken tikka and dal makhani are staples in an Indian menu, just like pizza is in an Italian one. But do Italians eat anything besides pizza? Yes. Do we know about it? I don’t know. Do we care? Not really. That’s the same logic that works with any North Indian cuisine-focused restaurant,” Kunal explains.
Given that the Indian culinary repertoire is so vast, he is delighted that people are finally gradually waking up to the diversity of local dishes. For instance, some fast-selling items at his Middle Eastern restaurants are coastal preparations like Meen Moilee, courtesy of the South Indian diaspora.
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“Majority of the population in the Middle East are from Kerala, so such dishes are always a hit. Moreover, these countries have a long relationship with India because of the spice trade. Every now and then, when we introduce something that is curated for localised taste and what they understand, they pick it up,” he adds.
Another example of this is the Malabari Chicken Tarts. This has pulled-chicken tossed in South Indian spices that are filled in tarts and are topped with berry chutney and dried coconut. This combination of traditional dishes with local produce also helps in inclusivity in a cosmopolitan setting.
Kunal is eager to open more Pincode restaurants in the Middle East and in India as well. It is currently operational at two locations in New Delhi.
The next pin for Pincode is likely to be in Mumbai, followed by an outpost in South India.
What strikes one about this restaurant’s menu is that a pincode follows each dish to denote its origin. For instance, the Dates and Olive Paneer Roulade. Cooked in a tandoor oven, this dish has cottage cheese stuffed with dates, and olives is basted in a malai marinade. Since it is inspired by the city’s royal kitchens, it is assigned 147001 to represent Patiala.
The Kerala Fried Chicken is assigned 695036 to denote its Thiruvananthapuram genesis. The Pan Seared Seafood served with Coastal Curry and Ghee Rice has a 600006 pin code given its Chennai roots.
Pan Seared Seafood served with Coastal Curry and Ghee Rice. (Supplied)
However, some dishes do not have pincodes as a suffix. For instance, the Pressure Cooker Chicken which is presented with Butter Garlic Naan. Kunal explains that this is because some dishes are so ubiquitous it is hard to determine their origin.
“If you go to Delhi, Punjab or Haryana, the chicken is cooked in a pressure cooker. This cooker would be brought to the dinner table, where the family serves themselves from it. It is difficult to slot these dishes in certain pin codes because everybody identifies with it,” he describes.
The same applies to Kadhi Pakora or Missi Roti—is it from New Delhi, Punjab, Haryana or Rajasthan? Even food historians are unsure.
Rather than get into the semantics, Kunal would rather change people’s perspectives about food and rediscover India’s culinary vastness across the northern and southern belts.
To do this, he is wandering through the streets of nostalgia and unearthing treasured family recipes whispered through generations. “From the lively North to the enchanting coastal South, these reveal tales of our humbling days,” he maintains.
For instance, he had seen people in Hyderabad enjoy mutton Khichda during Muharram. At the recently concluded G20 Summit under India’s presidency, Kunal presented Jowar and Mushroom Khichda, for a luncheon of first ladies from various countries.
This gave him the opportunity to present the myriad millets customarily used in South Indian kitchens, albeit with a contemporary twist.
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Kunal staunchly believes that cuisines are a reflection of the society we live in. He wants to popularise the traditional dishes he had savoured during the early days of his career, and his frequent travels across various parts of Southern India.
This time around though he wants to re-interpret them with a fine dining variation. He hopes that it will appeal to the new generation of diners at Pincode and Quarter Plate.
In an evolving world, presenting these experimental dishes in a tapas-style format is the best way to help the younger generation trace their heritage.
After all, the way to the heart passes through the stomach.
