Chef Sandeep Sreedharan. (CGTN Photo)
Though Sandeep's food journey is focused on introducing the world to coastal flavors, he is an encyclopedia on curries and food in general. This stems from his desire to consume the history of food. The simplicity of his food is aimed at bringing a familiar taste to the palates of his patrons – the same familiarity that comes with food cooked in homes with love.
Shweta:Sandeep, if you were to define curry, how would you?
Sandeep:The Indian curry, for me, is like a sauce. What is a sauce? Sauce is a sauce is a sauce and curry is a curry is a curry. So you probably cannot say that I had bread or I had this chicken with a sauce. You got to mention what kind of sauce it is. So curry is basically a form. How to come to that form is based on the region, based on the terroir base, the vegetables, the ingredients, the spices – that's where the curry comes from. In India, depending on the region, depending on the sect, depending on the caste your curry's flavor could come. Or it could be from two vegetables or it could be a spice and a vegetable.
Spices, the essence of the curry. /CGTN Photo
Shweta:Chilies are such an important ingredient in India. How does that have an impact on the curry?
Sandeep:In India, we get 40 to 50 varieties of chilies. You have Guntur chilies which are very spicy, you have madras chilies, you have byadgis, you have brown chilies. You substitute one chili with another and your flavors totally change.
There is a big difference between what is authentic and what are the flavors that represent a particular region. So you have to look at each and every ingredient and how it behaves based on the particular terroir. Where is the flavor coming from? What are the basic flavors based on a particular region? State of Assam and Manipur the food is very different from Nagaland.
