20 Feb 2018  |   06:03am IST

Taking Indian flavours to the Queen’s table

London based Celebrity Chef Cyrus Todiwala OBE is back in Goa for the third annual Cyrus Todiwala Masterclass for Chefs. In a candid chat with Café, this culinary genius, who loves Goan food and culture with a passion, speaks about the beginning of his journey, his work in the UK and everything in between

 

 

A person who vividly remembers the highs, lows and

bends of his life and the people he encountered along the way is certainly someone you can respect and learn from. Full of anecdotes, experiences and passion, Chef Cyrus Todiwala OBE is a classic example of such a person. The Chef Patron of The River Restaurant at the Acron Waterfront Resort in Baga, Goa and Café Spice Namaste, Mr Todiwala’s Kitchen and The Park Café, all in London, Cyrus is presently in Goa for the 3rd Annual Cyrus Todiwala Masterclass for Chefs, which will take place at Fortune Acron Regina, Candolim on February 21, 2018, along with Avinash Martins of Cavatina, Mahesh lshwar and Stelios Theodorakis from Radisson Blu and Pravin Kathoke of Rational International India. “Young chefs are the future of our industry and we need more people with confidence, knowledge and skill, taking our culture and cuisine abroad in a better light. We will have a series of demos from local chefs with the idea of bringing them all together, and since they are not all Goan, we will try to inculcate the spirit of Goan food in them as well.”

Chef Cyrus believes that while young chefs today have access to a wealth of information, culinary and otherwise, it is important for them to not forget their basics and develop them further before venturing into experimentation. “I’m very passionate about Goa and Goan food, so it upsets me when Goan basics are spoiled,” he states.

Recollecting his first steps into this profession, he says, “I was an insult to my parents and relatives as they could not understand why I wanted to cook. But there was no turning back for me.

“My career began in 1975, when I worked at the Taj in Bombay. The whole kitchen was dominated by Goans and if you didn’t learn to speak the language, you wouldn’t be able to learn anything. So I learnt to speak Konkani. My best experiences came from working with Goan people. Goa’s famous Chef Masci had already retired but he kept dropping by.

“I then came to Goa to train the first group of chefs for Taj Holiday Village in Goa. I worked for nearly nine years in Goa till I was Group Chef of all the Taj Goa properties; I left Goa in 1989.”

He moved to London in 1991 to start his own restaurant and present the authentic flavours of Indian, Goan and Parsi food. “Indian food always had a presence in Britain but the flavours were limited. I took over a typical Bangladeshi run kitchen and started changing things. The first time I put prawn balchao and vindaloo on the menu, people didn’t know what it was.” Chef Cyrus is sometimes called the Father of New-Wave Indian Cooking in Britain because he revolutionised things there. “We now have fabulous chefs of Indian cuisine in Britain, sometimes serving better than what we can serve in India,” he adds.

Speaking about the rise of Indian food and its acceptance in the UK, he says, “The British public is ready for anything new. Indian food is on the rise there but we don’t have enough skilled chefs. This will be a problem when food starts to evolve further; what we need is a proper training base. Outside India, Britain is the best for Indian food and Britain is leading in many respects in the development of Indian cuisine. The rest of Europe has a long way to go because they are not connected to India.”

At his own restaurants in London, Cyrus serves dishes like sungatchi kodi, pork vindaloo, chilli fry and pork assad, which are now favourites and cannot be taken off the menu. “Once a month, we do an evening called ‘Vino De Petiscos’. The first dinner will be on February 27 and it is already sold out. We also do quite a few competitions for young people as we are on a mission to teach the British about Asian food. This year’s winning team will go to Vietnam for ten days to train at Hilton in Hanoi, and next year, we hope to bring them to Goa,” he says. Cyrus is also writing his seventh cookbook on vegan food, which is a growing trend in Britain.

In 2012, he cooked for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. He prepared a dish called Country Captain, which is an Indian take on the classic English Shepherd’s Pie. “I was nervous but not as nervous as I was during CHOGM in 1983. While cooking for the Queen, I had more facilities and I knew exactly what I was doing; all I had to do was maintain complete secrecy. It was an honour because I did the first lunch for the Diamond Jubilee for the world’s most popular monarch,” he reminisces, adding, “Country Captain is on our menu now.”

His love for Goa has increased over the years and it is shared by his wife of 33 years, Pervin, who is the brains behind all his enterprises. In fact, his older son, Jamsheed, was born at Bosio Hospital in Goa; younger son Hormuzd was born in Pune.

Cyrus was also Goa’s first honorary wildlife warden: “I’m all for Goa. I helped secure two sanctuaries in Goa, Chorão and Divar Island and the Carambolim water tank for migratory birds. I truly believe that you have to fight for your legacy.”

Ask him about his favourite Goan dish and pat comes the answer, “My favourite has to be sarapatel. I like it cooked the way we used to make it before – rich, not overly hot and matured at least for three days. And served with very good quality sannas. The amount of love and affection you put in sarapatel, you don’t put in anything else,” he concludes.