Why chef Vikas Khanna’s Bungalow is a tribute to India

Bungalow is simply a committedness helium made to his sister Radhika Khanna. A manner decorator and entrepreneur, she had lupus and passed distant successful February 2022. “She kept saying that determination is simply a batch much to research successful Indian cuisine, it has a batch of potential. We are not going backmost to our roots,” helium says. In September, this year, Bungalow, which reimagines classical Indian dishes, made it to The New York Times database of apical 50 Restaurants of 2024 successful America. In this interview, Khanna shares insights connected Bungalow, his culinary imaginativeness and wherefore it’s clip to springiness Amul food its due. Excerpts:

Could you picture your edifice Bungalow to radical extracurricular of New York?

Many diaspora kids calved successful America cherish the comforts of an Indian home— being served with love, inhaling soothing scents and experiencing the healing beingness of grandmothers. This nostalgia is captured successful the aromas that permeate Bungalow. I purpose to infuse everything I’ve learned from India arsenic a tribute to my homeland. We aren’t creating this cuisine, we person inherited it. While we adhd our ain twists and modern touches, the psyche of each crockery remains unchanged.

Smoked Sweet Potato Chaat

Some of your dishes astatine Bungalow are reimagined variations of the classics that your sister utilized to like. Could you instrumentality america done immoderate of them?

A paper is ne'er rigid; it is fluid and alive. This 1 has besides evolved implicit time, featuring conscionable 18 dishes. One item is the Smoked Sweet Potato Chaat. Radhika reminded maine of Delhi winters, wherever saccharine potatoes are smoked connected thoroughfare corners. Our mentation comes with a tangy, sweet, and spicy condiment made from greenish mango and boondi tossed successful ashwagandha.

Another intriguing crockery is the Yogurt Kebab. I archetypal encountered dahi ki tikki successful Indore’s Sarafa market, and I was captivated. The archetypal uses a suji crust, here, we’ve replaced it with seviyan. The basal adds a twist, made from fermented purple cabbage that’s been pickled and pureed.

We person the Anarkali Chicken, a chickenhearted tikka wherever the archetypal marination is with pomegranate molasses, ail and citrus juice. Once it’s retired of the tandoor, it’s glazed with Amul food and pomegranate. The nutrient is precise desi, determination is perfectly nary fusion.

I americium peculiarly intrigued by your usage of Amul cheese, which is seldom seen successful gourmet dining.

Why is Amul food considered inferior? Is it due to the fact that we’ve been conditioned to judge truthful by Western standards? I tin show that it is conscionable arsenic blase arsenic immoderate different cheese. In my experience, Amul food has a superior texture and prime compared to immoderate mozzarella oregon gouda I’ve ever had. Moreover, I would similar to spot different food that has empowered a 4th of a cardinal women.

What are the challenges person you encountered portion establishing yourself successful competitory New York?

New York is the toughest and astir competitory market. Every large cook is vying for recognition, abstraction and reservations successful a metropolis of 12 cardinal people, including 350,000 millionaires and astir 100 billionaires. The existent situation is catering to everyone, ensuring that an 80-year-old pistillate feels conscionable arsenic welcomed and valued arsenic a 25-year-old with caller disposable income.

Yogurt Kabab astatine Bungalow

What continues to animate you?

It is the committedness I made to my sister. I retrieve a infinitesimal backmost successful 2003, successful New York, erstwhile we were some struggling, and she saved up wealth to instrumentality maine to a day meal astatine a edifice tally by a cook I admired. During the meal, I noticed she repeatedly got up to talk with the maître d’. When we stepped outside, I asked her what had happened. She had asked the manager if the cook could travel retired to accidental hello, arsenic helium had initially promised but she was told the cook would lone greet guests who ordered the tasting menu. Later successful life, she told me, ‘Don’t beryllium similar that chef’. That acquisition continues to substance maine — to guarantee that nary 1 who visits my edifice ever feels similar they are not worthy of respect. It’s a committedness I’ve kept and it guides everything I do.

How bash you presumption the aboriginal of Indian cuisine connected the planetary map?

It’s going to instrumentality implicit Italian cuisine. We are entering an epoch of accrued concern and improvement for our chefs. Instead of chasing Western culinary trends, chefs successful India volition statesman to maestro and celebrate their ain cuisines.

During my clip successful France (in the archetypal years of my career), I worked nether galore Caucasian chefs. I often recovered myself trying to emulate them. But, I was called a ‘slave’ who was ‘obsessed to beryllium them’. It was a achy realisation that my obsession with imitation reflected a deficiency of pridefulness successful my ain heritage. This acquisition taught maine the value of embracing my roots and culture.

Today, young chefs are confidently cooking Indian food. Institutions similar the culinary halfway successful Manipal are dedicated to the improvement and preservation of Indian cuisine. What chefs similar Manish Mehrotra and Garima Arora person done is phenomenal.