Reimagining Regional Cuisine With Chef Michael Swamy
With creations that embody the essence of India's rich culinary heritage while showcasing his ingenuity and artistic flair, chef Swamy aims to promote Indo-Portuguese and Anglo-Indian cuisine across the country
With a captivating blend of culinary expertise, cultural inspiration, and a dash of innovation, Chef Michael has carved a niche for himself in the vibrant tapestry of Indian gastronomy. A graduate of the prestigious Cordon Bleu Culinary School, London, Swamy has worked with several Michelin chefs but his culinary journey is deeply rooted in Indian regional heritage, which he hopes to highlight through various pop ups across India.
As the focus of India’s culinary history shifts towards regional and micro-local cuisines, there is a growing effort within the industry to highlight the country’s sustainability traditions through hyperlocal food. In the same vein, at his recent pop-up at Kheer, a new age restaurant at the Roseate House in Delhi, Swamy put up a tantalising menu that highlighted Anglo-Indian and Indo-Portuguese cuisine. Dishes like Cottage Cheese Mousse Salad, Chicken Bhujing, Prawn Risoles, Coastal Green Masala Smoked Prawns and Bandra East Indian Lamb Chops flew out of the chef’s kitchen, followed by regional culinary creations like Fish Chinchoni and Pork Vindaloo.
We caught up with the chef as he talked about his mixed heritage and his passion for Indian regional cuisine.
Bandra styled grilled lamb chops
How did you find your place in the space of Indian regional food?
My origins are a bit of a nomenclature in itself. The Christians of Mumbai called themselves after the East India Company. My mum, a mixture of Goan and East Indian Heritage, pushed me to do a book on the community and write about the food I had grown up on. So in 1997 or thereabouts, I started documenting the food and inputting all that I had learned about French culinary techniques to good use.
Chef Michael Swamy promoted Anglo Indian cuisine through his pop up at Roseate House
If you had to define Anglo-Indian and Indo-Portuguese cuisine, how would you do it?
Seafarers came to India long before the British and Portuguese came on their search for spices. The land routes and sea routes brought many adventurers to India, in search of discovering new things. There are many records of Irish and Scottish and people from the Mediterranean coast hungry for adventure coming and staying in what is now known India for extensive periods of time. There were many ambassadors of foreign origin and advisors to the then maharajas and Nawabs. “Culinary Diplomacy ” as we term it nowadays was an exchange of ideas and techniques that were exchanged by these travellers. For example a Do-piazza is a very French culinary technique of cooking the onions two ways. The Vindaloo was a dish that travelled from South America and went across the coasts of India till Macau.
These fusions or adaptations of Indian fare with European fare define what we now call Indo-Portuguese or Anglo Indian or even Indo-French cuisine.
Risoles by Chef Michael Swamy
Goan food is often described as the perfect expression of Indo-Portuguese culinary syncretism. What sets it apart from other regional cuisines?
I would put it down to the breads from the region, to the subtle flavours of garlic and chilli and the mellowness of the coconut milk and fresh kokum. The atmosphere of the place and the vintage houses all add to the mysticism of the place and the cuisine.
One dish you’d recommend that is the best representation of this unique heritage.
A vindaloo has so many ways to prepare it. It’s a simple dish that uses vinegar, chilli and garlic. These ingredients preserved the meats and also masked the smells of spoiling meats on long voyages. This dish is made differently in the different regions visited by the Portuguese. The boles or cakes and the introduction of the Dutch oven to India also brought about a change when the concept of bread and leavening agents made people move from being rice eaters to consumers of bread.
Grilled prawns prepped in coastal masala
How would you define your take on India’s micro-regional cuisine?
It’s about adapting to change, to accepting newer vegetables and meats and growing with the times. Even the original cuisine is an adaptation of household recipes and sharing of ideas. Modernising or reimagining the cuisine is a term that I like to use for my style of cooking and creations. It is about the stories at the end of the day, showcasing ingenuity while retaining the techniques and traditions and at the same time giving the guest honest food.
Do you believe our regional culinary traditions are sustainable?
Our cuisines have lasted centuries and most of it was all about seasonal and organic produce, and sustainability, before chemicals and pesticides became a part of our edible lives. As a culinarian, one searches for ingredients and produce for at the end of the day for the guest who is paying for the experience when they dine at a restaurant. The notion of feeding a guest what they want has to change.
