KEEMA QUEEN FROM DOWN UNDER

INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY CHEF SARAH TODD REVEALS WHAT’S ON HER PLATE AND WHAT SHE BRINGS TO THE TABLE IN INDIA

And a few days before the Summit when I speak to her over the telephone (we manage to squeeze an interview with Sarah in the midst of her bustling schedule in India) and ask her about the first Indian dish she ever ate, pat comes the reply: “The first authentic Indian dish I ever ate? It would be a lamb keema!”

The sprightly international celebrity chef has just explored Rajasthan thoroughly. In Mihirgarh, Jodhpur, Sarah’s learnt the technique of khad cooking whereby a marinated goat is covered in rotis and then cloth, and then slow-cooked in a hole dug into the ground topped with coal for eight hours. Now Sarah’s in Delhi and by her own admission, she is in India every two to three weeks.

“I do three weeks in Australia and three in India, back and forth all the time,” says Sarah, who has established restaurants like Antares in Goa and The Wine Rack in Mumbai. The Masterchef Australia Season 6 contestant whose aloo gobi grabbed the attention of

Indians globally hadn’t imagined turning restaurateur here.

“When I first went on Masterchef I wanted to open an Indian restaurant in Australia. But the universe did not hear me properly and I ended up opening an Australian restaurant in India,” she laughs. “I thank the universe for this because when I got to India, I realised just how diverse the culinary scene is. Every city and state has its own cuisine, each so different from the other that when you travel within India, you feel you’re in a different country each

“THE DOSA IS SO DIFFERENT TO ANYTHING WE THINK OF INDIAN FOOD IN AUSTRALIA. I’D NEVER TASTED ANYTHING LIKE IT. IT WAS SUCH A SURPRISE!”

time,” says Sarah who has filmed television series including My Restaurant In India and Serve It Like Sarah amongst others.

India -

aaj kal

Five years after her first trip to the country at the end of 2014, she no longer feels like a newbie. “It was overwhelming. India is very different to Australia, which is very quiet. There are 24 million people in the whole of Australia and there are 24 million in Delhi alone! But I fell in love with India the very first day, especially because everyone was very hospitable and very inviting,” she says.

On that first trip, Sarah recalls meeting a couple and their two kids. “They not only offered to show me around but also to take me to old Delhi. I said ‘cool,’ not knowing what to expect but this beautiful family spent the whole day taking me around. It was really special,” Sarah

SARAH’S FAVOURITE INDIAN THINGS...

Place: Goa

Spice: Cumin

Restaurant: Dakshinayan

Chef: Vicky Ratnani

Drink: Sol kadi

Dessert: Seviyan

Film: Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013)

DECEMBER 15, 2019