From Mathura to Chennai, Hema’s Kitchen and Chef Anjali Gupta have a unique culinary narrative to tell. SHOBORI GANGULI got the opportunity to delve into her lavish South Indian spread recently at Lodi Hotel’s Elan. Photographs by PANKAJ KUMAR

Years ago, a young woman from a traditional Hindu family from Mathura got married into a Mathura-based family in Chennai. This is the incredible journey of Chef Anjali Gupta whose signature menu was showcased recently by Lodi Hotel’s Elan. She has a rich lineage of South Indian cooking spanning three generations. The finely curated menu from Hema’s Kitchen, founded by her mother, was literally a voyage of discovery.

On another note, it is indeed heartwarming to see that starred hotels and restaurants across the board are providing their patrons a taste of India, sourcing the secret flavours of traditional Indian regional kitchens and placing their myriad cuisines on the fine dining table.

I must admit that the surname Gupta did inject a bit of skepticism in my mind. To be then informed that her family hails from Mathura raised further doubts. But then Chef Gupta sat down to narrate her fascinating family history. Her grandfather founded the legendary Ratna Café in Chennai back in 1948. It is now being run by the fourth generation Guptas.

Born and brought up in Chennai Chef Gupta’s Hema’s Kitchen broke barriers never imagined. Meat and fish gently crawled into the Gupta kitchen down South, much to the horror and dismay of the extended family up North.

It’s nothing less than revolutionary for a non onion or garlic eating Gupta household to experiment and innovate with South Indian cuisine, and non vegetarian at that.

As we sat at the table in Elan, Chef Gupta could be seen energetically pacing up and down in the kitchen to send across some delectable dishes, generic South Indian food but with the special Gupta ingredient twist to each one of them.

The appetizers were enough to launch us on a grand gourmet sojourn. First up were Raw Banana Fries tossed with black salt and served with spicy beetroot and peanut chutneys. Alongside came crunchy Prawns fried in a crumb of homemade malgapodi (a spice mix of lentils and dry chillies; each home kitchen has its own version), this one from Hema’s Kitchen. This was plated with the world famous sundried Guntur chillies, not for the faint hearted, but I simply loved it. The prawns were served with tamarind chutney.

Chef Gupta followed this up with Steamed Kottu Parottas wrapped in Banana leaves. This dish particularly stood out for me. A famous Sri Lankan and Tamil dish, this is basically crushed Parottas and shredded chicken wrapped in curry masala and steamed in banana leaves, served with tomato salna (a rich tomato curry).

As we wandered into the main course came Kerala’s famous Chicken Ishtew, a subtle amalgamation of chicken, potatoes, spring and baby onions cooked in coconut milk with a curry leaves garnish. The Malabari Fish curry was delectable, fresh Surmai fillets steeped in a tangy tomato curry.

For me, the winner was Chef Gupta’s signature dish, the Andhra Shredded Mutton Pepper Masala with the perfect balance of spices for the black pepper to stand out. I can still sense the richness and aroma of that preparation.

All the dishes were accompanied by Appams (the English could not pronounce it so in Sri Lanka to this day so they are called Hoppers). While the rice Appam was good, the sunny side up Egg Appam, sprinkled with Chef Gupta’s secret spices, the famous gunpowder, was delicious to slice into. The surprise innovation was of course the stout Ragi Millet Appam (steamed with a mix of ragi millets, rice, lentils and ccoconut), a real challenge for a cook to achieve the right consistency.

We could not end our meal without the gamous South Indian filter coffee. On a sweeter note was the Ananas Kesari Bath (fresh pieces of pineapple cooked with brown sugar and ghee). For one so careful in keeping health and indulgence in balance we signed off with Chef Gupta’s Coastal Paan. I expected a paan (betel leaf) as we in North India know it. But this was a digestive of freshly chopped betel leaves, rose petals, tossed in freshly grated coconut and saunf. Never tasted a crushed paan, so I was truly impressed.

May Delhi get to see more of our rich and diverse culinary heritage in days to come.