‘Food, it’s our love language’

The first time Ebaani Tewari and Mathew Varghesersquos parents met to discuss their childrenrsquos wedding plans the fathers abandoned the lsquomeetingrsquo to buy rice It was a hilsa cooked in a pressure cooker that Ebaanirsquos father ate at the Varghese household that sealed the family bondldquoFood is our love languagerdquo the chef couple who opened Kari Apla in Bandra in October last year narrates The duo individually inherits a food lineage from Maharashtra and Kerala that is also deeprooted in Goa Kolkata Andhra Pradesh Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh Last Monday we invited ourselves for ghar ka khana at their Bandra home and a freewheeling conversation on their day offldquoAfter work our comfort meal is Asianrdquo Tewari dressed in a light pink kurta laughs adding ldquoNot todayrdquo As we settle in their cosy living room set with colourful cushions and knickknacks from their travels the eyes gawk at the librarymdash every title is a cookbook ldquoThey always give you a new perspective and a good ideardquo says Varghese dressed in a printed blue shirt and shortsTewari grew up in a ldquoone big foodloving familyrdquo where days were planned around breakfast lunch and dinner Sundays were fixed for lunch at her maternal grandmotherrsquos home in Mahim with extended family ldquoMy motherrsquos family is Maharashtrian Goan and wersquod be treated to a typical fish curry lunch of fish fry sol kadi and almost no vegetables unless in a saladrdquo she laughsOn her fatherrsquos side her grandfather was from UP and her grandmother traced her roots to Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh ldquoI grew up eating rasam rice aloo fry and Pesarattu dosa for breakfast when I visited her in Punerdquo says Tewari ldquoMy greatgrandmother who was also a great cook made the best Andhrastyle biryani which has a green masala of chillies and coriander She had lived with my great grandfather in the US and Sri Lanka from where she picked up recipes from cultures around the world Her tattered recipe book scribbled in Telugu includes gnocchi ravioli pumpkin pie and even Nigerian jollof ricerdquoTewari who has worked at Bastian and Taj Landrsquos End grew up picking up cooking inspiration from Travel and Living Nigella Lawson and recipe books she got for Christmas She pursued Hospitality at IHM Mumbai and followed it up with a year at Le Cordon Bleu in London ldquoI was always in the hot kitchen but in the lockdown I turned to baking which is when I revived the family pumpkin pie reciperdquo she smilesKarwari Prawn Curry with ladyfingerMathew Varghese grew up in a Syrian Christian family in Kolkata ldquoBoth my parents worked and food at home was simple Malayali farerdquo he says ldquoWe were influenced by Bengali cuisine thanks to our local cook Birthdays and anniversaries meant a trip to China Town The street food also influenced my palate from the halwa puri of the Muslim community on our way to school to the Bihari couple that ran our school canteen that exposed us to aloo and chole puri egg chops and rollsWe had a lady who earned the title of lsquomomo auntyrsquo for selling steaming momos outside school Even our teachers would rush to her stand as her offerings ran out within minutesrdquo Nostalgia is the Syrian Christian communityrsquos weeklong annual fair ldquoWe were a community of 300 members and all the grandmothers and aunties would make special foods for the eventmdashappam chicken mutton and vegetable stews thoran and biryani that was not too masaledar but made with a korma of brown onions cashew paste in ghee with whole spices sourced from KeralardquoOnly last week his parents brought Sugiyama a dal mixture with jaggery that they batter fried like a bonda ldquoI ate it after 15 yearsrdquoThe conversation moves to the kitchen where Tewari heats the oil to fry fish cutlets that Varghese has prepped ldquoI grew up eating mashed surmai fish cutlets soured with kadam poli a kokum variation from Keralardquo he says In many homes they use raw mango as a souring agent as wellrdquoKeralastyle Fish cutletsldquoWe like to pair our traditional foods togetherrdquo says Tewari putting the Karwari prawn curry her motherrsquos recipe to heat on a slow flame ldquoBoth our foods have a coastal influence so it comes together well like this curry with a Keralastyle cabbage thoranrdquo she addsThe duo finds it intriguing to discover ordinary sensibilities within their food cultures ldquoOver time we have realised many dishes in different regions are similar with different names Puran Poli of Maharashtra is Keralarsquos Bolirdquo says Varghese ldquoThe only difference is Maharashtrians go heavy on elaichi The Kerala version is nutmeg forward Similarly with modaksmdashthe Maharashtrian version is intricately folded but the south Indians roll it into golasrdquo Tewari addsAs we set the table Varghese confesses ldquoShe makes better Kerala fare than I do she has cracked the code for making appamsrdquo The meal is proof of their food synergy The couple moved back to the city from Gurgaon where Mathew worked with Comorin till last year to birth their dream project ldquoTo cook our traditional eats our way We have set our menu with a lot of help from familyrdquoldquoWe wanted to offer traditional dishes without mixing them up Because we have experiences in the European and Asian kitchens we wanted to use the techniques and plate it differently but we have not tampered with the flavoursrdquo says TewariThe menu is concise and evolving as they continue to add dishes ldquoOne interesting dish yet to be featured on the menu is a pothichorumdashtempered curd rice with fish and omelette I added a Sri Lankan eggplant moju curry to which Mathew added a pumpkin emissary The idea is to create traditional flavours and pair them with complimenting elements I made a batch that lasted us two weeksrdquo quips TewariAnother dessert in trials is Maharashtrian chirote ldquoWe realised it resembles Orissarsquos khaja and even the Italian dessert Sfogliatella ldquoOur restaurant journey is a journey of food revelationsrdquo says Varghese taking the example of saag ldquoIn Pakistan they temper it with coriander seeds which makes it different from the Indian version The older generation that has witnessed the Partition recognises the taste difference We are constantly discovering new perspectives across regionsrdquo he explains passing us a serving of kaya pola a Keralastyle banana breadUnearthing the evidenceEbaanirsquos father Samir Tewari says their kitchen has influences from Andhra and Uttar Pradesh Bihar and Rajasthan ldquoWe ate Rajasthani pakode waali kadhi chawal with sukka aloo dahi aloo with parathas Andhra green mutton biryani tomato rasam mutton palak lahsun aloo tomato dal palak dal Andhra mango fish curry tomato til chutney dal chutney poori aloo One dish dear to me is the mutton palak my mother made which we still make at home Now my wife has mastered itrdquoHer mother Muktal says ldquoMy roots are Maharashtrian Goan Karwari and Gujarati so we ate Goan Prawn curry as well as the Gujarati peas patties and dal dhokla thanks to my motherrsquos Gujarati friends Mutton chops and stuffed crabs were the dishes the entire family would look forward to Making themwas an event where everyone would be involvedrdquo ldquoOur family makes avial karimeen moilee and meat cutlets in the traditional Kerala style The recipes have been passed down for generations and we have never altered them Cooking is a form of generational treasurerdquo says Mini Varghese Mathewrsquos mother