Chef Sunil Gangwal, executive chef, Surat Marriott, is an expert in North West Frontier and Awadhi cuisines – be it the use of rich ingredients to create the right mix or adopting unique cooking styles that are essential to these cuisines. Chef Gangwal heads the kitchen at in-house restaurant at Surat Marriott Hotel – Table 1O1 Multi Cuisine Restaurant, in addition to the hotel’s in-house coffee shop – Surat Baking Co.(SBC) He not just conceptualises the menu but also ensures the authenticity in taste of the variety of cuisines is maintained and served to perfection. In an exclusive interview with Steena Joy, he talks about why it is important to use local and organic ingredients in our food.
Why local ingredients?
In India, we are blessed with abundant local ingredients that are produced without using foreign aid for its cultivation. I personally and professionally always encourage usage of local ingredients. In Surat Marriott too, our menus have an essence of Gujarat all over it. Be it for breakfast or dinners, I indulge my guests in local food, starting from Farsans to Theplas, from Lahsooni Bataka to seasonal specialities like Undhiyu during winters, Jalebi and Fafda (a popular Surti combo) on Uttrayan.
I even had the pleasure of trying the “Surti Ubadiyu”- a technique where food is cooked under the ground in earthen pots at a local house, it was truly an unforgettable experience and something we will introduce at the hotel during the next Uttarayan.
Do you use a lot of local ingredients while curating the menus at Surat Marriott?
Local ingredients hold a special place in our menus. Not only have we incorporated local items like Patra leaves, Ratalu, Surti Papdi, etc but also have twisted them unconventionally to give our guests a new experience. We have already served fusion dishes like Khichdi Aranchini, Red Quinoa Dhokla, Shrikhand Tart, Mexican Thepla Quesadilla and Ratalu Gnocchi.
Dishes like Laal Maas are incomplete without the use of organic and local Mathania Chillies (named after the Jodhpur town it comes from). One more example is Bajra ki Raab, a local millet cooling drink, which is served to our guests in the hot summers of Surat.
The one local ingredient I cannot do without is Methi, a versatile green, which can be used both as a vegetable in itself and to add a unique taste to dishes like Methi Murgh, Methi Malai or Thepla. Its dry form is used to enhance flavour of many dishes like Dal makhani, Butter chicken and the young shoots can be used as micro greens to garnish, improving the appearance of dishes.
