A chef’s tryst with spices: Romy Gill’s India

India is sought-after for its fragrant spices and lip-smacking flavours. So much so that Bristol has Indian restaurants placed proudly adjacent to other world cuisines, almost always bustling with customers.

For Bristol-based chef Romy Gill, flavours are derived from memories of her childhood when she travelled from her home town in West Bengal to her grandparents’ home in Punjab.

Deeply influenced by these two food-rich states, Gill’s book Romy Gill’s India is her personification of two flavoursome worlds (West Bengal and Punjab) colliding.

Gill’s latest book is her personal version of India with recipes from her favourite memories – photo: Hardie Grant Books

“The book is more of my upbringing. Back in India, I saw the story of two kitchens – West Bengal and Punjab. I was born in West Bengal, but my parents are Punjabi so we would take this long journey during summers and winters.

“It’s the story of two different kitchens in itself that I would go to meet my grandparents, my cousins and other people and the book has beautiful stories from that. In the book, there are stories about train journeys, my love for cricket, anglo-Indian influences in Bengal and much more! I said: it’s my India, my story and my upbringing.”

This will be Gill’s third book, after her two previous releases – Zaika and On The Himalyan Trail. But how does one ensure that a book about food is infused with the authentic taste of cuisines that are miles away.

“I have a really good way of storytelling. So people kind of engage in it. As a chef, as an author, you have to put it to the world, very cleverly. I don’t want to be writing books every year, or every six months – I’m not that kind of a person.

“When I write books, I travel to that part of the world.

“Like for On The Himalayan Trail, I travelled there so many times to write that book. If you’re writing about something or someone you really need to do your research – you can’t just sit at a computer and then copy-paste. That is my thinking.”

 

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In her book, Gill takes readers on a celebration of culture through a wild ride of taste. Every page is a feast for the readers’ taste buds, assured to be followed by a craving.

“British people have a different standard of Indians. They think there’s one garam masala, one chef will pick that up and that’s it. You know like, buttermilk.

“We’ve been using buttermilk for years and generations and that here becomes a big thing. I also talk about the difference between clarified butter and ghee – because it’s two completely different things!

“It’s a book that people can easily, relatably cook with. You know you open a cupboard and think: ‘oh, I haven’t got that aubergine. I can use pumpkin instead!’ I talk about a lot paneer. There’s a whole chapter about paneer – which has got like eight or nine recipes in it. There’s a lot of different dals, I talk about. Not just one standard dal.”

For a chef like Gill who has cooked with a bazillion spices in her lifetime, is there a secret favourite?

Gill races with a hot answer – “It has to be Panch Phoron (five spice blend).”

Panch Phoran, also spelt Panch Puran originates in Eastern India and is a blend of cumin, fenugreek, brown mustard seeds, fennel and nigella seeds.

“I very much grew up in Bengal (which is in Eastern India) and it’s a community that used Panch Phoran in a lot of different ways.

“But at the same time, Punjabis and many other states use that for pickling in a jar. I love the five different whole spices because each of them has a different warmth, a different heat – like cumin is very earthy; fennel is very sweet; nigella has that bite of sweetness and is pungent; you get the fenugreek which is very bitter and the mustard which is pungent, bitter and warm.”

Gill’s tryst with spices culminates in her favourite dish – Khichdi.

When talking about the dish – a rice preparation made from lentils, ghee and spices – Gill’s joy was evident.

“Khichdi is something I know I can cook in ten minutes in the pressure cooker. By the time I chop the ingredients, make a temper – it’s all done in the pressure cooker.

“And it’s really comforting, which kinds of reminds me of my mum. She’s sadly no more. And when I go home, my dad makes it for me as well.

“So, I think when there is a connection or emotion when you’re sad, when you’re happy – Khichdi is one of those things you can have.”

Paired with a pickled relish (aachar) or yoghurt (dahi) or with whatever you have, Khichdi is Gill’s go-to dish at any time of the day.

With flavourful recipes from her childhood journeys, in Romy Gill’s India: Recipes from Home she serves her soul as a delicious feast.

Gill will be at Gloucester Road Books on Thursday at Boston Tea Party’s Gloucester Road branch.

Main photo: Matt Inwood

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