This food festival seeks to revive rustic flavours of Anglo-Indian cuisine

Kumar along with Chef Vivek Bhatt revived 150 recipes as part of Colonial Indulgence food festival

Reading Bridget White Kumar’s blog and books is like stepping into a sepia-toned photograph of the Kolar Gold Fields from the 1880s, when they were owned and operated by the British mining firm, John Taylor and Sons. Later, these mines were taken over by the government in 1962, but the strong Anglo-Indian community continued to thrive in this little town in Karnataka. In fact, four generations of Kumar’s family lived and worked in the fields.

Kumar recreates images of Christmas feasts sweetened with desserts like dodol, Sunday lunches of coconut rice and minced ball curry. Today, she has moved from Kolar to Bengaluru, but her childhood memories of foogaths, pepper water, railway mutton curry and Ding Ding have inspired her to recreate this Anglo-Indian culinary heritage for diners across the country through pop-ups and food festivals.

One can see a sample of this at K3, the all-day dining restaurant at JW Marriott, New Delhi Aerocity, where Kumar has worked with Executive Chef Vivek Bhatt to revive 150 recipes as part of the Colonial indulgence food festival. On offer are traditional delicacies such as the bungalow chicken curry, lamb country captain, mince potato chops, devilled eggs and the Bengal shrimp curry. 

Bridget White Kumar

“When we were looking at an Independence Day special, we realised that one of the greatest legacies that the British left behind was Anglo-Indian food. It is an area that is still unexplored, and who better to explain the nuances than Bridget,” says Bhatt. The festival also seeks to debunk a lot of wrong notions around the Anglo-Indian fare — for instance, people assume that the dishes are fancy and complicated to cook and that the cuisine focuses mostly on curries. They couldn’t be more wrong, feels Bhatt, who finds the flavours robust, dishes rustic and easy to whip up. I have to agree, given that I am a regular visitor to Kumar’s blog, rustling up recipes mentioned by her for the masala chops, grandma’s country captain chicken curry, mince cutlets and pepper fry. “What’s interesting is that the Anglo-Indian cuisine takes on a different hue in different parts of the country, incorporating the local produce and flavours. In some places, it is heavy on pepper and in others on vinegar,” says Bhatt. Though the festival is on till August 20, Bhatt and his team have incorporated some of the dishes in the main menu as well for diners to savour throughout the year. 

After Kumar’s mother passed away, she realised that she hadn’t tasted dishes like the dak bungalow curry in ages, and that’s when she started reviving some of the recipes. “In Bengaluru too, there is a strong Anglo-Indian community, but the younger generation neither has the time nor the patience to cook these dishes. Even then, on Sundays, the tradition of cooking coconut rice with minced ball curry and vindaloo continues,” she says. The cuisine is extremely versatile, with numerous variants of dals, rice, desserts and croquettes forming part of the repertoire. Kumar hopes that with her initiatives, the coming generations will get to know the treasures this culinary genre holds.

The Colonial Indulgence food festival will be on at K3, JW Marriott, New Delhi Aerocity, till August 20