In honor of Valentine’s Day, we are collaborating with our friend and chef, Seema Pai on a prix fixe dinner featuring homestyle South Indian cuisine.
Seema and chef Surbhi have curated an exciting menu with dishes rarely found on restaurant menus. This regional food (with its many sub-regions and culinary techniques) offers a taste and understanding of coastal cuisine from across India’s southern shores.
We spoke with Seema about her upbringing, culinary background and what makes this menu collaboration a rarity, even in New York City’s vibrant dining culture.
Seema (right) at a homestay in Chettinad, Tamil Nadu where she learned recipes from a local chef (left).
TAGMO: Where did you grow up and what foods shaped your palate?
Seema: I grew up in Mumbai (I still call it Bombay) and I was raised vegetarian, so I grew up eating lots of fresh vegetables, lentils, all that kind of stuff.
My family is originally from South India. They are from the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. South Indian flavors with tamarind and coconut, are still my favorite foods in the world. But after I moved to the U.S., I gave up my vegetarianism and started eating everything, because I wanted to get into food and cook for people. I felt like I will have to taste everything before I can do that.
What’s your professional background and how did you enter the culinary industry?
I'm an ex academic. I have a PhD but no culinary training whatsoever. I’m completely self taught. When I was teaching at Boston University, I started seriously thinking about how to get myself into food. A close friend of mine called me up. She said she wanted to quit her job at Microsoft to start a food truck, and asked if I wanted to do it with her. So, I moved up to Seattle and we ran a food truck for two years. We both got third degree burns. I have a skin graft to show for it. Haha.
We worked out of this 15-year-old UPS truck that we rigged into a food truck. We were these two tiny women in a big truck driving through Seattle selling kati rolls, or frankie’s as they're called in Bombay. it was essentially a kati roll truck and we would do specials. After two years, we kind of both plateaued and dropped the thing. She got married and I wanted to do more food stuff, so I moved to New York City and started working in restaurants.
My first job was at a wine bar in Union Square. I wanted to see if I can actually work in New York restaurants, you know? To see if this is what I want to do with my life. After all, I quit academia for it. I quit a very cushy situation to do food, which is so hard as you very well know. I knew if I could survive New York restaurant life, I felt like I could survive anything. I did that for about 3 1/2 years which is when I met Surbhi.
Saar had just opened and I went there to dinner with my partner. I wanted to taste the food, of course, but I had heard so much about Hemant and Surbhi. After dinner, I just straight-up asked them if they were hiring. And they said, “Sure, come in tomorrow.” And I did. That's how I got to know Surbhi and her cooking.
Now I work at a nonprofit, so I'm excited to reconnect with Surbhi and to be in the kitchen with her. It's been a while.
Seema (left) with her mother (right), who she goes to for most of her recipes.
What was it like curating this collaborative menu with Surbhi? What inspired the dishes chosen, and do they have any significant meaning for you?
Surbhi reached out to me saying she wants to do South Indian food for Valentine's Day. Firstly, who has ever done that in New York City or anywhere else? I was extremely excited because I think people are only aware of such a small portion of Indian food. There's so much diversity in our food that people just don't even know about. The menu features food from Kerala and Tamil Nadu in South India, which is a quite large region.
Our thought process was to showcase dishes that you can't get anywhere else. These are flavors that I've grown up with and miss eating. If I want to eat these dishes, I have to make them myself.
The second part was to give people an experience. It's a special day, so we want to give people an memorable experience where they discover flavors that they are not super familiar with. It’s not paneer and butter chicken. It’s really unique.
We also wanted to make sure that we have a vegetarian version of the menu and that it feels equally fun. It’s important to have harmony between the two versions of the menu so that one person doesn't look at the other person's plate and say, “God, I wish I could eat that.” We don’t want couples fighting on Valentine's Day, haha.
The dishes we chose are typically only eaten in people's homes — even in India. Surbhi has been on this journey where she is trying to showcase that kind of food that’s not available in restaurants within India. The whole time when she was doing home meal delivery during the lockdown, I think it gave people so much pleasure by bringing that kind of food to their home. And I think that's partly why she's so beloved by people. So, I wanted to compliment that when she asked me for suggestions.
Can you talk about any particular dishes on the menu?
My favorites is probably the Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu, which are lentil dumplings in a tangy flavorful sauce. It’s an unusual dish. A lot of people think if there’s a vegetarian dish it has to have paneer. But paneer is not what we eat in South India. Koftas are also we don’t eat in South India. So, I wanted to come up with something that is equally hearty, fun to look at, and fun to eat. I'm looking forward to seeing people's reaction to it.
The recipes we’re using are specifically the recipes I grew up with that come from my family. My paternal grandmother was a fabulous cook. So, it's her recipes that I keep trying to recreate and hopefully have some success with.
Okay, now we’re hungry! Thank you and we can’t wait for this special menu.
