Simson Kalathara, an Indian restaurateur based in the United States, keeps himself and his restaurant empire fine-tuned with annual visits to his birthplace near Cochin, in the southern Indian state of Kerala. His road to success in the restaurant business was punctuated with stops in fourteen countries. That’s the number of postings he had with India’s foreign service before landing in New York City.
It was while working in an administrative post at the United Nations headquarters in New York that Kalathara decided he didn’t want to be a diplomat.
To get a job as a busboy at the Rye Town Hilton Hotel in Westchester County, N.Y., Kalathara had to water down his resume. Once hired, he advanced from bussing to the kitchen. Later, he learned that a recently opened Indian restaurant in White Plains, N.Y., was for sale and no one wanted it.
“They were asking $25,000, but I finally got it for much less, with a very long lease,” he says with a smile. Today his restaurant Bengal Tiger is in its thirty-second year.
To keep his own culinary batteries fully charged, Kalathara visits his homeland at least once a year. He, his family and friends own spice and tea plantations in the Munnar Mountains of Kerala, a region in the east of the state, which is on India’s west coast. It is known as “God’s Garden” for its lush crops of rice, spices, tea, coffee, fruit and nuts.
Kerala’s Malabar Coast is considered by many to be the birthplace not only of the brilliant array of spices, but also the mingling of them into curries that have swept the world in endless permutations.
While on home turf, Kalathara will arrange for certain spice blends to be prepared for him. As his travels take him from Kerala to the north, to Mumbai and Delhi, the man whose credo is, “I always want to learn more,” makes many detours to try the food at eating places of every dimension and description.
From dusty villages and roadside eateries where the fermented sap of palm trees called toddy is a favorite beverage for locals, to elegant hotel restaurants, Kalathara searches out the savories.
Location: 144 East Post Road, White Plains, N.Y. Seats: 100 Owner and executive chef: Simson Kalathara Co-chefs: Sharma Lalmani and Bistrilok Singh Check average: $35-$40 All-you-can-eat buffets: $13.95 on weekdays; $15.95 on Saturdays; and $18.95 Sundays, when more than 50 dishes are served Best-selling dishes: Chennai prawns; vegetarian dishes; and two chicken dishes, murgh makhani and murgh tikka masala A favorite stop is the Grand Pavilion restaurant in the Grand Hotel on Mahatma Ghandi Road in Cochin. The 45-year-old, 200-seat room is a mecca for local business people to eat high-end Keralan cuisine. The coastal nature of the state coupled with its rich farmland punches up vegetables and seafood. Shuruat (Starters) Chat Pari (served cold)Flour crisps on a bed of diced potatoes and ckpeas topped with seasoned yogurt and tamarind sauce. $9.95 Lasuni Gobhi (Six pieces)Cauliflower toasted in a sauce of garlic, tomato and spices. $8.95Samosa (Four pieces)$5.95 Singara Sag Paneer (Four pieces)Triangular patties filled with stuffing of sag paneer, curd cheese and spinach. $7.95 Mal Mal (Three pieces)Ground chicken rolls, marinated with array of fresh herbs and spices and roasted over tandoori. $13.95Soups Chennai TomatoCream of fresh tomatoes garnished with green peas, spices and bread croutons. $5.95 Murgh Ka ShorbaMade with split peas, chicken, onions, spices and vegetables. $6.95Tandoori Specialties from North West Frontier Burra TandooriBoneless pieces of baby lamb marinated in yogurt, ginger and garlic. $18.95 Jhinga TandooriJumbo shrimp marinated in yogurt, ginger, garlic. $26.95 Paneer Seekh Kebab—Bengal Tiger Special A vegetarian delight–home-style cottage cheese blended with herbs and spices, roasted in tandoor on a skewer. $14.95 Murgh Tikka–The King of Kebabs Succulent boneless pieces of chicken marinated in yogurt, garlic and ginger. $14.95 Seekh KebabKashmir-style minced lamb with aromatic herbs and spices wrapped around a skewer and roasted in a tandoor. $16.95Within days of his return to New York, he will have tested new recipes. Some of his discoveries will go immediately onto the restaurant’s menu, usually first appearing as specials.There are more than 100 dishes on Bengal Tiger’s menu, each listing ingredients and degree of heat, from mild to “very, very hot and spicy.” The latter is bakra baliram, a Punjabi goat preparation with red chile powder, turmeric and coriander seeds.Among the fruits of Kalathara’s expedition this year are calamari ularthiathu, a dish of squid rings stir-fried with sliced coconut, black pepper and curry leaves, among other seasonings. To his vegetarian offerings, he has added kadda malai kofta, an unusual combination of pumpkin and sweet-potato dumplings simmered with ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander, turmeric and javentri, the Indian name for mace powder.The murgh Shahjahani, boneless chicken pieces marinated in a medium spicy gravy of almonds, pistachios, coriander, onion and tomato, now prepared at Bengal Tiger, is the result of a visit by Kalathara to one of the Karim restaurants in Old Delhi. There are now ten Karims operated in Delhi by the fourth generation of chefs stretching back to 1913.That’s when Hadji Kalimuddi left the Mughal kitchens to first prepare their style of tandoor-centric northern cuisine for the common people. His great-grandson Mohammed Aqil carries on the traditions and most of the same recipes after 25 years in the 35-year old restaurant.Though Kalathara is sometimes discouraged by suburban Americans’ reluctance to explore new tastes, he plans to continue updating his Indian table of until guests yield to temptation and salesmanship, sample new dishes and become lifelong enthusiasts.