Sri lankan chef Pabilis Silva believes that his food is a product of love and should appeal to all the five senses. He shares the civilisational history of his cuisine with Mayuri Mukherjee
In the 2010 romantic comedy, Eat Pray love, Julia Roberts’ character spends an entire year travelling across three countries for an experience that satiates the body, the mind and the soul. But the problem is that only the very privileged amongst us can afford such an experience, given the time, money and resources it requires. So the only option most of us have is to look for occasions to indulge, the occasions that also give us a chance to understand the culture of the land we haven’t been to. One such occasion is the Sri lankan food festival at the Pavilion at ITC Maurya. It brings an array of delicious (dare I say, ‘exotic’) eats that have been prepared with a lot of love and carry a sincere prayer.
From the traditional brinjal mogu, a pickle that bursts in your mouth to fish ambulthiyal, a hot and peppery Sri lankan classic that can supposedly last a week even at room temperature, each dish is equally flavourful. Also on offer are the crispy egg hoppers that lie somewhere between the Indian dosa and an appam but, of course, we didn’t think of putting an egg in there! Another must-have is the chicken chutti roast, the chef’s signature dish. But manage your portions carefully for there is also a wide range of desserts on offer. Coconut, milk, rice and sugar form the crux of the platter but it is the vathallappam, a jaggery pudding of sorts, which deserves a special recommendation. The weli thalapa, a traditional Sri lankan sweet, is also delightful and the koki cookies are a great option to close the meal.
At the heart of this culinary process is Pabilis Silva. The soft-spoken, mild-mannered septuagenarian is one of the most renowned masterchefs of the island nation but unlike the culinary TV hosts who bring gourmet food to our living rooms everyday, he has not a whiff of ‘celebrityness’ about him. When Silva talks about his food, he doesn’t speak in terms of textures and tastes or even flavours and ingredients. Instead, he speaks about the many thousand years old civilisational history of his cuisine and the unique story that it tells about the Sri lankan people. “We put the ginger and the garlic first and then fry onion. The Chinese do it the other way round,” he says. Silva says that his food is a product of love and it’s his connection with the divine. “It’s a prayer,” he says. Elaborating on the philosophy behind his food, Silva says, “Good food must appeal to all the five senses.” He adds that if one involves all their five senses while cooking, then one needn’t even taste their food until it is ready to be served. The masterchef himself doesn’t dip into his food while it is being prepared and argues that such unhealthy habits make us sick.
Silva is quite a purist. “When you have the green in your beans and the red in your carrots and when you have cabbages that come in so many colours that don’t change even when cooked, why do you need artificial coloursIJ” he wonders. At a time when the world over, the people are asking what goes into their food and the West especially is trying to move towards organic products, away from packaged chemicals that routinely find their way onto our plates, the masterchef’s words definitely strike a chord.
It also helps one understand why Silva, who has no formal training as a chef (though he did say that his wife, who is the only one who cooks at home, has been his teacher) has been successful in taking Sri lankan food to the rest of the world. The author of several cook books, he has, of course, created many new dishes but at the same time, he has remained faithful to the roots of Sri lankan cuisine. And it is this authentic taste, and indeed philosophy, that he has made global.