HAVING a mother and son in the same kitchen is potentially explosive. But not where the Kulkarnis are concerned. Sam Kulkarni and his mother Arundhati have a mutual respect when it comes to Indian cooking. Arundhati is visiting Maleny and passing on some recipe secrets to her son who is a self-taught Indian cook. Sam and his partner Ron Coxhell, have been running the Bombay Mahal Indian restaurant at the top of Maleny’s Maple Street for three and a half years.
Sam Kulkarni was strongly influenced by his mother, growing up in Poona, 150km south of Mumbai. Arundhati worked for a life insurance company in this attractive education town of 15 million people, and found time to prepare traditional Indian meals for her husband as wells as Sam and his two brothers.
“When he was a boy,” says Arundhati, “ Sam often helped me in the kitchen and he was a good observer of food preparation, the cooking of dishes, the presentation and the eating of food”.
Sam clearly has a great deal of affection and admiration for his mother, particularly her cooking prowess.
“In our home every morning she cooked fresh meals for us, and then again at night, fresh meals again when she came home after work,” he explains.
Sam and his brothers all studied IT and engineering but it was Sam who turned to the kitchen for his inspiration. It was a shock to his mother when Sam first became a cook, but she is quite used to it now, and is a great supporter of his Maleny restaurant. She visits him almost once a year, bringing fresh ideas and helping out in the kitchen.
“The interior of the restaurant – the hanging saris and decorations – are all basically mum’s belongings,” says Sam. “And when she first came through the door she burst into tears and said the energy in the place was amazing.”
Sam acknowledges that the Bombay Mahal menu is often a fusion of authentic Indian and Australian tastes.
“The basis of the curries that I make here is exactly what Mum does at home. So, we add oil, mustard seeds, then onion and garlic. This is the base for any curry. You put the mustard seeds in the oil and they should crack otherwise there will be no flavour in the curry.
“I have my own sauce that I use as a base for my curries that mum wants to know, but I haven’t told her yet,” adds Sam with a huge laugh.
“In my house in Poona we are all vegetarian,” says Arundhati. “But Sam has adapted our style and sauces to accommodate the Australian palate including chicken, beef, lamb and fish. Also, sweet and savoury breads are not used in Australia as extensively as they are in India. Most dishes are not as hot or spicy as we have them at home.”
“I have taught her scones because she had never made them,” says Sam with another laugh. “Now she wants to learn how to make shortbread because we don’t have that in India.
“Mum uses a lot of chilli and palm sugar in her cooking at home, and I don’t. Apart from that she’s happy with my cooking,” he adds with a smile.
Arundhati goes back to Poona later this month. Mother and son will clearly miss each other, but Arundhati prefers to visit her son regularly rather than settle permanently in Australia.
“It is too quiet”, she says. “There aren’t enough people here,” adds this serene lady from Poona.
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