Diwali Like You've Never Tasted It! Food Network Champ Chef Aarthi Sampath

You really put your heart out there. It's so vulnerable. You pour your soul into these dishes and then you see if people like them and how they respond to them. You have to do that time after time with these Food Network competitions. How much of that is real versus scripted? Nothing is scripted. It's 100% real. Hey, it's Natasha. Can I ask you for a quick favor? If you've been enjoying these conversations, hit the follow button wherever you found us. If that's YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you found us, that way you never miss an episode. And if you have 10 more seconds, can you leave us a review? Maybe even rate us? That way new people can find us. As always, thank you so much for spending your time with us. Hey guys, welcome to the Talking With Natasha podcast. Each week I'm sitting down with founders, trailblazers, and some names you definitely know. Matt Friend. The Watch King. Neil deGrasse Tyson. Darna Gard. The Scarlatta Twins. Cal Penn. How are you? But we're skipping the small talk. We're taking it to the next level. It's live. It's really thrilling. Fun and honest. Let's get to mucking. It's Choco Clock. How are family gatherings, though? Painful. Almost like getting a colonoscopy. So come hang out, and let's get into it together. She beat Bobby Flay in his own game, and now she's taking over the New York City restaurant game. Please welcome my next guest, chef Aarti Sompath, Food Network champion. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. And happy Diwali. Happy Diwali. I'm in my Diwali fit. Shout out to Harleen Kaur. It's always so fun to dress up for Diwali and the traditions are just so great. So first of all, for people who might not know, what is Diwali and how do you celebrate it? Diwali is the festival of lights. It's the festival of good over evil. So we celebrate prosperity and love and togetherness. And You always deck out your home with lights, diyas, lanterns, and you bring your family together at a big dinner table. It's like Thanksgiving for Indians. Actually, that's a great way to put it. I haven't thought of that because it's all about the food, family, everyone is together. And it's this celebration of a triumph of good over evil. Right, it is. How did you start to celebrate? You mentioned earlier that when you were in Mumbai, how you used to celebrate, you used to buy new clothes. How did your family celebrate it? Ever since I can remember, Diwali was a time that you didn't have to go to school. So that was really nice. And we would like go early morning a day or two before Diwali and get lots of flowers, especially marigolds, which is I'm seeing a lot of that in the city as well. Yeah, with the leaves changing and everything. Yes. So marigolds that we deck our home with and maybe a week before we put on lights and lanterns and diyas. And on Diwali, you've got to we always have competition on whose home was the most lit up. And when I came to U.S., I see that for Christmas, it's the same thing. It is the same thing. It's very competitive. Yeah. You deck out your homes. It is competitive. Who's got the most like festive cheer? Yes, exactly. So I think we, me and my brother, we would be gung-ho about it. And then there's Rangoli, which is, it's rice powder that's colored with maybe a food coloring or turmeric. And then that would be used to draw a Rangoli or a pattern right outside your home. And that would be done for the full five days. Diwali celebrated for five days starting from you know uh Diwali the the festival of lights and then you have Lakshmi Puja and then you also celebrate your brother the last day so yes it's beautiful and the word Diwali has meaning too the word Diwali is literally a it's a trail of lights and so you're uh really lighting up your home and you're oftentimes you just forgive the people that you know who have pained you that year and uh you you when you think of good over evil it's also about your mindset is uh you're trying to triumph over uh those negative thoughts you have or the thoughts of failure and that that's what we truly celebrate at that time and we're like this is our new year we're walking into a year where we are going to triumph over um you know the tough times the the the troubles we've had in our life yes and so in that way it's a very powerful holiday it is it is extremely powerful and it is the number one holiday for Indians i would say yeah and the way that you've seen it because you you were born and raised in Mumbai and you came to America the way that we celebrate Diwali over here every year it seems like i'm seeing all these parties all around New York Diwali parties it's like a wedding it is like a wedding all the outfits and everything have you have you seen Diwali evolve over time in New York City in America wow 100% I feel Diwali was uh it's very different back home and it's about uh you know being with your family and sharing yeah you're you're you make things at home and you share it with your neighbors your friends you call them over you go to their place and you make these little treats And it's it's just about wearing something new and nice, because back then you wouldn't really get new clothes every week or every every season. You would get one beautiful attire. And that was during Diwali time. So as a kid, you're really looking forward to it. You're really looking. Yeah. You're not going to school. You're getting new clothes. Right. Great. This is great. Yeah. And so much of Diwali has to do with food. Yes, Diwali has. I think it's all about the food. And I love Diwali because I could have Maharashtrian food from my neighbors. We'd have Punjabi food from our friends. And then if you're at home, you'd make something South Indian. And then it was just a mixed mash of so many different cultures together because we all celebrated Diwali. It's so beautiful. And chef, you know, this is something that you bring to your own restaurant. So you are from Mumbai. You come to America. You conquer on Food Network. You become a champion. You beat Bobby Flay. And now you've opened up a restaurant, Javita, just in May. How did you start this? Oh, my God. It's been quite it's been a beautiful journey and it's a dream come true. I wrote the concept of Javita, which is when you think of that word, it's people of South Asia. So I've always been intrigued by all the South Asians that have lived outside of India as well, whether it is due to spice trade. My grandpa was a trader and he would trade to Burma and Sri Lanka and he would bring back treats and talk about how they lived. And it was very similar to how we live. And I think that's where I've always thought about if I do a restaurant, I want to really focus on the food that's outside of India. And we really trace back the roots of the spice route and then indentured workers who were forced to leave home. And they had to take with them what they could remember of their own culture and create their own with the herbs and spices and ingredients they found uh where they were like just like we have a Durban uh curry but uh Durban bunny chow which is uh a South African Indian dish and this was when the workers would work in the rail fields they would uh the railroad they would uh you know use off cuts and make a curry and eat it with white bread so we really go back and talk about the stories like the Uyghur cuisine which has influences because of the spice trade they use cumin and long pepper and black pepper so we're really always digging in deeper and seeing my goodness I mean there's so much history behind everything that you do and every food that you're making yeah every dish has a very strong influence and we try to honor the authenticity of it in the best way we can right and of course it's a lot of my own imagination and my creative spin as well that's what I wanted to say because as an immigrant where do you find the line between staying true to your roots but also experimenting with fusion yes I think I you know just recently I became an American citizen and I felt like for my restaurant I wanted it to be a very New York or a very American restaurant in its own way which is it is a celebration of all the people that live here New York City is the only city where I found a Pakistani person i've i met someone from Guyana do you have like you have a Trinidadian restaurants you have south i met uh meet South African Indians so it's such a melting pot and i wanted this restaurant to be a very New York restaurant and that's what we do we um we honor it in even the little uh details in our um and the interiors of our restaurant whether it's coconut shell chandeliers or we have preserved those old New York ceilings. And then with the food, we just really draw inspiration from every little region as well as use a seasonality in play. No, I love the interior of a restaurant. Matt, I don't know if you got the pictures of the... Okay, so I want to show these pictures because you actually took your mom's saris and you framed them. Yes. Look at that. So what was the inspiration behind this? So this is my, my designer helped us out do this. Joanna, shout out to her. We, we wanted to create artwork that felt very personal. And we also have pictures of my family. And I feel like everyone has photos of, you know, those old, old photos of family. And we want to create a very homely feeling. And those, the sari, just, I think the minute you see it, you know, it's, it's very handmade. Right. You wouldn't really find it in a store. personal and your restaurants in the East Village my restaurants in the East Village that's a great neighborhood to talk about food i i when i had like 10 bucks or 20 bucks in my pocket the east village fed me and i felt i could always go there for a creative concept and i just knew Dravita would work there it's amazing chef i can't like think straight because the smells are just so good i have to dig in can you tell us first of all thank you for bringing this spread thank you It is colorful, beautiful. It smells incredible. What did you bring us? So I bought different things from our menu that I feel. And I have a food cam too while you talk. So here's our, I'm going to try and be like, which one do you want to start with first? We've got to start with the deviled eggs right in the middle. And I know that is not traditional in any way. Yes, I was going to say because I'm Punjabi and I don't think I've ever seen deviled eggs on the menu, but I love deviled eggs. so i think this is this is inspired by the burmese immigrants who lived in uh live in south india and they make this simple uh egg dish with shallots and garlic we've just made them really uh beautiful and uh we are paying homage to uh to the burmese food yes and you've got to try it so good um okay can i try some of this do you want to try it with me yes let's do it let's do it okay so we're gonna have this is a deviled eggs which what is on top of it because it's the deviled eggs uh has it's got like an egg emulsion and then there's a tamarind chutney which is probably you're familiar with yeah and then there's uh crispy shallot crispy garlic it's it's a lot it's a good bite oh that's really good i'm like okay trying to think of a plan of attack okay that is that is best deviled egg i've ever had thank you so much that's out of this world thank you the flavors are so layered it's delicious when i think about diwali in uh celebrating it here it has to be um it has to be a dining table that is full of food from all over because that's what New York is that's what America is i feel we have so many South Asians celebrating it in a very different way because we have if if you want to move over to something sweet yes okay so we've got the which one is that is the Sri Lankan lavaria okay perfect and these are rice crepes filled with tender coconut there's a rice uh there's a coconut um milk cream and um it's it's a very traditional Sri Lankan dish uh-huh but there are so many versions of it you have pie some you have uh you have uh coconut and yeah milk based rice based dishes yeah you got to give it a try okay matt i took off the camera okay let's let's dig into this one wow this is so so this is you said rice yes it's rice okay amazing it's just the way that you get the inside oh get the inside of it okay get a good bite like get some coconut there we go that's that's a good bite okay gotta get the good bite here this reminds me of here really good exactly i know i'm so bad at that if anyone people are gonna get the ick out there but it's so good thank you so much and i can taste the coconut too which is delicious um what else we have these are doubles this is a spin on uh doubles from Trinidad and when indentured workers left from like central India they you know you have chole bhature which is a very Punjabi dish that is probably the the first version and then they made an even more delicious one wow a bunch of chutneys there's a very spicy pepper sauce on top and then we we also have a wood fire oven which we love at the restaurants oh that's great yeah not just for pizza but you could bake yes all kinds of things we roast all our proteins in there and we've got one dish yeah the mushroom dish there so this it has pineapple on top uh that's roasted in the wood fire this is beautiful you came up with this yes i mean the the the origin is the doubles which is which looks very different and this is our version i've never seen anything like this how do you do how do you dig into this you cut it usually pick it up but okay i can yeah you yeah okay yes that's all right that's the way to go like this okay we're just getting on it there we go that is really good thank you so much thank you I've never had that before. That's like, that's very unique. Yeah. And the original, you can find them at several roti shops in Queens, in Brooklyn. And this is just our version. It has chickpeas, there's tamarind, the spicy sauce and culantro chutney. Very tasty. And I feel like that's, if you're celebrating Diwali in Trinidad, you probably have this on the table. Chef, you're blowing my mind. I can't get over these deviled eggs. That is the best deviled eggs I've ever had. Wow. Okay. I want to shout out some people in our live chat right now. We've got some really good people joining us. So someone asks, how did competing on Beat Bobby Flay and those massive platforms shape your confidence as a chef? I think when you're a chef, you're always doubting if your food is better than the other one. And I think food competitions definitely boost your confidence and also make you stronger. it's not the wins but i think it's the losses that you take and you you still have to get up you know the next day and cook a great meal and you always hear this you if you hear a great chef say this that you're only as good as your last cook and i think that's i don't completely agree with it it's it's it's a series of them right you have something that's not so great and you have a great one until you're ready to like create a product to create a restaurant and then let the world see and you know you're kind of bearing yourself and letting them tell you the food is good or not good it's so vulnerable it's extremely vulnerable yeah and i think that's what tv teaches you teaches you to be okay with you know the the negative comments it yeah teaches you to be okay with the praise and then just you keep keep working you're amazing chef we gotta sneak in a quick break but i want to talk more about these competitions and what you've taken away from it and also talk about Dravida and the fact that you dreamed of this seven years ago. Yes, yes. And so we're going to get into it. Stay with us. We're going to try more food after the break. Stay with us. All right, welcome back to Talking with Natasha. I'm here with Chef Arthi Sampath. Great to see you. Thank you. We're trying your amazing food. We've eaten deviled eggs, like the best I've ever had. And then you were just telling me about this one, Black Forest Cake. if you grew up in India, you Black Forest is just synonymous with celebration and I've never had whether it's birthday, whether it's Diwali, whether it's any festival, there is a version of Black Forest on the table, yeah and while you're explaining it Matt, I'm gonna do a close-up because this is just, it's gorgeous, look at that, and here we do we do a vanilla custard cream, there's a coffee, Indian, we use Indian coffee that's infused in the cake, there's a chocolate ganache, it's like a cream, um, and then there's cherries that we cook down, fresh cherries, okay, all right, I'm gonna take a bite of this, um, this is amazing, how like tell me a little bit more about... we Paz ask a question in the live chat saying how is family and culture projected into your dishes, I think that's a really great question, yeah, I like the mushroom dish which you're gonna try, yeah, even every dish has something that I've shared with my family, like every birthday or whether it was every Diwali I feel we've always had cake and I, I love Indian sweets but sometimes there uh can be very sweet for me, so I'm a cake person, this is incredible this is so good, thank you so much, I know right I know, I'm gonna share, I'm like trying to share some the newsroom is like bring us some down when you're done i'm like i don't think so and i feel if i have to eat sweets during the Diwali i would like a little slice of cake this is amazing thank you yeah because you know you've got the jalebi the kaju katli like after a while the cake is just so good it's so fresh and i love the cream um you mentioned the mushroom dish here so this looks fantastic at uh at Dravida we have a beautiful wood fire oven it's grandfathered in we have only 12 in the city and we're lucky we have one of those oh there's only 12 in the city only 12 wow um it's powered just by wood so it's very temperamental we roast a lot of our proteins we roast um the mushrooms like this there and this is a dish from uh the sauce is what my mom would make when she made mushrooms this is how she would make them and uh this is when you kind of rope in family and celebration and you always remember what you grew up eating and i think this is uh this is one great example that is incredible thank you that's amazing have you has your mom tried this she hasn't tried this she's gotta try this she's coming in december i gotta see if this is what are you like do you wonder if it's better than hers what is she gonna say oh my god i feel like she's gonna say that it needs some improvement sounds like a mom but i think that's amazing that's the beauty of you know you you make something for diwali night and that's your dish i think this would be the mushroom dish would be mine because it's an ode to my family and it's unique i don't know how many how many would bring something like this the dining table it's incredible you know and you talk about just like you really put your heart out there it's so vulnerable you you pour your soul into these dishes and then you see if people like them and how they respond to them you have to do that time after time with these food network competitions how much of that is real versus scripted food network nothing is scripted it's 100% real you have even the the whatever words are coming out of your mouth is your originality so you have you're stuck with if you're mean on the show you're stuck with that yeah if you're happy on the show and it's it's such a beautiful play on how you're feeling that day if you're having not a great day you may project that on the show wow yeah you gotta be zen you gotta meditate before you go on the competition and then do your best and then uh it's you know you win or you lose it doesn't matter it's your i always think of uh this was uh i don't know if you know chef antonia Laffone yes very famous uh food network chef she said it doesn't matter you're just cooking for the audience you want to give them the best cook of your life and it doesn't matter if you win or lose it is amazing you're so under pressure you've got what sometimes 30 minutes to prepare foods with what's what's the craziest food combination under pressure you've had to prepare before well i got a cookie bite oh chopped was my first show which i won yes and i got cookie bite uh they were they they look like Reese's peanut butter cups but it has cookie butter in it okay and it tasted i don't know just tasted absurd to me yeah firstly and then i had lemon grass and i had to butcher a whole fish in 30 minutes and i also got those all together put them all together so i had to make a sauce with the chocolate cups and then i also got snails and i never worked with snails before so it's it's it's amazing what you you work and right and then the judges say wow this is delicious and you're surprised too how do you put it together are you focusing on the different flavors and how they go well together how do you how do you what's the first step to like that plan of attack i first lean towards the flavors i'm comfortable with like curry leaves cilantro uh coriander cumin i pull them up at on my table and then I think of how I can if it is something that's extremely intense how do you mask it a bit and or shine and you know you how you can shine get put some shine on that on those ingredients so I work kind of backwards I think of the dish I'd like to make and then I start working on components and during those 30 minutes hopefully you come up with a whole game plan did you make bologna naan i did make bologna naan how do you even do that well bologna was a was something that i've never tried before and it tasted like ham to me just a little diluted but i would never think you'd put it in naan i know but naan is such a great vessel it's it's simple and it's plain and i had to do it in 30 minutes i don't know how i did it But the judges loved it. What happens if a judge doesn't love it and they're just like, oh, this is not good? Oh, it happens. Happens all the time. And then you maybe if you get a chance to go on the second round, you pivot and do better. How do you get into that Zen moment? Like as a chef and you're under pressure and stress, how do you find that Zen? I think meditation has been really big for me. I'm always it's helped me build the restaurant. It's helped me get to where I am. when i came to this country and i was uh making minimum wage and like i had to start from ground up i was a cook and uh now to where i'm at i think it's been like meditation and uh some amount of faith a huge amount of faith and self-faith i think can move mountains it is amazing it is it's such a grind to run a restaurant here in new york it is it is new york restaurants are not easy the buildings are extremely old you have to really stay on top of your uh you know keep things extremely clean and then you're managing huge teams and making sure they're happy and then of course the guests like your hospitality has to be at the top of everything right and it's not just the food it's a mixture yeah you know like experience everything too okay we got one more dish to try, we've got a few more minutes left this last one is this is this rice yes it's just simple coconut rice and uh you know it's the it's the it's something that no one pays attention to but you need to have yeah some good rice at the table of course you gotta get the rice yes and it tastes great with a mushroom dish yes that is really good it's delicious what's your favorite dish? Oh my God. My favorite dish. I'm going to have to take the cake if it's a Diwali table. I think so. You have to, you have to. Um, some, a lot of good questions in our live chat before we go. I'm trying to see, okay. What is a simple Indian dish that someone not experienced in cooking that cuisine can try to take on? I think just starting to work with some spices, like pick up some turmeric, pick up some fresh coriander and cumin and just roast it. And then you have like this nice powder that you can put you can sprinkle on chicken or salmon or even vegetables and then simply roast it with little ginger garlic and onion these are like the basics of indian cooking right ginger garlic onion you have some turmeric add a little chili yep whatever chili you have whether it's thai chili or some chili powder and if you're really adventurous look for kashmiri or degi chili powder and finish with some yogurt or cream or coconut milk and you've come up with a very simple curry like a like a curry a base yes a curry a base it's just a simple base starting by sauteing onions add a little bit of your spice powders your ginger garlic and then you can finish with tomato and cream yogurt or coconut milk and you get different flavor profiles yeah no i think that you kind of build that flavor profile which makes indian food It's so fun to cook and to experience. One last question. How do you train or prepare for Food Network? You train and prepare every day of your life, right? You can't just, you're called on a show. You don't prepare the last five days. It's like any athlete. You prepare all your life. You're cooking every single day. You're seeking information every single day. You're looking at the top restaurants and going out to eat. i've done a lot of that all my career so yeah and i'm always cooking we always try to do innovative and creative things i love it what what are you working on next well hopefully restaurant two restaurant two yes really that would be that would be what um i think the next year we're definitely on on on track with that i think Dravida is being received with so much of love and kindness. And I think, uh, we just have to keep, keep moving, keep going. And would it still be South Indian food diaspora or would you, what are you thinking it would be? We haven't shaped the concept completely, but I think it'll definitely lean towards the diaspora and just get inspiration from them. Wow. So another restaurant, you got to find some more Zen or Zen. Um, this is amazing chef. Where can people find you? Where can people go to eat at your great restaurant you have to come to Dravida it's in the east village 211 first avenue new york new york one triple zero three and find us you can walk in and i'd suggest making a reservation as well it's popular you gotta make a reservation and then the one dish that people have to order besides the cake that they have to order at the restaurant you've got to start with the deviled eggs and you have the khamiri roti that's not on here it comes straight out of the wood fire oven uh it's served with fresh homemade butter chef arthy you're the best happy diwali thank you for joining us happy diwali thank you for having me and thanks everyone for joining us until next time see you later on talking with natasha