Restaurateur, TV star and OBE Rick Stein is in town to find Indian curries that will give the British “national dish”, Chicken Tikka Masala, a taste of the real deal — all for the BBC 2 show Rick Stein’s India that will air next summer. The British chef owns four restaurants in England (The Seafood Restaurant, Stein’s Fish & Chips, Rick Stein’s Cafe and Rick Stein’s Fish) and one in New South Wales (Rick Stein at Bannisters) and he also set an invention test for MasterChef Australia contestants! t2 caught up with the gourmet great at Kewpie’s on Sunday evening.

Rakhi Purnima Dasgupta of Kewpie’s takes Rick through the recipe of Rui Maachher Shorshe Jhol at the restaurant’s kitchen;(below)Rick takes a copious amount of notes and finally tucks into some fish and rice with a good squeeze of Gondhoraj lime. Pictures by Anindya Shankar Ray

You’re looking for the perfect curry, but what is the perfect curry according to you?

Yeah. No, there is no such thing as a curry... is there? And am hoping that people will tell us that no, no, we don’t have curry. What I am particularly interested in are the Indian curries. The ones that you get in the UK are not really the curries that are cooked here. Indian restaurants in the UK were actually originally by people from Bangladesh who weren’t actually cooks but sailors. And they started cooking what they thought was Indian food, so it’s completely different. So what I am just looking for is subtleties, not particularly spicy… there is a perception in the UK that Indian food is madly hot. So this (Rick Stein’s India) is a journey of discovery for me.

You’re known as the king of seafood, and as Rakhi Purnima Dasgupta told you when you were filming, Bengal is all about fish and rice. So what do you think of the local fish?

I had tried a lot of similar dishes a couple of years ago when we filmed in Bangladesh. I was absolutely amazed by the quality of river fish. In the UK, our rivers are tiny of course, we don’t really have too much freshwater fish, except for carp, salmon or trout. Here, freshwater fish can be so massive! Especially the hilsa, rui and bekti. It’s sensational! Most river fish back home taste a bit bland but here they have so much of flavour. I can see why Bengalis love their fish.

Since you mention the hilsa, what did you think of it?

I think it’s a really good fish. It’s got a really good flavour. It’s a little bit bony, of course. But once you can deal with the bones, it’s lovely.

Your philosophy when it comes to making seafood?

Keep it simple. It was nice talking to Rakhi because as she said, that is very much the Bengali way with fish. You could really taste that fish. It’s first and last. Don’t try too hard.

What’s your take on the sweetwater fish-versus-saltwater fish debate?

Well, my restaurants mostly serve seafood. And frankly, I don’t know enough of sweetwater fish. In fact, that they can be so good is a bit of a revelation to me! I’d be really happy to cook it if I got such good fish every time. While filming in Southeast Asia, in Vietnam, we found a lot of river or freshwater fish but the approach was different. In fact, it’s really about how you spice it, isn’t it? Here the taste is round and subtle. There it’s sharper and fresher, with lots of lime and fish sauce in both cases, marrying nice spices with neutral fish which brings out the taste of the fish. As a matter of fact, years ago I started going to Goa and I was amazed by its fish curries. I started putting them at my restaurants. Problem is that to Indians our food may be too bland but I think fish does need to be married with spices, sort of like paneer needs to have spices to set off its taste. But not always. Sometimes you need something to highlight the delicate flavour. Which Rakhi’s rui with mustard (Rui Maachher Shorshe Jhol) did splendidly. It’s quite delicate.

What Goan dish do you have at The Seafood Restaurant?

It’s Fish Vindaloo. I got the recipe from Goa. In the UK, you get Pork Vindaloo in a lot of restaurants but it’s not at all like the ones you get in Goa, which has a Portuguese influence. Vindaloo means wine vinegar. It’s a very sharp curry with vinegar. It’s not spicy and fresh with lots of cloves. And I think it’s fabulous. So I put it on the menu and a Bangladeshi person from Sylhet came to the restaurant and said it’s not Vindaloo. But he didn’t have the Vindaloo from Goa.

What did you try in Calcutta?

Well, we’re here to try the great variety of street food. I am told that Calcutta has a thriving street-food culture. We’ve only been here 24 hours, of course. But I loved the kathi rolls (at Nizam’s). And the prawn fritters (prawn cutlet at Allen Kitchen on CR Avenue). That’s the thing most people from the UK wouldn’t expect — something so simply cooked. I simply loved it!

You’ve been all over the world, what took you so long to come here? Especially since the Chicken Tikka Masala is your national dish…

(Laughs) You’re right, we’ve filmed in Goa, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka but nowhere in India apart from Goa. Just getting the enthusiasm and convincing everyone that Indian food is good took a while, I guess. Curry has become the national fish. Everybody loves spicy food. And that is why it was time to do a serious programme on Indian food and what it is actually like. Other people have done it, of course, like Madhur Jaffrey and Floyd, but this is my take on it.

You have restaurants in Padstowe, Cornwall and in New South Wales, Australia. Any plans to bring them to India?

I would, but the main problem is that while we love your food, you don’t really like ours. Indians would find the British food sort of bland because it doesn’t really have that kind of spice. Only thing that could work is something for the expats in Mumbai, Delhi or Calcutta. And I don’t really have a problem because Indian restaurants would really do it better. But I’d love the challenge of cooking Indian food for Indian people. But I don’t think I’d really quite get it (smiles).

You’ve cooked for Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and the Queen. What was it like?

It was a great honour, of course, but I didn’t get much feedback. I did find out... we had some fabulous French wine that night but he (Chirac) drank beer all night (laughs). I was presented to the Queen after dinner and she said, ‘Oh, you’re the cook!’ (Laughs) She was funny, yeah. I met her recently also at Buckingham Palace with Jamie Oliver, and she raised an eyebrow and told us, ‘Philip (Prince Philip) watches your programme and yours. So you must be doing something right.’

What’s comfort food for you?

I have to say that the kathi rolls I had last night were comfort food.... We had it after we got off the flight last night from Dubai. And I actually pointed to the camera and said, ‘This is best street food I have ever eaten anywhere in my life.’ Wonderful... very comforting I’d say.

Malini Banerjee