A 'Semma' story of a chef and his nathai pirattal in New York

CHENNAI: Mocking played a crucial role in shaping executive chef Vijaya Kumar’s life. Having been born and raised in Natham, a small town in Dindigul, he is now a global icon representing south Indian cuisine in the United States of America.

“To pursue my interest in cooking, I enrolled in a culinary school in Tiruchy and graduated in 2001. My journey started in Chennai and I went to San Francisco. I started running a restaurant called Dosa for six years and then opened Rasa, which received a Michelin Star before its closure in 2015. The Covid pandemic was a turning point,” Vijaya Kumar begins, who had the opportunity to work with Roni Mazumdar and Chintan Pandya of Unapologetic Foods.

Vijaya Kumar was instantly impressed by how Unapologetic Foods gives a contemporary touch to south Indian cuisine and how English vegetables are cooked using Indian spices. “When we met, the idea of starting an authentic south Indian restaurant in New York (NYC) popped. Most of the diners in NYC prepare dishes less spicy to match the taste of the people there, tending to lose the originality of the dishes. We never wanted to fit into anyone’s mould and wanted to present authentic flavours unapologetically,” he says, who wants to replicate himself and bring back his childhood memories through the food he cooks.

Brainstorming the name of the diner was quite a difficult task for Vijaya Kumar and Co. “We wanted to keep The Boys as a title,” he laughs, adding, “Chintan Pandya was the one who coined Semma and the restaurant was started in 2021.” To their surprise, Semma received a Michelin Star within a year of its inception.

“It was totally unexpected that people in NYC would like aatu kari sukka, kudal varuval and nathai pirattal. In 2023, Semma secured the seventh spot in the US’s Top 100 restaurants list. This was very huge for us because there are around 65,000 diners in NYC alone. It motivated us in taking forward our cuisine to the world,” he shares. Suresh is the backbone for Vijaya Kumar in the kitchen and they both share more than two decades of bond. A Chettinad diner, Semma’s menu features dishes that Vijaya Kumar enjoyed savouring in his childhood served by his mother and grandmother. “People in the US are understanding that Indian cuisine is not just butter chicken masala and paneer tikka. Within Tamil Nadu, there are numerous micro-regional cuisines and I hope to see everything here soon,” he wishes.

When people around the world hear about south Indian cuisine, the immediate dish that pops is dosa. “That’s the reason why we consciously reduced the space for dosa in our menu. Even then, podi dosa moves very well at Semma,” he states. There was a dish that Vijaya Kumar was quite skeptical about curating on the menu.

“My grandmother lived in a remote area near Natham. People used to cook and eat nathai there, which many in the urban landscape find absurd. During my vacations, we used to sit in paddy fields and relish the flavourful nathai pirattal, enjoying the picturesque view. After the vacation, when I used to share the memories with my friends, they mocked me as nathai was tagged as a dish for people from lower economic backgrounds. It was associated with caste differences as well and considered a shame. From then on, I avoided talking about that to anyone. When I shared this story with Chetan and Roni, they were determined to have nathai pirattal on the menu,” he recalls. However, to his astonishment, the reception for the dish was great and it is a bestseller.

Snails are used for cooking in various cuisines including the French. “During my college days, I was shocked and amazed to know about escargot, a French delicacy prepared using snails and it was widely accepted as well,” he adds.

Breaking the myths about non-Indians being unable to tolerate the spice level of Indian dishes, Vijaya Kumar clarifies, “Our guests are 60 per cent non-Indians and 40 per cent Indians. We hardly receive complaints from the majority about the spice level. We can see them enjoying the spicy food and they love the fact of how we stick to our roots and appreciate being authentic. However, I am not sure of other parts of the US.” He also says that as Americans travel a lot to India and visit off-beat places like Kanadukathan, they are aware of the original flavours of the food.

Proud of representing the south Indian cuisine in New York, “Our cuisine is underrated. Hyderabad cuisine has an influence of Mughals and parts of north Indian cuisine have an impact of Parsi. But Tamil cuisine has its own identity and is full of medicinal values. New York is a master of the culinary world. It feels immensely thrilled to reflect the significance of the cuisine to the world,” concludes the delighted 43-year-old chef.