Tastemakers Festive Chef Tables C hristmas celebrations begin with cake after REGI MATHEW Culinary Director and Owner, Kappa Chakka Kandhari in Chennai and Bengaluru; co-founder, Chatti by Regi Mathew in New York ‘Time spent with friends, family over food and jokes’ midnight mass. The next day, our Syrian Christian breakfast includes steamed banana, appam with mutton stew, or kallappam with chicken curry. Aval vilayichathu (beaten rice with jaggery and coconut) and banana is another classic of our community, originally from Central Travancore. Lunch is a lavish feast with cutlet and sallas, bread and chicken or duck roast, appam with fish moilee, red rice, kachiya moru, beef ularthiyathu, pork fry, kodampuli fish curry, cabbage thoran and pazham nanachathu for dessert. As a child, I remember cake-making with my mother and caring for the duck that would be served for Christmas. I love it when friends and family gather to chat, crack jokes and cook together. For me, Christmas is incomplete without carols. We got food writer PHORUM PANDYA to speak to a few top chefs who swap bustling kitchen service for family rituals, nostalgic recipes and comforting festive flavours, all this, as they gather around their cherished Christmas tables PAUL KINNY Culinary Director, St Regis Mumbai ‘Good food, good music and gratitude’ F or me, Christmas is an intimate celebration with my family. We reflect on the year and share our gratitude. We keep it simple — good food, good music and uninterrupted time with those who matter most. On Christmas day, we cook a classic chicken roast along with East Indian essentials like fugias and potato chops. My wife makes traditional East Indian sweets such as marzipan, milkcream, kulkuls, guava cheese, date-and-walnut rolls, boros and doughnuts, which are also shared with loved ones. Everyone knows the holiday season in hospitality is a whirlwind, but I take it as a reminder to pause and spend unhurried time with my family. I look forward to grounding myself before the chaos of the New Year. Christmas always stirs nostalgia. I remember sitting on the kitchen floor with my mother, the tiny room warm from the wood chulha, stuffing nevries with coconut and rava, then frying them. We made hundreds. That’s where my love for sharing joy through food began. COM • DECEMBER 2025 27
28 Publizr Home