As with most good chefs, Sarah Todd’s food has a distinct personality. That is because, like most good chefs, Todd cooks intuitively. Indian cuisine, for example, has so many eclectic flavours that her cooking has evolved to accommodate this variety. “My technique is still very French-based (she studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris),” says the Aussie chef, “but I use so many Indian ingredients that my palate has changed. Indian flavours are very strong, so it is important to balance them.” Perhaps her trust in her culinary instinct was cemented by the mother of Devinder Garcha, her Punjabi ex-fiance; Garcha’s mother used to cook without strictly following recipe books. Those days of watching her inspired Todd’s Indian dishes in the sixth season of MasterChef Australia (2014), in which she was one of the 10 finalists. Her famous aloo gobi won her over 50,000 followers in India.
Todd’s love affair with India took off from there and culminated in the 250-seater alfresco restaurant, Antares, which she started in Goa in 2015. Since then, she has starred in several TV shows like My Restaurant in India, Serve it like Sarah and Grilled. She also helms the menus of restaurants such as The Wine Rack in Mumbai and The Wine Company in Delhi. “I wanted to demystify the myth that Indian food does not go with wine,” she says. “Many of our dishes have got that Indian touch but they are fresh, fine and plated beautifully. We have tried out some very interesting combinations.” Some of the menu highlights at The Wine Rack, for example, include red wine duck kulcha with cranberry and gorgonzola; lobster with raw mango mustard sauce, charred lemon, iceberg slaw and mint rice; and Madras curried lamb tortellini with burnt butter and coconut sauce. According to her, pairing wine with food is all about balancing the flavours. “If you have ordered a Madras curry made with a snapper, for example, the flavours are quite light. You would want to have that with a dish that is crisp and acidic. Pairing that with a heavy wine like a shiraz would overpower those flavours. A slightly heavier dish, like the quinoa biryani that we have on our menu, would go beautifully with a light pinot noir.”
Todd, who is currently on a four-city India tour presented by CRED, is one of the four female chefs selected to be part of the Australian Open Chef Series 2020 in January. For it, she is working on an India-inspired menu. “I will be giving a modern take on Indian food using local [Australian] produce,” she says.
She has come a long way since her MasterChef days. “I used to be very shy,” she says. “Cooking pushed me outside my comfort zone, helped me believe in myself and motivated me not to be so closed in the decisions I make.” But what really got the ball rolling was the birth of her son Phoenix in 2011, whom she calls her “little buddy”. Having him taught her to live in the present. “I realised that when I was with him, I only wanted to be with him and did not want to be thinking about anything else,” she says.
Today, she says they do everything together, from cooking to dancing and singing, although she claims to be a terrible singer. It is probably the only thing she does not excel in. From modelling for fashion labels like Hugo Boss and Gucci, to creating a line of décor products in association with Cottons & Satins, it looks like there is nothing she has not tried. “I love working hard and I love what I do,” she says. “Whatever country I am in, I am always busy.” But while her life might be scattered in a dozen directions, she tries to keep her mind anchored and at peace. Simplicity is a constant mantra, she says, both in life and in cooking. “Most of us tend to overcomplicate things so much, making life so difficult,” she says. “[Just like] we overwhelm our food with so many ingredients. Why not look at quality produce… showcase a vegetable that a farmer might have created, enhancing it with just a little touch.”
In many ways, she lives her life in inspirational quotes, which, she says, are her way of “self-motivation”. “And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places,” she recently quoted Roald Dahl on Instagram. “Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” Whether it is staying with a tribe in Nagaland, cooking bajre ki roti with Rajasthani women or creating a dish inspired by the khakhra she had in Gujarat, for Todd, life is a constant search for magic.