'Six cooks...
'..six countries,
'six incredible journeys.'
Ah!
'Stepping outside their comfort zones...'
It's not for the faint-hearted for sure.
'..our cooks will travel far and wide...'
Route 7 all the way.
'..to find some of the most exciting food on the planet.'
If you're back in the UK,
you've got Tandoori chicken, nothing like this.
It's beautiful. This is the best food I've had in Egypt.
It's pure, it's got heritage, it's got love in it, you know.
'They'll go off the beaten track...'
Crocodile! Crocodile sausages.
'..meeting extraordinary people...
'..exploring ways of life unchanged for centuries.'
No electric blenders in the jungle, have to do everything by hand.
Take your life into your own hands, we're on the road now.
'As they travel, they'll see how the language of food
'transcends cultural differences.'
I've never huffed on a cheese before.
'And a world away from home.'
This is why I love Australia.
There's no excuse for a bad pie in Australia. No.
This is the beginning. Where do we end?
'They'll learn lessons that could change the way we cook forever.'
I've been cooking a barbecue wrongly all my life.
Wow!
'This time, Scottish chef Tony Singh heads to India to explore the country
'of his ancestors.'
And it feels fantastic.
'He'll eat and cook his way across the region.'
I'm not good at this cooking lark.
'From the Punjabi pit stops,
'to the tables of the maharajahs.
'He'll find his way to the heart of his own family's history...'
I can't even imagine what hardships they went through.
'..and unleash his inner Bollywood star.'
I'm Tony Singh.
People see me as an Indian because this is the quintessential look
of an Indian from the maharajah - turban, beard, lovely tan.
But I was born in Scotland and I've lived here all my life.
And now I want to see if I can fit in in India.
I want to go and immerse myself in India
and see if I can get away with it.
I've been in the restaurant business for 22 years.
My style of food is not curry.
I'm a classically-trained chef.
It's always been about local produce, Scottish produce,
French technique.
What I do know about Indian food comes from my mum
and even she's a Glaswegian born and bred.
I was chopping onions, and one of your cousin's sisters went,
"No, we don't chop them like that." No, that's right. You know?
But I want to find out about more than just food,
my mission is personal.
Every time I speak to my parents, I'm finding out something new
about how they came to be in Scotland.
Everybody left, everything, all the belongings, the houses - everything.
My knowledge of my family history now is about that.
It's like my knowledge of Punjabi foods is like that
because it's vast and this journey, this trip of discovery
is going to be for both.
My family story begins in 1947
when the country was divided into Pakistan and India,
the partition.
I'm heading to the north-western state of Punjab,
home of the Sikh religion and where my dad's family are from,
and I'm starting my journey in Amritsar.
I've only been to India twice in my life
and those were fleeting visits...
..so this is going to be a huge adventure
and a chance to see if I can really fit in.
This is it, this is what I expected to hit me
as soon as I walked out of the airport, and it feels fantastic.
You take your life into your own hands, we're on the road now.
I'm just so excited.
I'm here to find out about authentic Punjabi food.
To see the real thing, hear the stories,
find out how it's changed, how the history, how the land,
how the people have shaped the cooking, the techniques,
the ingredients that I call my own.
I'm in the holy city of Amritsar, the spiritual home of Sikhism.
It's the eve of the most important religious festival of the year -
Diwali, the Festival of Lights.
But after two planes, a hairy rickshaw ride...
Thank you.
..I'm cream crackered, and tomorrow I have an early start.
It's Diwali, or Bandi Chhor Divas for Sikhs,
and I'm getting ready for the Golden Temple.
My worry right now apart from getting to temple, to the gurdwara,
is what I'm going to wear, what shirt I'm going to wear
because everybody's going to be dressed up,
it's going to be fantastic.
You get there, it's the beginning of the year,
you know what I mean, it's that whole thing of...
Yeah, it's a fresh start, it's good.
As I join other pilgrims on their way to the golden temple
the atmosphere is electric.
The butterflies are starting. I'm so excited.
Do you know what I mean, it's just that thing of anticipation,
it's just...you can't explain it.
Wow! My childhood heroes.
The Nihang, Sikh warriors.
And I've not met them, I've not seen them in person.
It's surreal for me.
You can just feel it coming up to you,
there's just something about it.
You can hear the madness behind you and the hubbub,
and everybody's coming in, but they're taking their own time,
they're just quietening down.
They know they're going somewhere divine.
As a Sikh on Diwali, this is the place,
this is the centre of Sikhism.
To come during Diwali, you're a lucky person
and I'm a very lucky person to be here.
The Golden Temple is a breathtaking sight.
It has four entrances to show that all are welcome
regardless of faith, gender or caste.
The whole complex is sacred and pilgrims from all over the world
come here to worship.
Langar, or communal eating,
is a cornerstone of the Sikh faith
and a major part of the celebrations.
The food is free and the operation is run by volunteers.
One of the greatest honours for any Sikh is to do service,
and most of the work is done in silence as a sign of respect.
There may be an army of washer-uppers
but that's because the kitchen
will feed over half a million pilgrims today.
To cope with the numbers, food is cooked in massive cauldrons.
I've been told this one holds 400 kilos of lentil dhal.
Bread, rather than rice, is the staple food of Punjab
and here they can churn out over 20,000 wheat flour rotis an hour.
That is one of the cornerstones of our faith.
It's simple fare where everybody is treated equal.
You sit on the floor and you don't care who's sitting next to you,
it's always vegetarian,
it's always something that anybody can afford.
This is the most amazing thing about Punjabi food,
it's so interlinked with the Sikh tenets of Sikhism.
Kirt karo, vand chhako, naam japo,
which is honest work, then share what you have,
and then meditate with God.
The Golden Temple, it's like the Vatican for Catholics.
There's no other place like it, it's awe-inspiring.
I've seen how the Golden Temple feeds the masses,
but how do people do Diwali on a more modest scale at home?
Well, I've been invited to celebrate this special occasion
with a family who live on the other side of town.
It's a real honour, so I'm not coming empty-handed.
And in good tradition I'm taking sweets,
and these one's I've made myself because it's very auspicious.
Hi, happy Diwali. Happy Diwali.
In the Punjabi tradition, pouring mustard oil to welcome guests
is a ritual.
Happy Diwali.
And I am indeed welcomed by the whole extended family.
I've just made that from Scotland,
so it's shortbread and tablet like barfi.
So, I'm here to learn something in the kitchen.
Karandeep, what do you like?
What's your favourite dish your mum cooks for you?
Is that what we're making now?
Yes. That's kidney beans? Yeah, it's beans.
Yeah, it's going to be with rice, which is quite interesting
because in Punjab, they just eat lots of bread,
so this rice dish is Karendeep's favourite,
that's what I'm going to get shown.
How often do you help in the kitchen?
But now, you see that, it makes you more eligible to get married.
OK. OK.
We're ready to go into the kitchen.
We're making a red kidney bean curry
and we're starting with a Punjabi cooking staple -
mustard oil, and lots of it.
Right, so, that's a fantastic tip I never knew,
you can still smell the mustard oil.
When it's at temperature, you won't smell it. OK.
So that's going in, that's going to take 10-15 minutes to brown.
Once the onions have softened, we add garlic and ginger paste.
So I'm getting the green chillies.
Going in to the magic mincer with the tomatoes
and there's only three chillies going in,
and this gets away from the fact that everything should be hot
and mad spicy - it's not, it's aromatic and tasty.
Auntie said to me, "Is this how I do it back home?" I said I've got
a wee boy that does it for me, or a commis, on an electric machine.
No. Change now, you're going to be doing this, ah?
And you'll find a spice box like this in every Punjabi kitchen
with the flavour essentials for most dishes - garam masala,
salt, turmeric and two types of chilli.
OK.
That's it ready.
That's it there.
And this is...
So we've got kidney beans that have been soaked
and cooked in a pressure cooker with two teaspoons of salt.
Most Punjabis are vegetarian, and simple veggie dishes
like this are the mainstay of family feasts.
Outside, things are getting lively.
But for now I'm taking a more sedate approach
to the Festival of Light.
Yes. Old, yeah.
I'm missing home now.
We do the same but it's with tealights.
It's one of the things that the kids love doing,
lighting them with me and putting them round the house,
so I'm feeling a bit sad.
Happy Diwali.
I may be feeling homesick but that's soon cured by the warm welcome.
Diwali here is like the Christmas holidays back in the UK,
filled with family, friends, gifts...
..and of course food.
For Diwali we do the same, we have the fireworks,
we have our diyas tied to the house.
This is like being in my own home.
As it's a special occasion, we're having a rice dish
rather than the Punjabi staple - bread.
Unlike Christmas, there isn't one traditional Diwali meal,
so people eat whatever they like.
The red kidney beans taste fantastic
and even remind me of my mum's cooking,
so simple but full of flavour.
Now, though, it's play time.
Stand back from the fireworks, eh?
50 yards. I don't think so.
And like at home, I'm only allowed the sparklers.
The amazing thing today was that sense of family,
sharing and eating, it's exactly what we do at home.
Fireworks maybe not to that scale, but sitting down
with your family, I mean, it's so special.
And the flavours, the flavours I've been having at home,
it's true Punjabi flavours and they're the same here.
I think that's one of the things that's made me connect
and feel at home.
After last night's celebrations, I can't believe I'm hungry again.
But it's not surprising, everywhere I look there's delicious food.
Just seen an elephant,
somebody nearly getting squished at the roundabout
and this is before breakfast, but that's what I'm here for.
I'm on Lawrence Road, I'm starving
and I want to find out what we have for breakfast in Punjab,
and I've been told there's a cracking place
just round the corner.
See that, look at that.
So that's a dough but he's stuffing it with lentils.
He's making puri.
It's a deep-fried bread.
Vegetable...
Clarified butter.
Wow, look at that.
This is a thing that you have for breakfast, eh?
Oh, OK, thank you.
Best place to get puri chana is kind of just there,
so that's where we're off to.
No need for a menu here, there's only one thing on offer.
And this is what it's about,
puri chole, this is what they have for breakfast.
That's what I call a puri. Thank you.
That's a aloo sabji - potatoes,
and that's the chole - that's the chickpeas, sliced onions and pickle.
That's feather light, should feel...
It's just...
That's lovely.
The chickpeas melt in your mouth.
Wow. So this is it, bread.
Most people think Indian food's rice.
Most of India, the bread basket of India.
In Punjab we have all these different breads -
puri, roti, roomali, roti and naan.
And you eat it with your fingers.
This is your implement, there's no forks or knives,
this is what it's all about.
You only pay 35 pence per puri,
the rest is all you can eat Punjabi style,
and the refills keep on coming.
You either have to eat quick and get out
or I'm going to have to be rude and say, "Stop."
This is wonderful.
Oh, that's me.
Just had my first Punjabi breakfast.
You can still feel the clarified butter dripping down your throat,
this is food to do things on not sit around an office.
Just as well, I have a packed day ahead.
First, I'm off to look for my ancestral home,
the house that belonged to my great-grandfather.
In 1947, after over a century of colonial rule, Britain gave
India independence and split Punjab into two - India and Pakistan.
The area around the newly-created border was volatile
and Amritsar became a dangerous and violent place to live.
My great-grandparents joined the millions forced to flee to the
safety of Delhi, and I want to find the house they left behind.
I know it's in Sultanwind Gate, which is that way,
but I need to get my skates on and get along there
before I get mashed up.
Sultanwind Gate, right, so we're in the right area,
I've got the name of the street, Fatawaligali.
Shukria.
Armed with some clues, I want to see how my family used to live...
..if I can survive long enough to find the house.
That's mental, totally mad. Man!
It's a grown man crossing the street, that's mad,
but show no fear, eh, done it.
Right, Sultanwind Gate.
No street names, so I'm a bit stuck.
It's time to put my best Scottish-Punjabi to the test.
Fatawaligali.
A foundry inside a built-up area.
Thank you.
It's 70 years ago, so they don't know where it is
but I've been asked in for tea, that's Punjabi hospitality.
I can't bel... Well, this is it, this is where it started from.
I'm a bit speechless, actually, because this is the beginning,
this is my great-grandad's house.
After some explaining, this lovely family
are letting this crazy Scot into their home.
My great-grandad was here, and during partition they moved out.
They got pushed down to Delhi, and then my grandad
went to Scotland, so I was born and raised in Scotland.
It's just...that feeling, you know, it's...
Don't know. It's quite... tingle in the tummy.
You can see the changes but they're not huge, you know what I mean?
I think probably this is, in its essence, the same.
My gran used to say they used to go across the rooftops,
so obviously this has been built on.
But seeing it first-hand and being told how it was so different,
and even though it's changed a bit,
you can still see them sitting out here.
But what an upheaval for partition, when India got divided into
India-Pakistan, to leave everything behind and get pushed down.
All the refugees, it was one of the biggest movements of people ever.
But most people thought they were coming back.
My great-grandad never came back. They never came back to the house.
One of the things that always goes through your head -
if the partition never happened,
this is where I would have been brought up most likely.
Yeah, not a bad life.
I'm grateful to this family for giving me a glimpse of
how my great-grandparents used to live.
Time for a memento.
Got my picture taken, quite a few of them actually.
Some with my head, some without my head, but I'm just chuffed.
So I'm off now on another adventure.
The sun might go down but the eating and the madness never stops.
You don't see that every day, eh?
Ha! Elephant, you'd think they'd have lights on it though.
Six, half six, that's ten hours till my breakfast.
I didn't have lunch, but that's the essence of Punjabi food
is to keep you going, but now I'm hungry.
I'm meeting a local food blogger - Jaideep.
He's promised to take me on a food crawl of Amritsar
and introduce me to a local custom called car-o-bar.
I'm intrigued.
Fantastic, thanks for talking to me online about everything.
Not a problem, not a problem. How do you... Why are you online?
I was amazed I found your blog and everything.
What's your passion about?
Yeah.>
Right.
Yeah, and this is the thing, car-o-bar.
Shown, OK. Show me.
Right. OK. Let's go.
They might hold on to old traditions here
but I think I'm about to discover their enthusiasm
for new ones too.
Right.
Yes.
Car-o-bar. Car-o-bar.
And what's this?
Why rum? Is that because of the sugar cane?
There you go, rite of passage anywhere in the world, cheap drink.
Cheap drink. Start pouring.
Crack it open, OK.
So, who's the unlucky person that drives the car-o-bar?
So what are you on, soda?
Go for it. Go for it.
And then?
Right. OK.
OK, repeat till you fall over.
There you go.
They might not serve alcohol at these stalls
but the food is meant to be out of this world.
The go-to, the place?
The go-to, the place.
You see, in Edinburgh, you'd ask for one fish and chips, OK.
By weight? By weight. What are we having?
I like this.
Punjab means 'land of five rivers'
and this is a freshwater catfish.
It's a bit like cod.
And with a bit of salad on the side. White radish.
And what's in the chutney? Chutney is a mint chutney.
You can taste the fish, you've got a little bit of heat.
This is fabulous.
Just going place to place is like tapas, OK, but this is not
cos you're drinking, you're taking your own drink. Yeah.
You're not going to the bar for the nibbles,
you're taking your bar to the nibbles.
Right. But who does it?
So it's not about cost? No, it's not about cost.
Right.
Yes.
So you have to move?
You have to move. I'm ready. You're ready.
So the fish is done. Fish is done. Now...
No, not those sorts of birds!
Tandoori chicken is a Punjabi speciality,
skewered and cooked in a traditional, wood-fired oven -
the tandoor.
And Jaideep is taking me to THE place to try it.
Drive-through.
Where from?
My mouth's watering already.
Thank you.
Wow.
Green mint chutney.
It's so tender and so succulent.
If you're back in the UK, most restaurants...
You've got tandoori chicken, nothing like this.
OK. Gas ovens. All right.
You've just lost that flavour.
So is this why they still use wood for centuries
and that's why they stick to it?
And basically you can taste it.
You can, and that's the amazing thing. That's the beauty.
I heard a story about the metal rods used to be swords.
Right.
That's how good it is, that's lasted through the ages.
Amazing. Right.
After we've had this, to finish off car-o-bar, what would you do?
Punjabi cuisine uses a lot of dairy, so what better way to finish the
night than with this solid, buttery cream with fruit
made from super-rich buffalo milk?
Wow.
52% fat and it tastes fantastic.
Car-o-bar, what an idea, eh? What a concept!
I love it, going out. Shame for the designated driver
but the bonus is the food of one person doing one thing
just right and then you go to the next,
I think it's a fantastic idea.
I think I'm finally getting the hang of crossing these roads
but there's no way this Scot is getting behind the wheel.
So I've hired a driver, who's taking me on the next part of my adventure.
I'm travelling on the Grand Trunk, or GT Road, down to Delhi,
the same 300-mile journey that millions of Sikhs,
including my own family, were forced to make as refugees.
After India declared independence,
the tension between different religions was high.
In Punjab, Sikhs and Muslims clashed
as they both scrambled to get to the right side of the border
and find safe haven.
A million people died from violence or starvation
trying to reach their destinations.
My first stop en-route to Delhi is an hour outside Amritsar.
I'm looking for a spot
where a holy order of Sikh soldiers have set up camp.
I was raised on stories about these legendary,
nomadic warriors
whose way of life hasn't changed for over 300 years.
This is my chance to meet the Nihang,
the superheroes of the Sikh world.
Getting to meet them hasn't been easy,
but, thanks to Dalbir who's worked with them for years, here I am.
I'm just in awe because as I've been growing up,
my grandad on my mum's side used to tell me about the Nihang,
the Sikh soldiers, the protectors of the faith, but everybody's faith.
These guys went about and looked after everybody and they're here.
Their martial art, gatka, has been around for thousands of years
but these swords aren't just for show.
Why would spiritual people and peace-loving people do gatka?
The Nihang were rarely beaten on the battlefield, even when outnumbered.
So, where do they get their strength?
The Nihang, they travel, they're nomadic in the sense of
they go from place to place.
And me being a chef, I always go back. How did they eat?
Thank you.
They have set up camp in a local gurdwara,
but before I see their operation, I am being taken to the
head of the order to get his blessing.
Babaji was saying? Babaji said...
Excellent. You're welcome.
Open kitchens with strict rules are set up each time they move camp.
Iron? Iron bowls. Why, why?
They always cover their mouths.
Such respect is paid to the food
that they put a piece of cloth over their mouth.
So it's an honour to become a vaviki, a chef for the Nihang
because they only cook for themselves.
They can't even have packaged drinks,
anything outside.
And other vaviki, other chefs, Nihang chefs cook for them,
but it's such an honour, I never knew this.
Close.
I'm not allowed into the kitchen,
I'm not allowed to touch anything
because I'm not a vaviki chef, I'm not a Nihang chef.
Everything done by hand until all the pilgrims are fed.
But these villagers are here for more than a free lunch,
they've come to be close to their heroes, and many
will donate food and money to keep the Nihang traditions alive.
These days, their role may be mainly ceremonial
but they're keeping alive a way of life unchanged
for hundreds of years.
Every three days. Every three days.
How are they received? How do people welcome them?
As a child, you had in your mind, you know, I've seen them in books,
I've seen them in videos, read about them,
but then meeting them...
Amazing, amazing.
Is there a place for them in this world?
Yes. It's not vanished in 300 years, I don't think they'll vanish.
I think they're strong enough to look after themselves.
Back on the Grand Trunk Road,
I'm glad I was blessed by the Nihang...
..to protect me from the other drivers.
See, that's it, I would never drive on this road.
It's too dangerous, that's why I've got you.
14 people an hour die on the roads?!
One hour, yeah.
That's unbelievable.
This is very bad.
No, I would never let...
You concentrate driving and I'll kid that I'm not
bricking myself.
We're heading deep into the heart of rural Punjab, and I can see this is
proper farming country.
This place is said to have some of the
most fertile land on the planet.
I've been looking forward
to this detour off the GT Road.
It couldn't be more of a contrast to where I've been.
Listen...
Tractors, birds, lush greenness.
This is the Punjab of my childhood memories,
the movies and everything, fields of sugar cane, I just wanted to grab
a bit and chew it and walk through the fields but it's not ready.
Such a change from Amritsar.
And the drive this morning, you could just see it,
all the green, the lushness.
This is amazing, this is why Punjab,
land of five rivers, is a fertile ground.
It's always been prized as a bread basket.
Punjabis have a reputation for being skilled and hard-working...
..and countries from Italy to Russia actually advertise
for Punjabi farmers.
Wheat and other grains grow here
in abundance and, along with dairy products, they form the
cornerstone of the Punjabi diet.
We've been on the road for hours now and yes, I'm getting hungry.
It's a perfect opportunity to see how the Punjabis
do a motorway pit stop.
Oh.
Ah.
Oh, my back.
We've just got off the GT Road, a traditional dhaba, Ludhiana.
A dhaba is a motorway caff, service station.
Nothing like this is in the UK, they've been here forever.
Simple food, cooked freshly.
This is wood fire, this is traditional.
Yeah, traditional fire. Wood.
Can I have a look round? Is it possible?
Yeah, why not? Come, come, come. Yeah, yeah.
Wow.
So I've been in India a few days and this is the first time
I've got up, close and personal to a tandoor in Punjab and it's...
The heat's 360 degrees heat, it's concave and
you have to feel the heat coming off that, it's taking seconds to cook.
And that was one of the great things with tandoor,
little fuel, all the heat was concentrated and the
flavour you get is unbelievable.
This is quintessential Punjabi at heart,
this is the thing, the tandoori chickens, the naans, the breads
and everything comes out of this oven.
This is what people know of Punjabi food outside around the world.
This is it.
Now, what to eat.
Well, this is what I've been waiting for.
In dhabas like this, they cook simple, seasonal food.
The traditional dish of Punjab is only available this
time of year, so I've struck it lucky.
Green mustard-top curry,
a Punjabi-sized portion of white buffalo butter
and corn rotis.
This is hearty, farming food
that you won't find on the menu outside of Punjab.
This is Punjab - the culture, the lifestyle, everything in a mouthful.
It is lovely. Great food.
Another local favourite is buffalo milk,
and this lassi is as fresh as you can get.
They have real live buffalos out back, how mad is that?!
Cheers. Cheers.
Lassi nice? Lassi's very nice.
It's sharp and it's creamy, though.
If we had these kind of pit stops on the M1, eh, be a much better place.
This is fantastic.
Only one more stop tonight and that's to sleep!
Well, that's the plan.
Me and Gurnam have rocked up in the middle of rural Punjab
to one of these wedding venues that are sprouting up all over
the place for a quiet rest for the rest of our journey and...
Yes, you can hear it, Bungarra music, there's a wedding.
Tired.
In my search for authentic Punjabi cooking,
I've tried the food of pilgrims, travellers and families,
but I've yet to find the high-end of Britain's
most popular cuisine until now.
I have a date with royalty!
The maharajahs once ruled the stately kingdoms across India.
And it took some doing but I'm off to see how the other half eat.
I'm meeting a member of the Patiala royal family
at one of their modest country retreats.
And they've given me a changing room that's,
ooh, just a tad smaller than my house.
So we've hit the mother lode,
we're here to taste the ultimate in Punjabi food,
rich, decadent food from the maharajas,
and I'm here with a member of the Patiala royal family.
But what do you wear when you go and see a maharaja?
Look at that.
Fingers crossed I've not put too much poundage on.
Hold on.
Oh, yeah.
I thought I'd be nervous but I'm not, he's a food lover.
We all speak the same language, "Mmm, aah, lovely!"
You know what I mean, that'll be great.
I'm nervous cooking with him, though. Talking food's one thing,
but cooking with him...
The royal secretary is waiting to take me to the raja saab,
Randhir Singh.
Thank you very much.
His grandfather, the maharaja Bhupinder Singh,
was famous for his extravagant feasts and his love of cooking,
both traditions that have been passed down through the generations.
Oh, I might have overdone it with the jacket.
I'm very honoured that you're going to show me...
you're going to cook with me. I was very surprised.
No, no, I'll cook for you.
We cook regularly whenever the members of the family are together.
We cook and, in fact, everyone cooks in the evening.
It's much better we are spending time than talking business
or talking politics, much nicer.
So who takes control?
Because obviously you still need one chef in a kitchen.
No, no, no, everyone cooks their own dish. Right.
You have these coal fires lit separately
and everyone has their own recipe, so it's laid out.
And somebody makes a rice, somebody makes some mutton,
somebody's cooking a chicken, a dhal or a vegetable.
So there's no conflict there, everybody just does their speciality?
No, no, no. No conflict.
The recipes come from the family. OK.
I'm not sure what to expect
and I still feel a bit nervous in such illustrious company.
But, phew, it turns out the royals
cook on the same traditional stoves that I've seen all over Punjab.
But they do have the bonus of some man servants to lend a hand.
This is what I call a kitchen, and the views, and it's beautiful,
but a bit hot for me I think.
Bit hot. Yeah!
I am your commis chef. If you tell me what to do, I shall...
Yes, certainly.
We're cooking a rich chicken and apricot dish
that's a favourite in the Patiala palace.
No surprise at the first ingredient - ghee.
This royal household gets through 70 kilos of ghee a month
compared with most families who use around two.
We add black peppercorns, cloves...
And we use the bigger cardamom. ..and onions.
So just gently frying it with the spices to get that
golden brown, to add flavour to the dish at each step.
This is garlic paste and ginger paste.
Garlic and ginger paste, OK.
'Even the royals have the basic Punjabi spice box.'
OK, the chillies.
And this is red chilli colour.
Just ground coriander. Yeah.
The simple use of spices to bring out the best in the flavour,
and that's what they have to do.
And they do flavour it. For every dish you have a different spice.
All the men helping in doing their dishes,
was there ever competitions who makes the same...the best dish?
I don't think so. No.
'I won't be getting any royal gossip then, but I will be getting
'some royal tips.'
You see, when the bubbles become clear
you know that the masala has been cooked. OK.
After all of the vegetarian dishes I've tried,
this already feels more extravagant.
And if you're going to eat meat in Punjab, it's usually chicken.
The smell is just phenomenal.
The maharajas' recipes have been influenced by their links
with neighbouring royal courts.
Once the chicken has simmered
we add the dried apricots, which give it a sweet taste
like the curries of Afghanistan to the north.
Because the apricots have been soaked,
they just need a couple of minutes to cook through
and all the flavours will marry together and that's it. That's it.
The Patiala royals were famous for their lavish hospitality.
And in the 1930s, at the height of their power and wealth,
this royal household would feed up to 3,500 people a day.
Today's menu includes two types of dhal,
a rich, marinated lamb and yoghurt, a creamy chicken pilau dish,
spicy cauliflower, and our sweet chicken and apricots.
The apricots and the chicken...
It's that surprise of sharp sweetness.
Does it remind you of your childhood,
of the taste that you used to have when you used to get together?
The food is the same, the dishes were many more.
Many more? Many more dishes.
They came in a big silver salver and there were these bowls like this
and they had 51 dishes including the rices,
at least two pilaus, so, a lot of food was made then.
And your grandfather was a character?
He had 42 Rolls-Royces in the garage at one time. 42?!
He was very fond of dogs as well.
We had a kennels in Patiala which had 1,000 dogs in them.
1,000 dogs?
He had a Rolls-Royce for his hunting,
so he used to carry his dogs in that Rolls-Royce at the back.
Get some more, you've got...
No, honestly, this is fabulous.
This is light, you won't have to worry about... No, no, no.
'Oh, go on, then.'
When in Rome.
These days, many maharajas have swapped their palaces for politics
and business, but they still know how to put on a cracking spread,
and I'm glad the recipes have survived.
The dishes have been wonderful.
Very subtle, delicately flavoured, you can taste all the ingredients.
It was wonderful.
Raja Saab, thank you very much. Happy that you enjoyed it.
OK, thank you. Bye. Bye.
Delhi.
With a full belly and a slightly tighter jacket...
..the rich food of the maharajas has definitely lived up
to my expectation.
But back on the Grand Trunk Road
I'm ready for the last leg of the journey.
We're in Delhi, baby!
The capital of India, population 22 million.
As I enter the outskirts of the city, I can't help
but notice health and fitness clubs everywhere.
A rich diet and changing lifestyles have made India
the type-two diabetes capital of the world.
Maybe it's a sign.
Wish me luck.
So, after a week of indulging myself
and especially with the maharaja, that fantastic food,
the jacket's feeling a bit tight, eh, so I thought,
the latest craze, Bolly Sweat.
Bit of fitness, a bit of dance.
I'm watching them and I'm getting a bit worried.
It's more than my screwing the light bulbs, big present,
small present, fish, all that.
It's a bit technical.
How are you? I'm Anant, I'm the director of Delhi Dance Academy.
Excellent. I'm...I'm a bit worried in case you kill me dancing.
Yeah, I mean, just not worry, it's a really chilled out
Bollywood dance class.
Is this a big craze now? Is Bolly Sweat the thing?
What happens in India is because Bollywood music is so popular,
people want to do the same thing on Bollywood songs,
and that's what we are doing here.
But why is there such a big increase in these kinds of classes?
Because driving here I've seen fitness spas and health clubs
and everything like that. There's a lot of general influence
of the western culture coming in. People are getting more aware,
so there are people working in multi-national companies these days.
There are gyms in the companies, there are swimming pools
and stuff like that. OK.
These companies have, you know, a culture of fitness,
you know you need to make them a regular habit for yourself.
Gently. Gently for me.
We're going to take it slow, you know, it's a group class,
so there'll be other people doing it with you. Right, let's go.
Great, come.
The nation's waistlines might be growing
but so is its fitness industry, now worth £1 billion a year!
As ever, in India, the people seem to keep what they love
and embrace what's new.
That's all right, that was all right.
Turns out I'm a natural,
or maybe these Bollywood moves are just second nature.
Bolly Sweat, fantastic. I've lost 2st, I'm off for a burger.
While I wait for my heart rate to recover,
I want to find out from my fellow dancers why this is so popular.
This is not arranged marriages any more?
There are but...
Now we have... Ah, OK, so...
Is that one of the criteria? Do they give, "I want size zero."
But the way to this hunk's heart is still food.
So what's hot in Delhi now?
Momos. What's momos?
Ready to go? Yes. Come on, excellent.
The Bolly Sweaters are taking me to their regular momo stand
around the corner.
I'll let you.
This is the first time I've had food here
that isn't the traditional Punjabi flavours that I grew up with.
Vegetarian.
So that's the momo.
And that's cooked in a tandoor?
That's it's, stuffed.
You've got this fantastic light dough, like dim sum.
The filling -
garlic, ginger, chilli, onion, spices,
and then you've got this fantastic chutney,
vinegar and chilli, simple two ingredients.
It's hot, but then it doesn't detract
from the flavour of the momo.
The Punjabi's came after partition, changed the food scene,
completely, and now the things like the momos, that's Tibetan,
and we made our own.
It's amazing how everything keeps reinventing itself.
These young Delhiites have got it sorted - work hard, play hard.
After a Bollywood Sweat class,
they're out for the best food that's on the street
and it just shows you the face of Delhi food keeps changing.
Refugees from Tibet, from Afghanistan
bringing their food in and changing the culture
of food slightly again.
It's obviously keep evolving.
I think that's what's wonderful about food in India,
the traditions are going to stay the same
but they've got tweaks from whatever comes in.
It's my last day and I'm finally in the heart of the capital.
Today I will be reunited
with the side of my family who stayed in Delhi
after travelling 300 miles from Amritsar as refugees back in 1947.
From what I know, temporary camps were set up all over the city
to shelter the millions of displaced people,
and my great-grandparents ended up here at the Red Fort.
This was one of the largest refugee camps just after partition.
With 13 million people moved over an arbitrary line drawn on a map.
My great-grandparents done that journey.
I can't even imagine what hardships they went through.
We came down in fun, in luxury, stopping to have food. They didn't
even know when their next meal was come, or whether they'd make it.
Imagine this full of people, tents,
but you're on the road for weeks to get here
and then you're thrown into this.
And that's for millions of people. We were just one family.
And that dispersed the Sikhs throughout the world.
But a million people dying in that time, I can't get my head round it.
No, I can't even get my...
There's only five million people in Scotland, whole of Scotland.
But there's things to find out now so I can tell my kids.
I need to speak to somebody who actually lived through partition.
I'm going to see my great-uncle at the family home
that sits on the same plot
my great-grandparents were given 60 years ago.
There you go.
That's the house, great-grandad's name,
my grandad's name, my granny's name.
It's so hard to imagine that
when they came here, this was nothing.
This was all farmland, all everywhere,
this was the blocks going backwards.
15ft by 60ft, that was it, that's what they were given,
and it shows the heart of the Punjabi spirit,
look what they've built round, look at the house.
They stayed, they prospered, they travelled the world.
I'm just glad to be home.
My parents have flown over from Scotland for their regular visit.
It feels good to see my mum
and my dad.
They've arranged for me to spend time
with my 89-year-old great-uncle Ammar.
I've only met him once and I've never spoken to him
about our family history or his own experiences.
He got to the camps around 13 or 14, he was there for six years.
Formative years till he was 20.
I can't even imagine what it was like.
So, when they were coming down, there was so much danger there.
This was a partition on religious grounds.
Which you got Muslims were attacking the Sikhs.
On the way up, the Hindus were attacking the Muslims.
It was horrendously sad, you see.
Guns, bombs going off and everything.
'I asked my great-uncle about my grandad, how he got to the UK.
'It was like a lot of Punjabis at the time, they went to find work
'and their plans were to go, make a little bit of money
'and come back to their homes here.
'But, unfortunately, he died in a car accident'
and that's how my family, my grandad, my granny
and everybody stayed up in Scotland.
They ended up there, ended putting their roots down there.
I asked my great-granduncle what he feels because we're in Scotland,
there's other people round parts of the world and everything.
He says, "It's great. It's God's will, it is amazing."
And he says it doesn't matter because we're just one blood
and that's it.
It's been years since we met, but then even then you didn't ask these
questions because when you're young you think you've got all the time
in the world and everybody's going to be there and you know it all.
It's not true.
I'm realising my family bonds, like my Indian traditions, are strong
and that good food brings people together.
My mum has cooked up a feast, and this journey has shown me
that her Punjabi cooking is the real deal.
Is that nice? Yes.
I came to find out if I could fit in and I can.
I can have one foot in Punjab and one foot in Scotland
and I am proud to have two strong, independent heritages
that I can call my own.
I'm so fortunate.
I didn't know more than half the stuff that I've been
discovering coming down the same road as my great-great-grandparents
as refugees.
And it's my duty to tell my kids
and I can't wait to see them to tell them.
It's a bloke's dream this is.
In Argentina, MasterChef judge John Torode
learns the secrets of cooking with fire...
Wow, look at that.
..and searches for the best piece of steak in the world.
What a way to eat.
What a way to cook.
What a way to live.