(CNN) – The term “Indian cuisine” covers a lot of ground. From the Himalayan peaks in the northern state of Uttarakhand, to the tropical southwest coast of Kerala, each landscape comes with its own climate, history, trade ties and religious customs. And each has a unique food culture.
While curry houses with standard menus are still popular, the world’s taste for Indian delicacies is evolving to include lesser known regional delicacies and daring experiments.
Indian chefs living around the world are feeding this growing movement with menus celebrating their family heritage, while traditional cooking techniques and recipes are taking on new dimensions.
CNN spoke to five of these culinary ambassadors about the dishes that – for them – capture the delicious variety of India.
Chef Jessi Singh: Buffalo Milk Kebab, Punjab
Chef Jessi Singh was born in Punjab, India and grew up between Australia and America. He brings his unique culinary journey to modern Indian cuisine, including his distinctive buffalo milk kebabs.
When it comes to preparing a kebab, milk pie is probably not the first ingredient that came to mind. But for Punjab-born chef and restaurateur Jessi Singh, it’s the best taste of the house.
Crispy on the outside, with a soft, creamy centerpiece, kebabs made with curd, yogurt or breaded cheese are a popular appetizer in restaurants in northern India.
Singh, born in a farming village outside Punjab’s capital, Chandigarh, encountered the dish – and the main ingredients – at the source.
“Before I turned 10, I knew how to milk the buffalo,” he says.
Singh oversees the fermentation of the milk for the kebabs in his restaurants in Australia, including Melbourne’s Daughter in Law and Don’t Tell Aunty in Sydney. Served with an orchid and bright pink little sauce, his kebabs may not look like the meals he ate as a child, but the bright colors represent Singh’s Punjab heritage in other ways.
“At home, color is not related to a gender or a certain person or a class,” he says. “Color belongs to everyone. You will see men wearing pink turban, a red shirt … We are a very, very colorful culture. So that’s what I put in my food.”
Chief Garima Arora: Millet roti, Telangana
Garima Arora is the first and only female Indian chef to earn a Michelin star for her restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand. Now she is putting the spotlight on India, starting with Telangana – the southern Indian part in which she was born.
Arora is not happy with her own leading honors, and takes a different approach to “rewriting this story about Indian cuisine.”
“There was a big difference between the way urban Telangana ate the rural Telangana and the Telangana tribe,” says Arora. “The idea was to take it and show it to the world.”
Arora gives millet a fine update as a rotie cake, filled with creamy, chilled crab and fresh coconut. She says her “cold curry” gives the “feeling of eating something fresh, cool, earthy – but in one bite.”
Chef Deepanker Khosla: Mutton biryani, Uttar Pradesh
Biryani is one of the most popular Indian dishes. Chef Deepanker Khosla adds a new chapter to Biryani’s low history in his zero-waste restaurant in Thailand.
“My father has this beautiful kitchen garden,” says Khosla, “so we harvest our own products, eat fresh, sustainable … it’s tradition.”
A hydroponic system on the restaurant terrace recycles rainwater to grow plants and tilapia fish, while all the waste from the kitchen is recycled into fish food and compost.
The restaurant farm supplies almost all the products for Khosla’s ‘neo-Indian’ menu, a modern, exclusive division of centuries-old Indian dishes.
It found its way into the cuisine of almost every region, and each one filled the dish with its own flavors and techniques.
Khosla releases a version known as Awadhi biryani – a beloved dish in Uttar Pradesh.
Lightly seasoned pieces of mutton and rice are layered in a pot, sealed with dough and steamed slowly for hours, in ‘stupid pukht’ style.
“Dum pukht means slow breathing, so you let the food inhale its own juices,” says Khosla.
With an ever-evolving menu that adapts to the seasonal produce that can be grown on the farm, Khosla is excited to lighten authentic, regional recipes.
What we know about Indian cuisine is ‘not even the tip of the iceberg’, he says. “India has 22 different cuisines with over 5,000 different dishes … that’s what I’m proud of.”
Chief Palash Mitra: Fisheries, West Bengal
Chef Palash Mitra has mastered a range of South Asian delicacies in his Hong Kong restaurants. But for the West Bengal chef, one dish is closer to the heart: Bengali fish curry.
Fish is an important aspect in the cuisine of West Bengal, mainly due to geography. Crossed by rivers flowing into the Bay of Bengal, the eastern Indian state has a large variety of fish. And the importance of fish also contributes to the ritual life.
“Whether it’s a funeral or a wedding, fish is an integral part of it,” said Palash Mitra, a chef born in the capital of West Bengal, Kolkata. “Fish is the symbol of a new life, the end of life. It is entangled.”
As culinary director of South Asian cuisine for the Black Sheep restaurant group in Hong Kong, Palash oversees four restaurants serving fish dishes that span the Indian subcontinent.
“The tandoori cobia … or the salmon … these are really very popular dishes,” he says.
But Bengali fish curry is the dish that is very close to my heart, he says. Mitra cooks his mother’s recipe: pieces of rui, a South Asian carp, simmering slowly in a light sauce, enriched with spices, potatoes, cauliflower and tomatoes, and served with rice. He plans to put it on the menu this summer in his restaurant, Rajasthan Rifles on Victoria Peak in Hong Kong.
Chef Kuldeep Negi: Tandoori Shrimp, Delhi
Spices are the core of all Indian food and Chef Kuldeep Negi understands this better than most. In his Singapore restaurant, Negi serves a bite of his Delhi heritage – with a kick.
As a child, Negi’s mother brought him to the market and learned how to select and mix the spices.
“She is very particular about the choice of spices because India is a country of different seasons. So every season has different spices,” says Negi. “How to use it, when to add it to the dish, how long you are going to cook it – that’s very important.”
The art of mixing spices is still an important part of Negi’s culinary art today. Although you are more likely to fry chicken or lamb in the tandoor of Delhi, Negi wants to make the best use of the seafood available in Southeast Asia.
For his distinctive dish, tandoor shrimp, he brings out the juicy, smoky flavors of the jumbo shrimp with his unique spice blend: saffron, turmeric and red chili powder, mixed with rose petals, bleached cardamom and green cardamom.
“If you’re going to bite it, you’ll feel it, the freshness of the powders,” he says. “It’s about the spices.”