London: Cuisine with historic connection with the Raj era could soon be served in India as one of Britain's celebrity chefs is planning to expand his popular restaurant empire by reviving food of the British colonial period. Heston Blumenthal (47), wants to open branches of his hotel restaurant called Dinner in India, Australia and the Americas that would serve cuisine British expatriates ate in their former colonies. His menu in India could include a recipe for kedgeree (kitchiri) created in 1845 by Eliza Acton, an English poet who produced one of the UK's first cookbooks aimed at the domestic reader, and curried cod, a dish first recorded in the mid-19th century.

"The idea is to open up in another country. Like it or not, Britain pillaged the world in the past and had its tentacles in so many other cultures. With respect to the relevant countries, you could reflect that," Blumenthal told the 'Sunday Times'. "You could have a couple of dishes on there that had some colonial historic connection... Just from a culinary point of view it would be quite interesting," he said. Ivan Day, a food historian who is helping Blumenthal on a new book titled 'Historic Heston', said: "By developing these recipes, Heston is not trying to resurrect the past but use it to develop something new. "He is moving away from molecular gastronomy; he is becoming more interested in traditional recipes but changing the aesthetic for restaurant diners." Blumenthal, who was awarded his sixth Michelin star last week, owns some of Britain's most celebrated restaurants including Dinner in central London and the Fat Duck in Berkshire.