Path-breaking originality
India’s celebrity chef, Sanjeev Kapoor, is all set to dispel some set notions about Indian cuisine. Some of them would be true eye-openers, says the host of the longest running television show in India. Rajeev Nair met him in Dubai
Photographs: Chandra Balan
RIGHT now, India’s celebrity chef, Sanjeev Kapoor is waiting for a Swiss chocolate from Kalimpong, a sleepy hill-town in West Bengal, India. Tucked away in the region’s orchid-rich, verdant valleys, is a chocolate factory run by a Swiss couple.
Kapoor, who says a good memory of what matters to him has always been his forte, remembers the taste of the chocolate he had eaten while he travelled through the region as a child.
This year, on his birthday, on April 10, Kapoor had cancelled all his appointments at the ‘order’ of his young daughters and was staying put at home, cooking for family, when his wife came with a friend, who hails from Kalimpong. The talks eventually zeroed in on the Swiss chocolate, and the lady has promised to send some of those.
“Taste is something one never forgets, no matter the number of years that pass,” he observes, sitting at Khazana, the restaurant that was recently crowned for being the ‘Best Indian Restaurant’ in town. He has lent his brand image to the outlet, which he has helped put up, and is constantly involved in its up-gradation.
Kapoor takes things one at a time. He is no hurry, which explains why the most recognizable chef of India has been choosy about the outlets he endorses. Apart from Khazana in Dubai, and an outlet in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Kapoor has supervised the opening of the Yellow Chilly chain of medium-priced outlets in India, and Grain of Salt in Kolkata, which has the largest kitchen in India for a stand-alone restaurant in the country. Now, he is lending his expertise for an outlet to be opened soon in Bahrain.
He has recently launched the Khazana range of spices, which are currently marketed only in Mumbai, again a reflection of the take-things-one-at-a-time attitude Kapoor has towards life and work. Unknown though to many is the untiring efforts he discover the original flavours of Indian cooking. The research work is laborious and slow but Kapoor has chanced upon some fascinating discoveries, which he intends to blend with modern cooking to assure healthy living.
He was in Dubai for the special Baisakhi promotion held by Khazana, and devoted nearly two fully days to be with guests.
Excerpts from an interview with the star chef:
What is the most difficult part about being a celebrity chef?
Honest answer?
Of course…
Well, it is to answer the same questions with the same enthusiasm as if you haven’t heard that question before.
So was it a different question?
It is an answer that I have never given. Seriously though, the tough part is that you are under constant pressure. You are under a scanner to perform.
Do you therefore deliberately steer yourself to be cool, cheerful?
No, I think it comes to me naturally. The smile you see on my face on television is something that I normally go about with. In our work, you can’t act. I don’t work with a script, and I let my food speak. I behave in the normal way. If I were acting or feigning, the show would last for a couple of years. But Khana Khazana, now 10 years on, is the longest running show, in all categories, in India.
By going unprepared for the show, isn’t there a chance of you repeating what you might have already done?
Not at all. I must say I have a very good memory. It is a selective memory. There are certain things that I may forget very soon. As a child, as a student, I was in the brilliant category thanks to my memory. That helps in every field. When you go unprepared, you have to say things from the repertoire you have.
Considering that you were a brilliant student, and you entered the industry at a time when hotel management was not much respected, what prompted you to try out in this field?
I have always had an attitude of taking a different path from others. If every one goes to the right, I would choose the left.
Has that put you into trouble?
No, I have always benefited from it. I am not comfortable doing what every one else is doing. I am not happy following the path set by others. I believe in making one, leading, and letting others follow the path. I am an Aries…
So you just celebrated your birthday? What did you do?
I stayed put at home. I have two daughters, Rachita and Kriti, aged 8 and 5 years. The younger one, woke up, wished me, and said: ‘You are not going to the office today, and that is final.’ So there I was at home.
You are a chef known for the flexibility of your recipes. Even novices can try out yours. But then do they necessarily get the flavour you expected and worked on?
May not but at least they tried. Most people shy away from cooking. My first effort is to prompt people to start cooking again. Once they do that they will cook better, and then they will become experts.
You have written six books. When you write a book, who do you look at, the beginner or the expert?
I think I have scored most marks in understanding the consumer. What I say is, even if it is a novice looking at my recipe, he/she must feel: ‘Oh, this is easy.’ As for an expert, he must feel: ‘Oh, this is simple but I never thought of this.’ There is a little bit of madness in that. Take a simple daal for example. I might have garnished it with mint instead of coriander. The novice gets the normal taste and he/she is not bothered about the garnish. The more accomplished, who knows the nuances, would also appreciate it for its difference.
Do you always test your recipes?
Always. In fact, that is how I started writing books. Once the television shows gained popularity, wherever I go, people started asking me to write a book. I always used to wonder why I should write a book when the recipes are already on television and available for free. Then I started picking up cookery books from the Indian market, and I realised that most of the recipes don’t work. Being a professional chef, you can know if a recipe will work or not by just looking at it. If there were takers for books with recipes that don’t work, I decided to have books with workable recipes. The first book took about 22 months to write.
The difficult part was writing down the recipes keeping in mind a person who does not cook. You had to make sure to talk their language as well as be precise. Now, we understand what people want. We list about 500 dishes for a book, when we start on it. Then I approach people I know to pick 300 from them. And then based on more popular choices, we make a final list. I still see lot of books making the same mistake of taking people for granted. I make sure that we don’t take people for granted that much because I am sure even today we might make mistakes.
Are your taste buds as effective as ever?
Taste is registered back in the mind and will stay there forever. There are certain things you might have tasted in your childhood and not ever since. But the minute you taste that you immediately identify it with the childhood experience. It is a nostalgic experience.
Going back in time, do you think it was television that made you? Do you think you would be where you are today without television?
No, not to this extent. Television helps me reach out to more people. But it was not that I was not known in terms of my professional achievements. Most of them happened to me before television. I was the youngest executive chef — even today — in India for a 5-star deluxe hotel. I was the youngest five-star chef awarded as the best executive chef trophy for India. But of course, television takes you to a different level.
You have been doing extensive research in Indian cuisine. What have been your most important findings?
We all think that the ancient Indians were more vegetarian in nature, and that is what India is. No. The kind of non-veg they were eating, if we talk of that now, we have to be very careful because it may cause a national stir.
How do you actually go about with the research?
We knew someone who was doing a lot of research on ancient India but not on food. We collaborated with him. We needed to collect information to start with. We started with stored information wherever in India. It could be in libraries, books or written manuscripts or articles, or the people. We first decided to make a list of what is there, and we have compiled a bibliography — the first of its kind in India. Out of that we selected some manuscripts, where we believed the information might be relevant. We collated it, and then comes the most difficult and time-consuming part of translating the information. Most of them are in a Sanskrit or Prakrit.
But what is the modern-day relevance of this information?
Certain ethos, which where there are indeed important. Even today, we refer to grandmother’s cooking. More importantly, it has been identified that most of the illnesses today are the result of our dietary habits. In ancient India, we had a number of natural remedies. Food was used extensively as a remedy. Ayurveda had most references to food. If we have such information, which can help people at large, and we have means to it, why shouldn’t we do it?
Do you therefore intend to incorporate the information in modern-day cooking?
Yes, but unfortunately it is a slow process. It is the interpretation of the knowledge that is important. And I don’t think we can commercialise the little knowledge we have. What we actually what to do is make the information relevant to modern-day cooking.
How do you react to people who boast about serving traditional Indian cuisine, now that you are discovering ancient Indian cuisine is altogether on a different level?
I just laugh it away. You work with so many historians and suddenly you realise what you have worked at hotels is entirely different from reality. Even what we have done has taken so much effort. People ask for recipes based on our work. But recipes are indeed the last part of the work. And we are looking at a big picture.
