Indian Cuisine Has A Great Future

His journey in Goa may have just begun, but Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor has been brand ambassador for Indian cuisine for more than 20 years. He taught India to conjure up innovative, unique recipes through his hit show ‘Khana Kazana’. Nicole Suares recently met up with the culinary wizard in Goa.

Back in 1993 Master Chef didn’t exist. The only super chefs we knew were our mothers in their kitchens or those at our favourite restaurants. It took one man’s love of cooking then to add zest to the culinary crafts. From a mere daily chore, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor spiced things up on screen to tickle the taste buds of a national audience with his show on Zee, ‘Khana Khazana’ which continues to be popular.

What are your earliest recollections of the kitchen?

Food has always been an important part of our family. During my growing up years I used to watch my father cook along with my mother. He showed me that men can cook! I have an elder brother and a younger sister and ours is a close knit family. Soon after, my elder brother Rajeev began helping in the kitchen and I followed suit at the age of seven or eight. We lived in different cities as my father had a transferable job. My mother would learn to cook the local dishes and so multi regional dishes became an integral part of our daily menu. But being a Punjabi, kadhi chawal and rajma chawal would be the patent dishes that made our weekends special and even today the tradition still stands. Having said that, I’ve always had this tendency to do something out of the box–something which my father encouraged. Back in 1981, I had planned to become an architect. Then, just by a twist of fate, I applied for hotel management at the Institute of Hotel Management in PUSA,

What hurdles did you have to face?