Indian Chef Vikas Khanna says, 'Everything can wait, but making hungry people wait isn’t an option'
Celebrated chef talks about coping with the pandemic and how food is meant to be shared
Michelin-starred Indian chef and filmmaker Vikas Khanna has welcomed the trend of amateur chefs and home cooks mushrooming on social media in the post-pandemic world.
This chef, who has successfully put Indian food on the global map, is far from bitter about the explosion of home chefs or banana-bread experts online. He is thrilled that food has now become a social media currency.
In my childhood, I remember how it was the season of mangoes and thunderstorms. Those mangoes used to fall to the ground and some genius in our history had come up with the idea of preserving them as pickles. There was such great abundance of them falling to the ground.
"My grandmother and I used to make that typical Punjabi-style mustard and saunf (fennel seeds) in those giant jars. We used to make it in large quantities, and I used to crib about doing all that prep work. There was so much work to be done and I kept asking her why couldn’t we just make the pickle for ourselves and not the whole family in different parts of India?
"But my grandmother reminded me that this tree was sown by our ancestors and that they did all the hard work, so the mangoes belong to every member of the family staying in Delhi, Bombay [Mumbai] or Kolkata. Now, I can’t think of making pickles in a small quantity.
"Through our pickle-making episodes, she taught me how food is meant to be shared and is the ultimate community experience.
“I admire them. They have added more interest to the cooking world and we can’t be against that, can we? I am all for their sudden-found glory and they have all underlined the fact that food feeds our spiritual beings,” said Khanna in an interview with Gulf News at his signature Indian restaurant Kinara in Dubai.
Chef Khanna even remembers a time when his restaurant patrons, who had time on their hands during the lockdown and tried making his dishes, wrote to him about even skipping a few steps from his revered recipes. Normally, a celebrated chef like Khanna – who has whipped up meals for the Obamas, written 25 culinary books, and hosted TV shows with Gordon Ramsay – may find it sacrilegious that his popular recipes were being tweaked, but he wasn’t crabby about it.
“Some even sent videos of them trying my recipes and asking if I was offended when they changed my recipes or skipped a few steps to suit them…. But I told them that making food is their expression. I don’t belong to the school of thought where you think the songs that I created should only be sung by me. I am all about creating your own version of my song,” said Khanna.
The self-made star, who famously earned a Michelin star in New York when he was broke and desperate, chose to focus on the bigger picture during the lockdown last year.
Khanna, born in Amritsar and who moved to New York in a bid to popularise authentic Indian food, spearheaded a massive food drive from Manhattan with his FeedIndia campaign where he distributed more than seven million free meals to those hungry and destitute in India. Being a hero during a humanitarian crisis in India made him focus less on his own problems.
“Even during the pandemic when things were collapsing around me, I was reminded by mum never to compromise on my moral compass … So I put all my energies into doing greater good for humanity,” said Khanna.
Excerpts from our interview with Khanna as we talk about food business in the times of COVID-19 and about trusting his gut:
How did you and the food industry cope with the pandemic?
It has been challenging with many restaurant contracts being cancelled and everything collapsing around me. And that realisation that we are in the prime of our careers made it such a difficult time too. But on 1 April last year, I put everything on the back burner and began running the massive ‘Feed India’ campaign. It was one of my biggest initiatives for supporting people and those sick in hospitals, across India.
I remember my mum reminding me that everything can wait, but making hungry people wait isn’t an option. I ensured that my moral compass of what I can achieve given my status in the culinary world was still intact. The pandemic was tough on all of us, but I stayed positive. I learnt to think for the greater good.
On my personal front, I am just happy that ‘Kinara’ has re-opened now in Dubai and we have new dishes being added to our classics. Those who wrote to me frequently about the lack of vegetarian options will now be appeased. With people ordering online frequently, we also had to learn how to deal with dining spaces needing to follow strict safety protocols, tackling fear, and that uncertainties along with logistical issues. It was a tough time, I won't lie.
Mental health issues is also in focus during this pandemic.
I told everyone around me to keep the morale high. Mental health begins to affect you if those around you are not giving you any structure to improve or feel secure … I would be lying if I said that the pandemic did not affect my mental health. It affected me tremendously. It was like seeing the domino effect in action where restaurant deals that I had planned fell through in quick succession. To watch all your plans collapsing around you isn't easy. But I held my head high and reminded myself to stay strong.
I wrote my book ‘The Last Color’, which was later made into a film starring the National Award-winning Neena Gupta on the plight of Indian widows, when I was at the lowest phase in my life. I reminded myself that I began working towards earning a Michelin star in New York when I was totally bankrupt and broke.
I even remember running to the Himalayas when I couldn’t deal with failure, but I wrote some of my greatest literature around that low phase. So, I chose to view this isolation induced by the pandemic as a moment for me to reflect upon my life … As an immigrant in America, I have learnt to stick to my roots and my guts.
What truly discerns a good chef: experience or innovation? These days, restaurants might often tend to focus on theatrical elements such as the presentation of food rather than the food on the plate itself?
There’s now a whole new wave where food is shifted from mere consumption to an absolutely visual affair. Social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok has totally changed the way we look at food. I agree there are times when you see this whole thing blow up in our faces and it can get upsetting.
For instance, from my restaurant kitchen in New York, I often observe how nobody is eating their food, but everybody is busy taking pictures of them. And that made me wonder if they didn’t realise that the food was getting cold. But then I sternly told myself not to be upset and that it doesn’t solve anything. More than those taking pictures of their food, what truly upsets me is when I see people sitting on a table together and everybody on that table is on their phones. Nobody’s talking to each other. I wish I could remind them that the only thing we have on our hands is the luxury of time and that we should spend it with each other.
From my restaurant kitchen in New York, I often observe how nobody is eating their food, but everybody is busy taking pictures of them. And that made me wonder if they didn’t realise that the food was getting cold. But then I sternly told myself not to be upset and that it doesn’t solve anything. More than those taking pictures of their food, what truly upsets me is when I see people sitting on a table together and everybody on that table is on their phones. Nobody’s talking to each other.
"I wish I could remind them that the only thing we have on our hands is the luxury of time and that we should spend it with each other.
What’s your favourite food memory?
In my childhood, I remember how it was the season of mangoes and thunderstorms. Those mangoes used to fall to the ground and some genius in our history had come up with the idea of preserving them as pickles. There was such great abundance of them falling to the ground.
My grandmother and I used to make that typical Punjabi-style mustard and saunf (fennel seeds) in those giant jars. We used to make it in large quantities, and I used to crib about doing all that prep work. There was so much work to be done and I kept asking her why couldn’t we just make the pickle for ourselves and not the whole family in different parts of India? But my grandmother reminded me that this tree was sown by our ancestors and that they did all the hard work, so the mangoes belong to every member of the family staying in Delhi, Bombay [Mumbai] or Kolkata. Now, I can’t think of making pickles in a small quantity. Through our pickle-making episodes, she taught me how food is meant to be shared and is the ultimate community experience.
What’s your ultimate comfort food?
I love Bhutanese food, as I find it incredibly comforting ....
Vikas Khanna's Signature 'Bhapa Doi' Recipe:
Khanna’s twist to the popular Bengali sweet ‘Bhapa Doi’. Bhapa means ‘steamed or baked’ and Doi means ‘yoghurt’.
Ingredients
1 cup condensed milk (or lower quantity if you want to control the level of sweetness)
1 cup skimmed yoghurt
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp Moroccan sweet rose preserve/gulkand/rose essence
1 tbsp dried barberries
For the garnish:
Berry coulis (optional) or rose petals
Method:
1. Mix equal quantities of heavy cream, condensed milk, and skimmed yoghurt in a whisking bowl.
2. To balance the sweetness along with a bit of tartness, add dried barberries which are available in any local specialty store. The barberries build up the taste.
3. Give all of these ingredients a nice whisk, ensuring that there are no lumps.
4. Add the Moroccan rose petal spread. The batter is now ready for baking.
5. Preheat the oven to 140 degree celsius or 275 degree fahrenheit.
6. In a baking tray, add a little water and place a silicone cupcake mould or ramekins.
7. Pour the prepared batter into six moulds and bake in an oven for thirty five minutes or you can steam it.
8. Cool the pudding and refrigerate them before serving it with a garnish of berry purée and barberries.
Share your favourite recipes at food@gulfnews.com