In her new show Kifayati Kitchen, MasterChef India season one winner Pankaj Bhadouria will discuss smart cooking without the use of expensive ingredients. She chats with D Kaushik

life got too busy too sudden for Chef Pankaj Bhadouria after winning MasterChef India season one. From show offers to making guest appearances, requests kept pouring in. But Pankaj wanted some time for herself while doing what she likes, so she chose shows with caution. Post her win she has been part of over three cookery shows and fourth one started last weekend on Zee Khana Khazana. Called Kifayati Kitchen the show will help you know how to make any dish you want without the use of exotic ingredients that are either sometimes not available easily or burn a deep hold in your pockets. “Along with that the show is also about smart management. There are times when you realise that ingredients you usually cook your dish with are over and there is no time to get them from the market. So in such cases you should know about the substitutes that might be always available at home,” says chef Pankaj about the show. She adds that she chose to do the show because as a homemaker who is fond of cooking she faced several such situations in her kitchen when she needed to act wise and come up with a meal almost immediately, even without required ingredients. “I was a teacher and there were times when I reached home late and realised so and so ingredients are not available. So I had no option but to experiment. I would credit those experiments only for making me what I am today. I explored my own kitchen and found out how our commonly used spices and sometimes leftover food can create wonders. Once my husband’s cousins arrived at home and decided to stay over night. Next morning we woke up late and everyone was in a holiday mood. I realised that there’s no vegetable at my home, not even potatoes and everyone was waiting for breakfast. I only had a leftover daal from previous night’s dinner and some boondi that we use to prepare raita. At my mother’s home boondi ki sabzi was cooked regularly but I never tried it at my husband’s home. So I decided to cook daal ki poori from the leftover daal and boondi ki sabzi for breakfast. My guests just loved it. So in the show I will be sharing such little incidents from my own life and will encourage housewives not to panic if they don’t have enough ingredients but to act smart and know their kitchen well,” shared Pankaj.

She says that at a time when every ingredient, even vegetables, are available at high prices we should know how should smartly cut down the cost. “For example, if you are used to cooking with yellow and red capsicum, which cost higher than the green one, why not only use green capsicum. Taste of the dish won’t change. If tomatoes are too costly then why not use curd as a souring agent to your curries. It will add more richness to the gravy and taste will only improve. So is the case with onions. Many housewives are used to cooking only with onions, but we should not forget that so many cooking styles exist in India that we can easily choose from the variety. We have Jain cuisine which is always done without the use of onions and the taste just remains the same. So if you are used to onion ka tadka in your daal, try daal with heeng and jeere ka tadka or with rai and curry patta tadka. You will get a different taste. Most dry vegetables can be easily cooked without onions. They are used as ingredeint in the curries to make the gravy thick. So instead of onion puree, add vegetable puree to your curry or use peanut and coconut paste to add more flavours. It is definitely not true that you cannot come up with a delicious dish without the use of onions,” she said.

Pankaj has started her own culinary academy in lucknow and two cafes. There was news that she is planning to open up a restaurant in Delhi, but she said, “Nothing is confirmed yet.” But there are lots of things in pipeline. And a book is one of them. “It will be a recipe book of 54 chicken curries from different regions of India,” she informed.