Cook with your heart. Enjoy what you do and you will always excel, says Master Chef Pankaj Bhadouria. By Team viva
India has a plethora of spices, ranging from grounded, dried, powdered, soaked, fried or used in their basic form to create the renowned delicacies in the country. Master Chef Pankaj Bhadouria creates her own mix of spices drawing on tradition but is cautious about not spilling the beans on the cross mixes and the ratio of combinations.
The Secret’s in the Spiced Mix, her recent recipe book, has over fifty unique home-made spice mixes with recipes. Bhadouria shared her take on the book, “This book celebrates the very essence of Indian cooking-its masalas! I have shared around 50 spice mixes-the masalas, which are used all across the country. Each region has its own masala to create it’s unique flavour. Kashmir has it’s Tikki masala while from Andhra Pradesh we have Gojju Puddi, Milagai Puddi which are typical spice mixes but the masalas are the same. Pav Bhaji masala and Kohlapuri masala both come from Maharashtra but are poles apart in terms of their texture and aroma. The book is all about these spice mixes from all across the country.
“So, the book has recipes for 50masalas and dishes to go along with it- a total of 100 recipes. Each recipe comes along with a beautiful photograph in this book. It is a book which every cook would love to have.
Talking about her memories related to food while growing up with her family in Delhi and then in lucknow, she mentioned, “In the winter evenings, the dining table would shift to our kitchen. I remember my brother and myself sitting on the kitchen slab. Each chapati that would come off the tawa was divided into four pieces, all equally shared by all of us, my father, mother, brother and me. This is one memory I always cherish as I lost my dad when I was 12 and mom at 21.”
When asked about her own unique spice mixes which she uses in her cooking she told us, “They are the same regular spices like jeera, elachi, nut meg, cloves, coriander, mustard. In this book I have tried to bring together all the spices across the country on a single platform. These are the traditional recipes which are there in the book.”
According to her, revealing the secrets of Indian cooking and making it simpler and viable to everyone was the actual driving force behind her writing this book. And she hopes that this book would also be a best seller like her first one, Master Chef Cook Book. So far the reviews which the book has received have been very encouraging and appreciative. “It is a rare catalogue, not only of spices but Indian masala mixes that have never been documented together earlier. There are also some international spice mixes like the red curry paste or the green curry paste from Thailand, jerk seasoning, five spice powder from China,” said Bhadouria.
“Cooking has always been my passion ever since I was a kid. I am a big time foodie and have always loved to eat well. Both of my parents were excellent cooks and great foodies. I think that had instilled this love in me as well as my sibling. So, you can say that it is in my genes,” she added.
She feels that the urge to write a book is a hangover of being a teacher. “I like to pick topics that not only intrigue me but also has scope for research work. My previous book- Chicken from my Kitchen- the Indian Way, had 54 recipes on chicken alone from all across the country. So for that matter, my book needs to have a theme that I can elaborate on.” she shared.
Concluding she said, “In terms of food, there is so much which needs to be discovered in our country.”