The Hindu Business Line : The good food guide

On a scorching Wednesday afternoon, master chef Sanjeev Kapoor was busy putting together the ingredients for Kashmiri sweet rice at the Duchess Club in Chennai, where he demonstrated the nuances of microwave cooking. This wasn't going to be any run-of-the-mill culinary exercise, for Kapoor would be adding his own style to a very traditional recipe.

And so, much to the consternation of the audience, he shot in cashew nuts, almonds, sugar, cardamom and nutmeg — all in one go, contrary to the step-by-step procedure that the original recipe called for. When he came to the hero ingredient, ghee, he hesitated a little owing to earlier concerns of a calorie catastrophe, but after an indignant `yes' from the audience, in went the ghee as well. Finally, he gave the whole mass a good stir and, rubbing his hands together with a cryptic "now let's see how wrong we can go", he popped the lot into the microwave and left the timer (set for five minutes) to decide their fate.

"It's this suspense that I love about cooking," he said five minutes later, as he inspected his culinary creation amidst the `wows' of the crowd. And it is this adventurism that has kept business brisk and innovation alive even after 700 recipes.

Consider his more recent work, Microwave Cooking Made Easy — a book to delight all those who would like to spend less time in the kitchen. "The book was written on demand," he says in between signing autographs and posing for pictures. "I had people complaining that although some microwaves came with recipe books they were not interesting enough. So it made sense to write a book. And the microwave is a thing of precision," he says.

But what about safety concerns? How healthy is it to cook in a microwave? "I think we need to worry more about the air we breathe," is his sardonic rejoinder.

The book, he says, has received "tremendous response initially". Kapoor's first book, Khazana of Indian Recipes, released in January 1999, claimed the No 1 bestseller slot as have Khazana of Healthy, Tasty Recipes, Khana Khazana: Celebration of Indian Cookery etc. And of course there's his TV show, Khana Khazana, that's had an uninterrupted 450-episode run since its launch in 1993.

"The list on demand is endless, so you have to reach out to more people, because only then will they look up to you and ask for more and it only makes sense to extend your brand and expertise through these various avenues," he says of his many gastronomic ventures.

Has the food industry changed a lot since he entered the scene? "Of course, the growth has been phenomenal and there is very good scope to expand the business." Food festivals, especially, are a good way to attract customers and offer them something new, and "it breaks the monotony of routine in a hotel and gives the staff a chance to learn something new."

Speaking of new experiences, would he be willing to embark on something different like the organic food segment? "Well, we've done a lot of study on that and found it's one of the most difficult things to achieve because currently there aren't any certifying bodies in India to determine what is organic and what is not."

In the meantime Kapoor is busy exploring ancient Indian cuisine; he's working closely with historians and food enthusiasts, gathering information on Indian cuisine - its culture and history.

"We are working with the Institute of Oriental Studies, Mumbai, and collecting information from libraries, universities and homes and now have more than 35 manuscripts. There are so many things relating to Indian cuisine that have gone out of the country and so it becomes hard for us to trace the origin of that particular ingredient or food custom. Take the issue of Basmati rice; we've been fighting 42 cases worldwide for a patent and have only cleared 16 at the first level."

The research aims to set right misconceptions about Indian cuisine culture and, more than anything, serve as reference material for hotels and food companies. Kapoor hopes it will be introduced in catering colleges too.

Picture by Bijoy Ghosh

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