To me cooking was and is my first love and be it my college time exam practical sessions, inter-college chef competitions, national-level events, international summits, and more my preparations, planning, executing my dishes, outstanding presentation ideas, and my communication skills backed with confidence always rewarded me with nothing less than the highest marks in academics, 1st Prize and the winning trophies!
1. Tell us about your background & your journey?
My story starts from the time I was 11 months old, a tender age not even aware of what’s going on around me, and to my surprise, I get to know that I was selected to be a baby model at that age for a healthy tonic to be given to kids for overall growth since a few months after birth & that’s where I got to see that my posters endorsing Alvite drops-name of the tonic was put up in almost all nursing homes in India!
My well-wishers ever since quoted and titled me that “I was born to be a celebrity!” since a young age I was very fond of good food and loved to be with my mom in the kitchen seeing my favorite foods being cooked and watching her skills and finesse doing my menus was very fascinating and it started by observing the step by step approach and then slowly being guided by her and getting my very first lessons from my expert chef my mom made me confident enough to handle a knife, peel onions, make a good cup of tea and coffee, cut and chop basic vegetables, buttering a slice of bread and making simple sandwiches, etc and by age of 7 I could do quite a bit in the kitchen under the guidance of my mommy chef!
Gradually the interest developed and got more inclined towards taking this up as a career and beyond a hobby and coming from a typical Sindhi business class family background born and raised in Mumbai, I got complete support, backing, and motivation towards pursuing this as a professional career doing graduation in hotel management and further getting certified as a chef from various international universities like the American hotel institute and the Swiss hotel management university for being a certified trainer and expert in culinary and hospitality management education as well.
The journey has been full of experiences and loads of experiments with foods and recipes since the beginning and has specialized in over 33 international cuisines today it is a great look back session. Today with all the recognition and achievements on my plate for all the dedicated approach towards my passion have made me receive titles such as Culinary Guru and more which makes me feel all the more humble and makes me work even harder than before.
I would always love to visualize a particular recipe in more than one ways once it came in front of me on my plate or while being cooked in the kitchen and that’s where my creative hats would go wild into imagination and my ideas would then often turn into surprise and eyebrow-raising & shocking reactions, views, compliments and comments from my critics were always welcome as it made me do better and better every single day. My practical work exposure started with the Taj group of hotels, Sun-n-Sand Hotel-Mumbai, Kuwait airways as a Sky Chef & also hands-on training and development for cabin crew was another advantage of working abroad for me.
I always had a flair for sharing my views, thoughts, and ideas with people and foodies and that’s what inclined me towards doing cookery classes for age groups from 8 & 10 years to 65 years, it was fun! My experience also got more interesting during my first presence on star plus in the year 2000 on a cooking show where I did a 3-course meal in 20 mins using a microwave dedicating it to my mom on the mother’s day special episode which was a super hit show! The next show which happened with me was when colors television started in the year 2009 and I was invited to be a special guest chef, co-host for a complete season of 13 episodes featuring every Sunday prime time – 1 pm titled LG-MALLIKA-E-KITCHEN which was great exposure for me sharing my food experience with foodies around the world.
Besides this, I also have been a very expressive person when It comes to write and share my thoughts and I started writing on food in the year 1999 starting with the Mid-day –Mumbai & Pune, the Indian Express, the Asian age, The Times-Kuwait’s premier newspaper, Intelligent Hotelier, Samachar magazine- Manila, Beyond Sindh- Hong Kong, Shaadi.com- as a food and kitchen expert writer and over 30 publications till date have published and featured my recipes, food, and health-related articles, etc. I have also written the first cookery book on Arabic food to be published in India in the year 2004 titled Arabic Cookery with a classic collection of 120 recipes from the middle-east with Indian twists and variations, Filipino foods, 251 ways with fusion foods, lockdown cooking & life of a hotel management student are some of my penned collections.
2. What LED you to take up this as a career path?
A path chosen after keeping in mind the long term goal and ambitions, with a perfect blend of determination, interest, and a keen interest to learn something new every single day is truly my recipe to success and it is something probably every aspiring to be chef or hotelier must keep in mind before pursuing this as a course or a professional career.
I was crazy about cooking and being around food since childhood and that made me choose this as my hobby first and later taking the ladder step by step and finding my way goals one by one. I never had a godfather in this industry to help or to get me to the top by following any shortcuts or so & I don’t even recommend people to use shortcuts to rise in this field, take it up the way it is and enjoy every phase and bit of the journey and you will relish the fruits with time!
3. What does your typical day look like?
I’m an early riser and my day starts quite early in the morning with a little time to myself with mediation and charging myself every single day in order to perform, achieve and work to the best with the blessings of almighty.
A nice healthy breakfast, looking up my diary for the schedules for the day, since these days we are on work from home mode starting by getting inbox and replying work-related emails on priority and more but still there are online meets scheduled be it training related, consultancy related, counseling related, recruitment and selection guidance related there’s a lot to do every single day also keeping a little time for my writing assignments for several publications every day.
I also do interactive and expert session webinars for various forums, colleges & universities, food talk shows online, there are live interviews or sessions lined up at times and for me, it’s all about connecting and reaching out especially during these times when our industry, professionals, and students need us the most. Working lunch usually happens along the way with a little break.
At times there are food shoots for newspapers, magazines, and online journals and also food styling and designing activities for brands and food products, etc which takes part of the day as well, I often work until the late evening hours and at times there are hectic schedules as well which is also enjoyable since it’s my passion, a relaxed dinner end of the day with family, entering the kitchen once in a while doing some special one-pot meal for dinners over weekends is very de-stressing and fun for family members as well, the day ends by writing my diary, listing the plus and minus of the day, etc and scheduling reminders for the following day to come.
4. Does one's approach change while cooking professionally and at home?
For any successful chef the approach has to be towards Perfection, Consistency, Quality, and Balance in whatever we do, be it an order for a sandwich or a curry or a biryani or even a special guest request or even a fusion recipe. For me Sticking to Standards has been the golden rule and that’s what makes the approach more easily adaptable, unchangeable, and delivers perfection on the plates be it home or a hotel kitchen.
5. Is there a dish that you particularly associate yourself with?
Well, that’s a difficult one for me as a chef to pick only just 1 dish! but Yes, Butter Chicken...was ever since childhood my favorite dish and I associate a lot with this one since it was one of the best dishes made in my home kitchen and as I started experimenting with its ingredients and applying a little creative angle to it I ended up presenting 11 ways of doing creative butter chicken! from the Indo-Mexican butter chicken with peri spice served with Mexican bean rice, to the Indo-Chinese fusion butter chicken with egg garlic fried rice, the Indo- Spanish olive butter chicken in their appetizer format called tapas, the Indo-Filipino style tender coconut butter chicken with rice noodles called Panset, the Indo-Sri Lankan style chili sambal butter chicken with string hoppers, the Indo-Italian fusion sun-dried tomato and herbed butter chicken risotto with jalapeno Anar ka raita! The list goes on& that’s one of the reasons I received the title of ‘King of International Fusion Cooking’ on several global platforms and also ‘Prince of Food Porn’ by The Explore journal. People often end up saying the sky is the limit to creativity, in my opinion, it’s the orbit and crosses over the horizon to limit your creative thoughts so in short don’t let anything limit your ideas!
To me cooking was and is my first love and be it my college time exam practical sessions, inter-college chef competitions, national-level events, international summits, and more my preparations, planning, executing my dishes, outstanding presentation ideas, and my communication skills backed with confidence always rewarded me with nothing less than the highest marks in academics, 1st Prize and the winning trophies!
6. Can cooking be learned at culinary schools or natural talent is required?
Loved this question, and I really enjoy answering this one every time it comes across. With my in-depth and active involvement with hotel management colleges & universities in India and abroad for over two decades now my experience always makes me say that- Knowing the first basic fundamentals and complimenting it a desire to learn, being focused and willing to work hard with formal guidance to finesse is the key to Success!
A certificate, diploma, or a degree is like a passport and a visa to enter the industry having a formal note of being educated in the field of your choice but what equally is the overall personality of the person, the level of knowledge, the overall awareness that he or she carries about not just our industry but even that little common sense and aptitude levels with the confidence, of course, is like the cherry on the cake!
According to my own experience and seeing people studying along with me from my college time and over the years with the industry exposure etc I would say that having a little interest before getting into a formal course is always better. When I say “little interest “it means a lot actually and it entails having an interest in eating good food, learning some basic cooking from making a good cup of tea, etc at home, making some breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner recipes under the guidance of family members at home, helping in the purchase, vegetable shopping, assisting in upkeep and set up of your own home kitchen first, knowing the importance of hygiene and how to work clean, and keep our environment and kitchen counters, utensils, etc clean, washing up things as we go along cooking are some of the things we should be keen on doing before we decide to go to a culinary school for a formal degree.
A college, school or training center can deliver only to an extent but the desire to do self-study, research, experiments, and an eye for detail with passion is always welcome when it comes to being selected for the right job.
7. Which is your favorite book & why?
I was always surrounded by books since childhood and being a topper in academics ever since it was a keen desire to read up more and more and update myself with the technical aspects and I still remember those late evenings well spent in the college libraries with heaps of cookery and related books around me, making notes, preparing for exams, vivas, and interviews it was just great!
Even today I do maintain and enjoy reading hard copies of books on various topics in my mini library in my study room at home and keep adding into my exquisite collection of over a few hundred books which are a treasure of knowledge and excellence!
To name one book as of now out of the many would-be Larousse Gastronomique it is like an encyclopedia, a complete technical guide for people wanting to learn about culinary and food and its history, details, concept clearing notes, etc. it is one which I even go back to today once in a while when I need to at times refresh myself before a technical training program for chefs or students.
Additional Information About My Awards and Recognitions for My Talent and Success Received:
1. National Award- the Bharat Vidya Ratan Award- 2019 at New Delhi.
2. The Best Chef Asia Award 2020 at the Taj in Mumbai.
3. The Man of Excellence Award- by Indian Achievers Forum New Delhi- in 2020
4. Global Icon Award for Excellence in the Field of Hospitality Education and Culinary Arts by Global Digital Academy- Mumbai in 2020.
5. National Award- Golden Peacock Award for Excellence 2020.
6. Received Hon. doctorate Award From the Hope International World Record and Foundation for Outstanding Achievements and Accomplishments.
Also sharing one of my season's special fusion recipes with Mangoes for our readers to try.
Name of the Recipe: Mango Tango Special
Ingredients:
Fresh Alphonso Mangoes- 2 no. peeled and cut into cubes out of which one needs to be puree/mashed.
Milk- 2 cups
Sugar to taste
Green cardamom- 2 no
Khari biscuits- 4-6 no
Dates-3-4 chopped
Assorted nuts of your choice 2 tbsp chopped
Tender coconut fresh malai-2 tbsp. shredded
Method:
1. Assemble all the ingredients for the dessert.
2. Boil the milk, add sugar to taste, I also usually prefer to use honey/jaggery/date puree as well to reduce the sugar content. Also, add in the green cardamom powder or open the pods and add in the seeds.
3. Turn off the flame and add in the Khari biscuits and allow them to soak in the warm sweet milk for some time, lightly crush them as well as stir it.
4. Set the dessert into individual serving bowls and start with a layer of fresh mango pulp, a few chopped dates and nuts, the chilled Khari milk layer, and little tender coconut shreds, repeat the layers and top with the mango cubes and nuts for garnish.
5. Chill the dessert for 1-2 hours and then relish this unique and different sweet with mango this season!
Chef’s Variations: Try adding some crumbled Moti Choor laddoo, or some crumbs of Mava Pedha, brownies, sponge cake, or even crushed digestive biscuits, oatmeal cookies, etc in this dessert for a change.
Chef Kaviraj Khialani
Celebrity Master Chef. | Food- Health- Lifestyle Consultant. | Author- Academician & Advisor for career growth in Hospitality. | Recipient of The Bharat Vidya Ratan Award. | Awarded The Best Chef Asia Award. | Global Icon for Excellence in Culinary & Hospitality Education.
Interviewed By: Nishad Kinhikar
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