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Sanjeev's spice route

Curry, chicken tikka and him. Star chef Sanjeev Kapoor fondly hopes these would be the first three associations with Indian food anywhere in the world, discovers RAKESH MEHAR

BREAKING THE MOULD Sanjeev Kapoor: `We must create, not simply copy' Photo: Anu Pushkarna

There were certain rather unusual things about the cooking event organised by the California Table Grape Commission at the Forum earlier this week. To start with, in order to promote California grapes, the main ingredient used in all the recipes was fresh grape. Now call me old-fashioned, but the only "preparation" I like to do with grapes is washing them.

And yet, there was a man on stage cooking them, while women twice his age feverishly scribbled down every word that left his mouth. Hardly anyone blinks at this, though, when the star of the moment is Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor.

For those who came in late, Sanjeev Kapoor is something of an icon on Indian television, hosting one of the longest-running Indian cookery shows. Called Khana Khazana, the show has been running since 1993 and has completed over 600 episodes.

He also conquered the printed word with a successful range of cookbooks, not to mention his ventures into multimedia. The man himself is a popular franchise, lending to a host of hotels around the world. He is also a familiar face on the FMCG circuit, with a range of pickles.

To think it all began with a series of fortuitous choices! In school, Sanjeev was a national merit scholar and was being pushed towards the IITs and similar realms of intellectual sanctity. Casting around for something different, exciting and creative, he almost became an architect. Finally, by virtue of being something no one he knew had done, he chose Hotel Management, surprising many.

Even television was a coincidence. He filled in for one episode for a chef who cancelled at the last minute, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Audience attention he has held, he says, thanks to his disregard for formal structure. "We don't have a script for the show, only broad outlines. The recipes we give on the show are actually written down as I cook. In fact, of the two recipes I cooked on the first episode, one didn't have a name."

That was how he clinched the job. He asked viewers to send in suggestions on a name for the new dish, and the channel was flooded with replies.

In all these years, he has stuck with that spontaneity and experimentation. While he agrees that every cook must first learn the basics of tradition, especially traditions passed down from parent to child, he clarifies that cooking that strictly adheres to this tradition is a waste. "If after 100 years we are still cooking a dish the same way, then in 100 years we have contributed nothing. We must create, not simply copy. If you asked M.F. Hussain to replicate a Piccasso, he would probably flatly refuse. It's the same with cooking."

"The South is too possessive of its food," he says, emphasising the need for flexibility. "That's why South Indian food isn't as popular as the North Indian food." The most telling example for this is the time he cooked aviyal on the show. He had used a recipe that the grandmother of an acquaintance had given him. However, within a matter of days, he got over 200 letters telling him that this was not the way to make aviyal. "And all the recipes they gave were different from each other!" he laughs. Entrepreneurs who took dishes such as chicken tikka to other parts of the world, on the other hand, made modifications to the recipe such as cutting down the spice, making gravies slightly creamier, etc.

Food must be customised to suit the local population, he asserts. "They say McDonalds is so successful because the food tastes the same everywhere. But one of their biggest successes in India is the aloo tikki burger."

Traditional Indian food, he explains, isn't even what we think it is. "All the food that we call traditional isn't. Just 400 years ago, in India we didn't have onions, tomatoes, potatoes or garlic. So you can see how much our cuisine has changed in the last 400 years. Everything changes and so should food."

Sometimes, tradition can also impede the progress of ambition. The question of why there aren't many women chefs invariably comes up. Sanjeev explains most top chefs are men because they have the time and space to devote themselves to their jobs, which are physically challenging and overly draining. "With women, no matter what job they are in, they have to take care of the house too. The men escape that responsibility."

Despite his own meteoric rise to fame, Sanjeev says that India hasn't yet opened itself up to cooking shows. "Jamie Oliver (a television chef in England) was recently voted one of the three most influential people in the U.K. In the U.S. cooking shows happen on primetime, and there are even 24-hour cooking channels. In India, people are more risk averse. They aren't bold enough to try something new." And so, television is more formulaic, rarely venturing past the K-serials, he says.

The trend-setting trail he has laid in Indian television is only the beginning for Sanjeev. Having reached a small section of people in one part of the world, what he really wants, is to become a global citizen.

"I want to be one of the top three choices when people think of Indian food — curry, chicken tikka and Sanjeev Kapoor." The first step in that grand plan is to find himself a space on an English channel that reaches out to people in other parts of the world. For Sanjeev, the world is his oyster.

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