Simple does it

Even if you have never done as much as stirred a curry on the cooktop,chances are you know exactly who Karen Anand is. If you haven’t caught her dishing out delicacies on television,you would have definitely flipped pages of one of her umpteen cookery books. As you’ll notice,one of India’s leading food consultant,writer,gourmet specialist and entrepreneur too doesn’t need an introduction. Surprisingly,she’s on her first ever visit to Chandigarh and it’s not without reason. “I am here to get the men in your city to cook but compete as well,” mentioned Anand who arrived to play host at a ‘Men Can Cook’ event in association with Carlsberg beer. “It’s a celebration of fine food and fine beer. The six chosen men,celebrities in their own right and from different walks of life will compete against each other to dish out a delicacy,” explains the gourmand who has toured eight cities in the country hosting the event. And there were sure many surprises on the way. “The cities that I expected fancy cooking actually left me disappointed while men from cities like Indore and Hyderabad impressed me with their culinary skills,” Anand smiled to say. Interestingly,it was a contestant in Indore who whipped out Cous Cous salad with beer as one of the ingredients that left Anand applauding. “Strangely everyone chooses to stick to Western fare and I don’t understand why that has to be the case. Indian cuisine is so underrated,” rues Anand and we sense there’s more to her statement.

A few minutes into the conversation and Karen admits,”In fact,my next book which I am currently working on is about Indian cuisine and aims to document Indian recipes. There’s a huge vacuum when it comes to Indian cookery books…you’ll find a zillion ones on Italian,Chinese and the likes but we have failed to give our own cuisine importance.” For the book,Karen is teaming up once again with photographer Sheena Sippy. “I had been wanting to do it for a while as I simply love ghar ka khaana after Japanese that is,” Karen mentions. Quiz her on quintessential Punjabi fare and she answers,”I like the traditional Punjabi recipes but not the restaurant-ised versions. On my drive here I stopped at one of the dhabas to tuck into tandoori paranthas. I truly relished the complete dahi-achaar thing,” she quips.

For someone who has a string of successful culinary TV shows to her credit,Karen has been off-air for a while. “There’s been a spate of cookery shows that all look and sound the same. I am looking to do a reality-based show that brings in an element of competition. It should materialize sometime soon,” says Karen. Speaking of the future,it’s best to ask Anand about the foodie trends coming our way in the New Year. “For one,Italian cuisine will go strong,so much so that Chinese might just be on its way out,” she points out. We think the pasta and pizza lovers always knew that,right?