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Shah Rukh Khan’s wife and interior designer Gauri Khan‘s restaurant Torii was in the news recently after a YouTuber alleged that the restaurant serves ‘fake’ paneer. A content creator, Sarthak Sachdeva, performed an iodine test on paneer he had ordered from various celebrity-owned restaurants. While the paneer from Torii changed its colour, paneer dishes from restaurants owned by Shilpa Shetty and Virat Kohli, among others, didn’t. This soon escalated into a big discussion on social media, after which the restaurant issued a clarification too. Now, chef Vikas Khanna has also come in support of Gauri Khan’s restaurant and slammed the content creator for spreading misinformation.
Vikas took to social media and posted his views on Instagram stories. He wrote, “I’ve been cooking & working with the science of food for the past several decades. I’ve never seen such terrible misinformation, like a YouTuber who claims to be a food scientist. IODINE changes colour with reaction under the presence of ingredients: potatoes, rice, bread, cornflour, flour, and unripe bananas. The use of these ingredients (and thus the reaction) could also happen in cross-contamination. It’s scary that unqualified people are taken seriously.”
In his video, Sarthak had experimented on paneer dishes from Bobby Deol, Shilpa Shetty, and Virat Kohli’s restaurants too. When the one from Torii allegedly changed its colour to blue and black, Sarthak declared that it was indeed fake paneer. As his allegation grabbed attention, the restaurant issued an official statement which read, “We are utterly surprised at the news of ‘fake paneer’ being served at Torii. The iodine test reflects the presence of starch, not the authenticity of the paneer. For all dishes that contain soy-based ingredients (a staple in Asian food) this reaction is expected. From sourcing our produce to the food being served on the plate to our patrons, there are quality checks at every step of the way. Our commitment to excellence in the food we serve remains unwavered.”
On the work front, chef Vikas Khanna was last seen as a judge on Celebrity MasterChef.
A quick way to check for starch adulteration in paneer is the iodine test. If paneer changes colour to blue or black when iodine is added, it means the presence of starch, suggesting it might be adulterated. Pure paneer is made from milk proteins and should not turn blue or black when treated with iodine. To do the test, add a few drops of iodine solution (tincture) to a piece of paneer. No colour change proves it is pure and changing colour to blue or black indicates it contains starch. However, it is not foolproof.
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