How did you decide on a career in cooking?``Early on, I saw the benefits of cooking. When I did my hotel management 17 years ago, taking up a course in cooking was looked down upon. It was something you did only when you did not get a chance to do other more acceptable and sought-after courses like marketing, administration.``But I have always been the kind who does something different. Though I was good at academics and could have chosen any other field in hotel management, I deliberately chose to get into the kitchen. "At that time, there were not too many chefs, so when a festival of India was held in Washington, I was chosen to represent our country - I was 19 years old then. After that it was to the erstwhile USSR and so on. Besides, promotions came by quickly, so I felt I had made the right decision."Cooking, today, has metamorphosed into a glamorous profession, thanks to you. How did you manage to do that?``It all began with teaching. Right from the beginning, I was not satisfied with just cooking, I always wanted to teach. I joined the Ashok Group of hotels in Delhi, and in my spare time, used to take cooking classes. Then I was asked to do a programme for Khana Khazana, and that, I think, made me a household name.``In my own circle, I was well known, but it was television that gave me exposure and helped glamourise cooking. But this comes with its own set of hassles. My public relations' company tells me not to take an auto-rickshaw as it would not be good for my image. But I do it anyway.``Besides, I believe that this is one area of our lives that has been taken for granted, and therefore, neglected. This profession has tremendous potential and I plan to make our cooking world-famous".Right from childhood, Indian men are not encouraged to enter the kitchen. How do you deal with the fact that you are a male in a predominantly female territory?``I am fine with it because I have not restricted my scope of study to cooking alone. I am aware of other subjects and have also done other courses besides cooking. So being in a female-dominated territory does not bother me at all''.What is it that makes one a good cook?``First of all, one must love food and eating. It's not possible to be good at cooking if one is not interested in food. One must be passionate about it. Secondly, it is important to know your ingredients and the role they play in a particular dish. "For instance, one uses red chilli powder in dal, never green chillies or black pepper. This is because many women are fixed about the ingredients they use. Red chillies make a dish spicy, but so do green chillies and pepper.``And last but not the least, one must make a dish with love. I firmly believe that one can pass on positive and negative energy into a dish. That's why mom's food tastes the best - all those good vibes, you know. In fact, I still love my mother's food and she is a far better cook than I am".Where do you plan to go from here now?``I aim to make Indian food popular all over the world. I feel that there are very few things we can be proud of, and no one has even thought about our cuisine. I have done, and still do, many promotions of our cuisine in various countries. But I have certain conditions. I insist that when I do a food festival for any hotel, they must include a few of those dishes in their menu. Their staff must also learn some of these dishes. And during the breaks, I teach anyone who wants to learn about Indian cooking.``Indian cooking is such a great treasure and we have ignored it. There is so much variety, it's amazing. Sometime back, I was a consultant for a restaurant called Khazana, in Dubai - it had 160 dishes from all over India on its menu. Someone is planning to do the same in London."I wish we could have something similar in India, too, so that we could become aware of our rich culinary treasure''.
