Exclusive! Cooking Is a Great Stress Buster and a Canvas For Me to Paint, says Chef Kaviraj Khialani

Chef Kaviraj Khialani has been with the food and hospitality industry for 25 years. He is an iconic name known in his field of international culinary arts- hospitality management & education sector. His passion and zeal to achieve nothing but the best and continued dedication and hard work over the years have kept him a class apart and made him achieve a number of awards, citations, recognitions & awards at both national and international levels. He is certified by the Swiss hotel management school, and American & Irish Universities, and is an author- academician- advisor to several hospitality companies, colleges & universities across India.

In an exclusive conversation with us, he shared his quality experience and knowledge to benefit the younger generations.

What inspired you to become a chef, and how did your culinary journey begin?

My culinary journey goes back to my childhood when I was just a couple of years old, and I would love to see my food being cooked in my home kitchen. My mom would prepare all my fondest dishes like noodles, macaroni, fried rice, fried chicken, pizzas, and more! It was the interest that developed since then, watching food being cooked, which attracted me. I felt like trying my hands too on the basics of cutting- chopping, slicing, shredding, dicing, etc. which I learned at home, and it was since then that my interest in cooking kept growing from a mere hobby to finding its way to a full-time profession. Though it was not an easy phase of life to get there, there were tough times, hard days, and unpleasant experiences along the journey, but if one is focused on life, nothing can shake the determination and desire to achieve something! I grew up mastering the art of home cooking, Sindhi cooking, and Indian cuisine. Taking it one at a time was helpful. As we say that too many cooks spoil the broth! After completing my higher studies, professional courses, internships, and industry exposure, the want to achieve grew even stronger and harder. There was no looking back since it was the only plan I had in mind and heart; when the interest to learn and grasp gets visible, it also receives appreciation and rewards. Ever since I started my internships, I have been appreciated and made to set examples for others, which would motivate me to do better and inspire others to follow the track and path towards betterment, from five-star hotels like the Taj group to international airlines like Kuwait Airways, flight kitchens, food companies, consultancy and beyond kept the graph growing higher with time.

Can you share some highlights and milestones from your career as a chef?

Becoming a chef was the goal, but becoming a chef of repute, class, and creative ideas was the higher aim in life since the start. I always loved experimenting with the basic foods and the ones I ate daily too. For instance, a usual baingan ka bhartha Indian style would be revamped into an Italian fusion kachori dough, fried and served with a trio of dips like cheesy chilli, makhani pomodoro & hara bhara pesto. And when these innovations are done, they will be tried and tested on family members, friends, and neighbors. The reactions would be a mixed bag of emotions from wow to ok and to not my types! The idea was to look at feedback from various age groups to make things more acceptable and realistic from the cooking point of view. So, something was always running at the back of my mind about how to make a particular dish look-sound-taste and feel different! All this happened with a lot of practice, and things did go wrong many times before perfection was achieved. A few milestones would be a number of VVIP functions that would take place in the hotels during work which would call for new ideas, new ways of doing classic stuff, and how to impress the crowd a little by making a few changes here and there in the recipes. The best part was the smile, happiness, and sense of satisfaction I would see and observe on my guests' faces, which was so heart-touching, and a little appreciation often went a long way! On the other hand, it was also challenging to handle the not-so-easy guests, who were very particular about what they wanted on the plate. Dealing with these situations was always challenging but still fun! The best part was the Kuwait Airways experience, where we had to dish out aroun12- 15k meals per shift of 9 hours with loads of specifications and special meal requests for flights of various types and configurations from the air-bus category to the 777 Boeing Airplanes plus the Amiri flights of the ministers etc. The pressure would sometimes mount to no limit to meet deadlines, but I still loved and remembered every bit of the experience when I looked back.

What is your cooking philosophy or approach to cooking as a chef?

To me, cooking has always been like a work of art that curates from a visionary thought to passing through changes in its forms and looks. Finally, it is delivered on a plate resembling a canvas on which colours from the palette find their perfect combination and balance. It is all set to satiate and please the tastebuds! Simply put, cooking is a comfort zone like no other task in the world. It is a great stress buster and a canvas for me to paint up and create wonders with ingredients and cuisines to surprise my guests and give me a sense of satisfaction upon receiving a positive review and feedback on my food! If I look at it from a philosophical point of view, it is all about creating a balance and being able to express thoughts and ideas.

Have any particular culinary traditions or cuisines influenced your cooking style?

My home food and my Sindhi cooking have always inspired me. The fact that I started learning this cuisine first at home during the early days has always had a backing on my mind, and when it comes to innovation, too, I started working on this cuisine first. Cooking and creativity go hand in hand for a futuristic and wanna-be-famous chef! So did it happen in my case? Dal pakwaan canapes, Sindhi koki bites with trio fusion dips, sai bhaji lasagne bake, Sindhi kadhi shorba, dal vadi aloo baingan stew, Sindhi- tex mex fusion tomato curry with 3 bean pulao to name a few. Besides, I have always been fascinated by Filipino cuisine since childhood, having grown up eating popular delicacies such as tortas, adobo, pancit, buko salad, kaldereta, and lumpia, to name a few. Innovation with mixed tastes and flavours has been pretty exciting for me.

How do you stay creative and innovative in the kitchen, constantly creating new recipes and flavours?

When passion takes over everything else in the world, nothing can satisfy you unless there's some spice & spark to keep up the spirits on a high! Cooking and creating new recipes has been second nature for around 3 decades. Hence it just comes naturally. Whether it's looking at a menu card of an outlet or having a particular dish dining out at a restaurant, the creative cap has always been whisking around something innovative with my elements to build up the excitement and raise that eyebrow with surprise that – wow, that sounds amazing, let's give it a try! Because today's food lovers and connoisseurs are open to trying new ideas and experiments, it is indeed a requirement of the hour as well to be always one step ahead of what others think. I remember during the lockdown time. There were limited resources available, and hardly any ingredients were on hand daily to make fancy food for the plates, but still, it came as a challenge for me to mix-n-match, creating combos, working with few ingredients yet dishing out something really mouth-watering was a good thing to do which also made me compile my book of lockdown cooking- 101 ways with ease and compatibility!

Can you share some tips or advice for aspiring chefs looking to excel in the culinary industry?

Be yourself with a difference! These few words say and mean quite a lot. Being yourself is important to excel in the food and service industry. You must be good at what you do with integrity and a passion to serve. Many people join culinary and hotel management courses and degrees with the mindset that becoming a chef is too easy. It's all about knowing how to cook, which is wrong! There is a lot that takes a professional to differentiate between a cook and a chef. A few important qualities needed to succeed here include time management, dedication, good communication, good planning, having strong basics, and converting thoughts into actions while in the kitchen, from reading a recipe to making it just like it should be. Being open to customer feedback, expectations and satisfying the guests' needs to create great dining experiences. An honest piece of advice to all budding professionals that do not expect to be something overnight, do not be in the illusionary world thinking that upon completing a course, one becomes a celebrity chef since social media has sometimes influenced young minds too! Being realistic and making it work, working with a mission, aim, and ambitions, can be achieved with a little patience!

What do you consider to be your signature dish? Or the dish you are most proud of creating?

Well, it can't just be one! There are a number of them since a few of them touched the top of the charts on popularity levels, which include the Pasta Dum Biryani, 21 ways of serving a desi dal khichdi, global desi parathas with 11 flavours of different cuisines wrapped in one paratha! Some of the other recipes which have been ever popular include Indiana palak paneer lasagne, schezuan boondi & chicken tikka- vodka gol guppas, indo- chini methi aloo Manchurian canapes, Mexican Mini Masala Dosas with pepper olive sambhar and Filipino coconut tadka chutney. For sweet tooth lovers, Indo- American Mishti doi pudding with Cookie- caramel crunch, chocolate coated modaks stuffed with moong dal-peanut halwa served with paan ki rabdi. Layered firangi mithas with saffron- khus and orange kheer laced with nutty crumble motichoor! These recipes have been served to a number of guests across the globe on various occasions and have gained tremendous positive feedback and were much appreciated too!

Are there any specific ingredients or cooking techniques you enjoy working with?

Initially, when I was learning the basics of the various cuisines out of the 33 plus, which I happened to master, the emphasis was on the cutting-chopping and pre-preparation of the ingredients to achieve the maximum possible results at the end of the cooking processes. Later as things moved by, the importance of plating and presentation grew.

I have always loved working with fresh produce, from the farm-to-plate concepts, and enjoy having hands-on fresh herbs, edible flowers, and crispy fresh produce out of the farms, to list a few. Coming to a few of my all-time favourite veggies' lotus stem or kamal kakdi is one of those on the top charts, along with green peas, snow peas, artichokes, asparagus, zucchini, broccoli, baby corn, Pak choy, etc to name a few. Talking from the cooking techniques point of view, I enjoy healthy cooking methods like stir-frying, steaming, poaching, roasting, grilling, pan-searing, simmering, oven cooking, etc depending on the recipes and the output required. When it comes to Indian cooking, Dum- slow cooking and simmering work best for me!

How do you ensure that your dishes taste great and have an appealing presentation?

'The eyes eat before the palate does'- we have heard this over the years, and it truly is a fact. The food on the plate could be anything from around the world using the best ingredients and cooking methods applied, but if it does not have the right way of being visible on the plate, it will not make any sense! Plate presentation means a lot, for the simplest dish could look fascinating and attractive to the guest and the cameras! In today's times, we have seen one very common observation: capturing food coming in front of us and taking photos from various angles, posting them on social media platforms, and creating stories from them. This was not the case until a few years back, which truly indicates that it's not just dressing with the best of style and fashion but also the well-styled and designed food on that plate that needs to be appreciated and acknowledged by the eyes and our cameras before being relished until last bites! The trend of modern plating today is not just the standard white plates but also a little rustic and holistic at times. Plates, platters, bowls, and serving equipment have become very innovative, from various textures to finishes and materials beyond glass and tiles. I like to mix- n- match classics to contemporary in my plating to meet and suit the needs of all age groups, keeping it simple and not confusing the guests!

Are there any current food trends or ingredients that you find particularly interesting or exciting?

Well, yes, I do have a few which impress me, and a few of them not totally, but I am always open to experimentation and learning more about them. To start with, the most classic one remains the ayurvedic trend of cooking- a 5000-year-old system of cooking food very interestingly and effectively. The benefits of which too are well proven in history. We have also heard of Sattvic Cooking- yet another cooking style that works very close to being natural and wholesome which has also kept me inspired. The newest ones we hear of today are the gluten-free diets, the vegan concepts of eating, the Keto diets, Intermittent fasting trend of eating and staying fit. What has also gained a lot of news in recent times is mock meat. This, too, has its own plus and minus. While some people prefer to eat natural red meat, some wish to change-adapt to the no-meat yet meaty textures on their plates. Of course, this is a very personal choice. A while back, we also heard and saw the air frying equipment which came into the market to impress several audiences by highlighting no frying yet having fried stuff with no guilt! This did not impress me much since, in my opinion, it is not right to murder classics. If one wishes to have a samosa or a vada pao- the real taste and flavour will be in its real method of cooking, which is deep frying. Suppose one wishes to be so very diet conscious. Ideally, one should refrain from eating such foods rather than being deprived of reality and getting pacified by something not so interesting.

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