‘I love the food in Hyderabad’

From heading one of the longest running television shows in India, Khana Khazana, to authoring several cookbooks, celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor has become a household name. In the city for the launch of his latest book, Flavours of the Orient, Sanjeev Kapoor feels the atmosphere is ripe to introduce South Asian cuisines in India.

“Indians are now quite used to the Indo-Chinese food,” says Sanjeev. “Today, they want something more than that. Since South East Asian food has not been given its due attention so far, I decided to introduce it. There are a lot of flavours in South Asian cuisine that would appeal to the Indian palate, right from lemon grass and coconut milk to peanuts. It’s time they were brought to Indian households.”

For somebody who has dabbled in several cuisines apart from Indian, travelled widely and amassed a culinary repertoire, Sanjeev does not believe in rigidly authentic food. “What is authentic?” he asks. “I once made an aviyal recipe on my show taken from a Malayalee producer on the sets. I received over 200 responses for it, with people claiming that their version was authentic. Food is all about playing with flavours. When it turns rigid, it loses its magic.”

Promoting this concept, the veteran chef has confined the ingredients used in his latest book to locally available ones. “One of the recipes mentioned in the book is that of a Malaysian dish, Chicken Laksa, that uses candlenuts. Candlenuts are unheard of in India. So if I obsess about staying authentic, I would have to give up the entire recipe merely because the minimal flavour of a nut is absent.”

Flavours rule his life and that’s what keeps bringing him back to the city of the Nizams repeatedly. “I love the food in Hyderabad. Every time I visit this city, I return to Mumbai with bags of food, right from biryani to salan, masalas, pickles etc.”

He will soon be back in the city again to promote his latest venture. “I plan to launch a new restaurant that serves international cuisine in Hyderabad soon,” he says.