Mandaar Sukhtankar dons many hats and two of them catch the eye. One is his traditional white chef’s hat — the toque blanche and the other is the one that he just earned — that of an author. Romancing the Chicks: Stories, Recipes and Thoughts may be his debut book, but the Area Director (Food production) at The Park is no stranger to the art of writing. From his first article as a school-going kid to the ones as a guest writer for newspapers including the Deccan Chronicle and now, his first book, Mandaar has certainly come a long way.
“Writing has been a hobby since childhood. I would write articles, limericks and stories and randomly send them to newspapers and magazines where I would get published over the others,” recalls Mandaar. Despite being busy with his work in the culinary field, Mandaar kept up with his hobby. “When I started writing for the Deccan Chronicle a few years back, I used to get messages from people across the country saying they liked my articles and that they cut and saved them. So, I thought it would be a great idea to bring together my articles and my experience of over 20 years in the culinary field. That’s how the book came about,” he says.
It’s not just the content that grabs your attention; the title Romancing the Chicks has an interesting story behind it. “It’s the name of an article that I incidentally wrote for this newspaper. I was writing about green chickpeas, a winter favourite, and came up with a fictitious tale about a culinary ball where I take the chickpeas on a date. The name caught the attention of my publishers and so, it stayed,” he says.
While the book does have recipes, it isn’t just any other cookbook. “I like writing stories and I wanted this book to be something that people could enjoy as a casual read, perhaps even a bedtime read! The stories are short and funny and will make you think. There are anecdotes and fictional stories too, but they all make for light reading. And, if you like to cook, there are recipes as well” says Mandaar. The USP, however, according to the chef, are the culinary tips he has collected over the last two decades and the simplicity of his recipes. “When I write for newspapers, the idea is to keep the recipes as simple as possible so the reader may easily replicate them at home,” he says a Tale from Romancing the Chicks
Recalibrating the palate: Born in Belgaum, Mandaar spent his growing years in different places all across the country — owing to his army background. It was only logical to assume that his palate was accustomed to different spice levels, but he was in for a rude shock while training at an Italian restaurant in London. “I was learning how to make the penne arrabiata and back then, I couldn’t speak Italian and the chef didn’t know English. So, through dumb charades, he explained that he was adding two slices of chilli to the sauce and that I would have steam coming out of my ears. I was excited, but when I tasted the pasta, it was as bland as bland could be. In fact, to prove my point, I ate two whole chillies to show the chef that it wasn’t spicy at all! He and the entire kitchen looked at me as though I were an alien. On coming back home that night, I realised that my palate was completely blind to the finer nuances of spice and so, in order to recalibrate it, I had to completely stop eating chillies. This was at a point when I was learning to cook Italian cuisine and it was important for me to understand it the way the Italians did.”
