Cooking with a smile

If you have ever watched Food Food channel on television, you would have heard the jingle Namak Shamak Namak Shamak Dal Dete Hain on the show Turban Tadka. A catchy jingle courtesy of the effervescent Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi.

Having started in 1987 with The Oberoi in Bhubaneshwar, Chef Harpal has worked with several leading hotel groups in India and abroad, learning different cuisines. He has learnt Hyderabadi cooking from Ustad Habib Pasha and Begum Mumtaz Khan and has also done research on Ayurveda-based food to understand the nutritive value of each ingredient. A familiar face on television, he hosted the first episode of Khana Khazana on Zee TV and also hosted Harpal Ki Rasoi and Kitchen Khiladi, among others.  In an exclusive conversation with Deccan Herald, he talks about all things food.

How and when did you get into cooking? What drew you to be a chef?

It all started when I completed my Class 12 and was preparing to get into an engineering college. My elder brother suggested I try hospitality instead. Before that, no one in my family knew about hospitality and neither had we gone out dining in any restaurant. For us, celebrations meant cooking great food at home. It was only after three months into the course that I realised that cooking is what I was looking for. The idea of being a chef for life was embedded in my mind and there has been no looking back ever since then.
You have been cooking food on television for so long...

I think I enjoy sharing my experiences of food on television. I believe people watching me get some benefits out of what I share with them. For me, cooking on TV is just not about showcasing my skills. It is also about sharing my experiences and making lives of millions of people easier in the kitchen. It is about adding fun to work in the kitchen; people should enjoy when they cook.

You love fusion in your cooking, don’t you?  

I follow my own style of cooking and blend in unusual ingredients while whipping something up. Food has to be tasty and presentable and has to appeal to different kinds of people. This is very difficult to achieve because each person has his own preferences and liking, and you need to cut across barriers and share your best. So, when it comes to cooking, I do not stop myself from taking the bold step of mixing up different kinds of ingredients. Fusion is a difficult subject and one has to have a clear understanding of ingredients and how they work when blended.

Tell us more about your experience of working in Australia.

I have a very popular frozen food brand in Australia called ‘Sabrini by Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi’. We do great quality restaurant-style frozen kebabs. Some of them come from my mother’s kitchen like Amritsari aloo tikki, which is potato patties stuffed with lentil. The range also includes Asli Punjabi Samosa, restaurant style Hara Bhara Kebab and Soya Shammi Kebab too. We also have great wraps for people looking for quick solutions for food on the go and tiffin meals for bachelors, who are missing their home food.

Organic and Ayurvedic food and their relevance today

I think organic food will slowly find a niche market for people who can afford it. Organic food is expensive only because its production is low. Ayurveda is something I am personally excited about as I feel you cannot use Ayurvedic food in totality in today’s world. However, you can incorporate the age old principles of it wherever relevant. Since Ayurveda is a way of life, it also teaches you what to eat in which season and what is correct for your body type. It can also enlighten you about the basic principles of blending, the right ingredients for it and how to bring together varied elements together beautifully.

What is the best meal you have eaten and where?

I have memories of great meals all across my travels. When it comes to restaurants, I relish great rustic food. Once I ate in a restaurant called Adolf Wagner in Frankfurt, which served great grilled food and homemade apple wine. I had ordered the lamb ribs with some sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. The food was simple  but delicious. Of course, home-cooked food will always remain the best meal.

What is the most challenging meal that you have cooked?

While working in a hotel in Nagpur, I had to cook for this religious procession which Sikhs take out during Guru Nanak Jayanti. I had to cook about 10,000 meal packets, which included about 2,000 kg of channa masala, 10,000 buns and about 1,000 litres of rice kheer. We had to start working at least a month in advance to get the right equipments and prepare enough for all. The sheer quantity and then its preservation and ultimately, the packaging proved quite challenging to us. But with all the staff support, we could manage to do it all.

Globalisation and food

With people travelling across the globe, now there are no boundaries left when it comes to food. This helps bring in new chains to India as there is an ever-increasing demand for something new in all aspects of life.

Anything that is global with an Indian approach is always welcomed and has been successful, be it the international quick service restaurants (QSR) or Celebrity Chefs restaurants. In mega metros, people would love to experience international dining format restaurants. That is why I created an Indo-Western fusion cuisine for Genuine Broaster Chicken (GBC) recently. I think in India, food that is closer to our palate works very well.