India’s first master chef winner didn’t really start her success story in the kitchen. Pankaj Bhadouria was a teacher who took to cooking because of her passion. And today, she’s reveling in her new profession, which has given her an opportunity of combining both pleasures — cooking and teaching. From working with the renowned Rick Stein, an English chef, restaurateur and television presenter, to being a part of a food festival in New York to most recently speaking at Cambridge, she’s a woman on a mission. “As I had already quit my job as a teacher, I decided to set up an academy where I could teach what I did best — cooking!” adds the lady who works her magic on delicious morsels.
About speaking at Cambridge, she shares, “The Cambridge invitation had me showing people that there was more to Indian cooking than chicken tikka masala, balti chicken and vindaaloo. It was to break popular myths that Indian cooking is too rich, hence unhealthy. I demonstrated seven dishes — chicken no butter masala, fish moily and more. All these recipes had been tried out at the Medical Research Council’s Kitchens. We saw full houses in both the events, at Cambridge and in London.”
The mark of a true achiever is to take opportunities and make pearls of learning from them. Bhadouria feels that MasterChef changed her life and opened up a whole new world to her. “Chef Pankaj Ka Zayka is my own cookery show and Sales ka Baazigar put me on the other side of the table so I could relate to the anxieties of contestants. Kifayati Kitchen, my current show on air on Zee Khana Khazana, is one I relate to as a middle class housewife,” she adds.
Recalling her experience at MasterChef, “MasterChef was another world, another life. It was competitive, emotionally charging, inspiring, energising, loving, fun and at times a little bi***y. There was plenty to learn from judges, classes, mistakes that you made or others. It was also a lesson in survival as I am a typical Cancerian mom who cannot live without kids and family!”
The pro in the kitchen has taken the newfound success in her stride, as is evident at the Varli Festival in New York which she is associated with. She explains, “Varli celebrates Indian food on foreign soils. It is organised in New York and showcases the beauty of the Indian cuisine. After my victory in MasterChef, I was invited there, and again invited the following year. I was amazed to see the popularity of Indian food in the US.”
She has been working closely with Rick Stien and BBC too, “What a darling old man Rick Stien is! He was patiently noting down every little detail of the recipes we did on the show. He even visited the fish market with me.”
"When the King of Bhutan visited Lucknow at the invitation of the Lt. General of the Army, I had the pleasure of serving him, and it was Awadhi food!"
The Lucknow-born teacher-turned-chef extraordinaire recalls a meal she had made for King of Bhutan, “When the King of Bhutan visited Lucknow at the invitation of the Lt. General of the Army, I had the pleasure of serving him, and it was Awadhi food!
She comes form a close-knit family which she says, “is ruled by my ma-in-law who my daughter calls ‘Queen Victoria!” Contrary to clichés, she finds her ma-in-law the biggest support and anchor. Ginger, her Labrador is also an important part of their lives.
