India on My Platter

At 28,
Saransh Goila
is an Indian chef,  TV show host, author, food consultant and columnist. He set a record in the
Limca Book of Records,
2014, for ‘the longest road journey by a chef,’ when he hosted India’s biggest food travelogue show,
Roti, Rasta aur India
on FoodFood Channel.

Saransh became a food enthusiast at an early age. He made his first
jalebi,
for his family, when he was only 12. This interest in food made him pursue his Bachelor’s in Culinary Arts from the Institute of Hotel Management, Aurangabad.

His first taste of television success was when he won the FoodFood
Maha Challenge
in the year 2011, hosted by celebrity chef, Sanjeev Kapoor, and film actress, Madhuri Dixit. He is also popular for his online food and travel show,
The Spice Traveller,
and
Health Challenge,
where he makes favourite Indian dishes healthier.

He is a passionate traveller and has dedicated himself to promote regional Indian food across the globe.

First published in 2015 by

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Text copyright © Saransh Goila
Cover picture by Pallavi Gupta

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing by the publisher.

ISBN: 978-93-83202-04-1

Printed in India

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For butter chicken…my soulmate

For Grandpa’s special
dum aloo…
I still miss
both every Sunday

For my forever hungry family

For India…because we have
chaat

Foreword

I first met Saransh Goila as a contestant on my channel FoodFood’s reality show,
Maha Challenge.
He emerged as a winner in that show and I wasn’t surprised. I was impressed with his age (at 24, he was the youngest of all the contestants), his enthusiasm, his attention to detail, but most of all, his ability to perform beautifully under pressure, the hallmark of a good chef. Another notable point was his passion for chocolate-based desserts; he was a magician with chocolate. For one of the rounds, he made a chocolate brownie; the lovely taste of which still lingers on in my mind! It impressed fellow judge, Madhuri Dixit Nene, so much that she placed an order for it at the end of the show.

Soon after winning the show, he joined the channel as a Chef cum Food Editor. Through him I realised a dream and this book is all about that dream. Saransh did the show
Roti, Rasta aur India,
where he went all over India, chronicling the food and the recipes of that region. Needless to say, he did a brilliant job of it. It changed the way he looked at food and the world in general; I could see that change in him at the end of the show. He has age on his side, is dedicated and has a passion for Indian food—qualities that will take him far.

This book is not merely about food and recipes. He gives us a rare glimpse into the psyche of the people, the region and the story behind a dish. His experiences are scattered like glittering gems across the pages; it shows us how vast a country we live in and how varied a culinary treasure we possess. It is a fitting tribute to the unsung and undiscovered culinary geniuses.

Roti, Rasta aur India
was just a stepping stone. It was indeed a pleasant surprise to see that he based a book on the show. I wish him many more journeys through which he can learn more. I also wish he achieves all that he has set out to do. This book, a kaleidoscope of the richness of Indian cuisine, is but a tip of the iceberg!

Chef Sanjeev Kapoor

The Inception

Life is not about reaching your destiny but about the journey travelled.

—Anonymous

Hello everyone! I am Saransh Goila. I really got lucky and learnt the lesson mentioned above early on in my life. How often does one get a chance to travel all across India to explore its vast culinary traditions and cultures and their symbiotic relationship? Very rare… So, I got an opportunity to try the most authentic dishes Indian cuisine had to offer by visiting local homes. In the process, I also got to meet new people who shared my love for food. It was like my ticket to the chocolate factory!

The statistics of this journey were epic. The mission was to travel 20,000 km within India, covering 25 states in 100 days, non-stop, and not to forget, all this had to be done by road! When the programming head at FoodFood channel (a 24-hour TV channel about food), narrated this concept, I couldn’t fathom the scale of the project. My jaws dropped and what came out was, ‘Woah! Really? Are you serious? You’re willing to take a chance of shooting for so long with an inexperienced host for a TV show?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ He had this unshakeable faith in my passion to learn about food, perhaps, more than I did. The producer wanted a person without any ‘baggage’ to travel and express what he really felt.

So, I’ll be frank. This is not only a recipe book; it is a lot more than that. There are about 50 recipes from 25 states, but then, it is a book written by a chef, hence, recipes are important. But, it is about India—the beautiful landscapes, the deserted roads, the changing colour of the skies and the food memories that I built while sitting on the corner of the road, on the highway, in an old age home, in the middle of the Ganges and more unique places. It is also the story of a shy and an introvert 12-year-old boy, who later went on to living his dream at the age of 25. This is the story of that chef who is independent now, travels like there is no tomorrow and hopes that he can bring the best of Indian cuisine to the world.

If you are a person who loves food—whether it is a hobby to cook, a love for eating or tasteful appetite—being a chef today has a lot of glamour. I was a chubby kid for whom food was the meaning of life. I cooked and I ate, and that’s about all I did. My father wanted me to be an engineer; my mother wanted me to be a biotechnologist. My grandfather was the only one who wanted me to join the hospitality industry. And I wanted to be an actor. I come from a household where being a chef is not really on the cards, that is, if you really want to achieve something in life. And here I am today, writing a book about my love for food, travelling through India to eat and experience the culture and history around cooking.

Has my dream come true? Yes… More than that! Life has brought me to a point where I live and breathe food and I couldn’t be happier. I started cooking when I was 12, not to be boastful, but it came to me very naturally. While other kids played football, or boys his age then chased after girls and spent hours trying to look good, I would be in the kitchen, following my mother around, asking her about spices, temperatures, dough and sweets.

I spent my college years getting a degree in Culinary Arts, pursued the career of a hotel chef, and learnt how to be part of the industry. By then, I had a lot of support from my family. They were the only ones who believed I was strong enough to endure the long routine hours of banquet kitchens. I quit because I had had enough of being part of only one dimension of food.

I didn’t have a job for two years. Everything I tried—catering, food companies, publishing—they all failed me. And then, I found my way into the world of television. FoodFood channel, one fine evening in 2011, auditioned me for a reality show about chefs. I went on to win the show, and as a prize, I got the opportunity to make my own television show. I did a show called
Roti, Rasta aur India,
which was what the concept, mentioned earlier, materialised into. I was appointed the chef traveller. I was going to learn and travel and share my experiences with India through television. I would like to pause here and thank FoodFood and Chef Sanjeev Kapoor for giving me this opportunity. Just when food channels became a craze, I found the courage to combine my love for food and my dream to be an actor. I love being on screen, talking, laughing, sharing and learning. I have finally reached a place in life where my skills as a cook and my personality can be educational and entertaining.

I am not going to pretend that I know everything about food. I am just 28, and the idea is to learn every day. Allow me to finish by saying that I love movies, entertainment and drama. If at any point in the book I get emotional, please bear with me. I get carried away with stories and deeply involved in the minute details. On a side note, I must confess that I come from a vegetarian family and I prefer being a vegetarian. Having said that, I discovered such great meat dishes in different parts of the country that now, I stand converted. I have a special corner in my heart and undying love for butter chicken. This dish was cooked and fed to many people across India and it sort of went viral on Twitter as
#GoilaButterChicken.

Without taking much time and endorsing myself… Here goes… Lights. Camera. Action.

D
AY
1

6 August, 2012 / 5 a.m. / Delhi

It was still pitch dark outside; so silent in the Goila household that it felt strange. I barely slept, or let’s just say I had too many butterflies in my stomach to get any sleep.

It was the day I started my 100-day journey. Mom had made sure, thrice, that everything was packed. Dad had ensured I had enough cash on me. Grandma had made me promise her several times that I won’t, at any point, compromise on my health. My sister seemed to be the only sane person and was being totally casual about me leaving, although, I knew she was just trying to be cool because she felt sad. I had been staring at an empty wall, with the lights still out, for 15 minutes now and that was the moment. This was it! I had gone through a sea of emotions and skipped multiple heartbeats and everything was going to change for good from that day on. I clenched my fists, zipped through my past and got ready
à la
Anthony Bourdain to discover parts unknown!