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‘It is the best time for heritage food’: Chef Dayashankar Sharma

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With 32 years of culinary experience, Chef Dayashankar Sharma’s creativity has been recognised by the 2018 Michelin Guide and his restaurant ‘Grand Trunk Road’ was listed as a recommended restaurant within the prestigious Michelin Guide 2019 and 2020. We spoke to him about his experiments with cuisines, his culinary journey and about the tips and tricks he would like to share with our readers.

1. Tell us about your journey. What made you choose food as a career?
From a very young age, I helped my mother in the kitchen to prepare food for the family. Feeding people felt so fulfilling that I considered food as a potential career. As I grew older this interest became a passion, and I decided to enter the food industry officially by doing the hotel diploma in India. Learning new skills there only enforced my passion and allowed me to gain new experiences leading me to different countries like Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Dubai and now the UK. I worked with most prestigious hotels like the Oberoi group of hotels and Taj group of hotels in India for years. I also worked with Taj Samudra Colombo for 3 years, and got a chance to work for SAARC summit along with legendary Chef Shri Satish Arora ji. I have worked in Michelin star restaurants, have cooked for high profile celebrity events and also opened a restaurant called Grand Trunk Road with a partner in November 2016. Since then the restaurant has won 11 awards.

2. Do you think this is the best time for heritage food? During these tough times, it is important to keep a positive outlook in life. Better times will come! What would be a better way than some good food? Heritage food is extremely important in the Indian culture as these are recipes passed down from generations and they taste delicious. There could not be a better time to share these recipes and foods than this.

3. Several priceless family recipes get lost due to lack of proper documentation. What according to you should be the approach of food connoisseurs and chefs to preserve them?

I think it’s important to teach family recipes to the people of your family, as it would encourage them to cook and the recipes have less of a chance of getting lost. I would say the main way to preserve recipes would be in a written format. Save them somewhere where you know they would be safe. Social media has a huge influence now. So, sharing recipes online, would mean that they will not get lost and people would get the chance to have some amazing food too.

4. Do you think blogs and social media have given a fresh lease of life to food?

Blogs and social media have definitely contributed tremendously towards the awareness regarding various cuisines. They have increased business for restaurants and have given a boost to their popularity. They have also encouraged and given a platform to home chefs.

5. Do you think the concept of fusion food is taking away the sheen from traditional cooking?
No, I believe that fusion foods are extremely unique and taste amazing. Traditional cooking and foods also have similar benefits. I think that they can both exist in harmony together. Traditional foods show the heritage and the tradition whereas fusion foods show innovation and creativity of the modern era. Both are needed to develop food into something greater.

6. Can you share some lesser known kitchen tips with our readers?

  • To avoid tears when cutting onions- cut onion both sides and peel, wash in cold water then chop.
  • To preserve ginger-garlic paste for a longer duration- grind ginger garlic with oil instead of water.
  • To prevent pot of milk to be burn- boil a little water in a pot first and then add the milk.
  • To keep chilli powder fresh and retain the colour- add 1 teaspoon of asafoetida (hing) in a bottle and mix well.
  • To make Idli softer add a little Sago while grinding the batter.

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