Home to a world of the most interesting cuisines and exotic spices, India has its fair share of the world’s best chefs. These masters are not only responsible for taking Indian food to another level but have also changed the way food is and can be consumed.
we(Business Outreach) are going to focus on the top 10 master chefs of India and their personal, professional, as well as concerning achievements.
Here Below The List of Top 10 Master Chefs In India
| Top 10 Master Chefs in India | |
| 1. | Sanjeev Kapoor |
| 2. | Vikas Khanna |
| 3. | Ranveer Brar |
| 4. | Madhur Jaffrey |
| 5. | Anjum Anand |
| 6. | Hari Nayak |
| 7. | Vineet Bhatia |
| 8. | Nita Mehta |
| 9. | Saransh Goila |
| 10. | Harpal Singh Sokhi |
1. Sanjeev Kapoor: The Pioneer of Indian Culinary Television
Source: Times of India
The topic which deals with familiar faces from the Indian chefs list, Sanjeev Kapoor will always be on the top of the list. The creator of Kapoor’s restaurants was born on April 10, 1964 in Ambala, Haryana, and eldest of the three Kapoor sons, Rajeev Kapoor firmly established the image of Indian cuisine in his restaurants around the world.
Kapoor had tasted the hospitality industry in 1984 when he joined the culinary world. His flair for food raised him to the position of prominence rapidly; in 1992 he was the youngest Executive Chef at the Centaur Hotel in Mumbai proving his culinary genius and managerial potential.
Primarily though, it was Kapoor’s jump into the small screen that made him achieve fame. ‘Khana Khazana’ became a cultural staple, he spent eighteen years on the show and reached 500 million households, 120 countries. This made it Asia’s longest running cookery show and Kapoor became centre stage to the show placing him as the culinary god in Asia.
Undeterred by success, Kapoor then ventured into airing Food which is the Global’s first 24X7 food and lifestyle channel entirely owned by a chef. This innovative move clearly depicts his entrepreneurial character besides his war on hunger, by ensuring that good food is made available for everyone.
It would be unfair not to mention Kapoor’s input in the present image of Indian food. In 2017 he was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri which is the fourth highest civilian award in India for his contribution to the culinary arts. He has also been honoured and awarded by many others; his TV shows received the ITA Awards many times and he is also the proud National Award winner of ‘The Best Chef of India’.
2. Vikas Khanna: One of The Top Master Chefs In India
Source: Scroll.it
Currently residing in New York City, this month’s star chef Vikas Khanna rose from small town Amritsar in Punjab and he was born on November 14, 1971. Therefore, it can be concluded that the growing passion of Khanna towards cooking was because of his granny who taught him cooking that became a life presiding factor of his life.
Lawrence Gardens Banquets to host weddings and functions were opened at the tender age of 17 by Khanna showing his first signs of entrepreneurial ambition. This early experience can therefore be said to have influenced the rest of his career that saw him succeed a lot in the world of cooking.
Khanna completed his education at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education; given this, his goal was to dominate the international culinary industry. His major step up was when he started his restaurant known as “Junoon” in New York in which it received a Michelin star. This achievement positioned Khanna amongst a handful of Indian chefs to win this prestigious acknowledgment , which finally brought Indian cuisine into the leagues of global fine dining.
He has other abilities than what is provided in the kitchen area. He is a man of multiple talents; a cookbook writer, a director, and producer, and even a philanthropist. Back in early 2018, he unveiled the first ever culinary museum in India in Manipal focusing more on the Indian Cooking Utensils and methods.
He really mixed things up food wise in Indian cuisine; his success also speaks volumes – he was pegged as one of the ‘Sexiest Men Alive’ by People Magazine, 2011; and the GQ India Man of the Year 2012. Khanna’s story is a perfect illustration of passion, determination, or desire as well as the ability of people to unite by the language of food.
3. Ranveer Brar: The Multifaceted Culinary Personality
Source: Business Insider
Ranveer Brar 8th February 1978, Lucknow Uttar Pradesh; The new generation chefs of India are equally adept with the mediums of television and camera. Brar entered professional cooking after his formal education in the Institute of Hotel Management in Lucknow which landed him the great Taj Hotel in Mumbai.
What makes Brar stand out from the rest is the aspect of diversity. He is not only a chef but social media and television personality, a judge, a host, an author, an entrepreneur of restaurants, and a food film-maker. His television journey started with “Breakfast Xpress” and other new culinary shows were “Masterchef India” and “Raja Rasoi Aur Andaaz Anokha. ”
Brar has come into the public mostly in television, but it is not just limited to television. He has created his own application for mobile devices, and published the autobiography under the name of “Come Into My Kitchen;” he is also a model of numerous brands that exist all over the world. His style of preparation is Indian and yet cosmopolitan, sort of indicating that he is open to change and that his food has a following.
4. Madhur Jaffrey: Lady Master Chef In India
Source: Koimoi
Born on August 13, 1933, in Delhi, Madhur Jaffrey is indeed a complete woman of the twentieth century. An actress, a food and travel show host, a television star and above all, a cook who familiarized the western world with Indian food.
It all started with little Jaffrey migrating to London for her RADA course in the mid fifties and running a cooking school to date. Both parents worked in the hospital and to avoid missing the flavours of home she learned how to cook through phone calls with her mother.
Her very first cooked book, “An Invitation to Indian Cooking” published in 1973 was different and revolutionary . It first brought actual Indian dishes to the Western world as at that time, Indian cuisine was not popular and was not well understood in the Western countries. After this, she has penned more than 15 cook books out of which each has helped the society across the globe to understand the Indian cuisine.
5. Anjum Anand: The Health-Conscious Indian Chef
Source: Nish Kitchen
Anjum Anand, born on August 15, 1971 in London, has a distinctive angle towards Indian food which offers light and healthy Indian recipes in line with the contemporary standing. She said that she had problems with obesity during her childhood and thus to find methods of making Indian food tasty but more healthier for people that she was cooking for.
Anand who has had a food career regardless of her age – was writing her first cookbook at the age of twenty five. She rose to fame when she featured in the UKTV Food’s Great Food Live and BBC’s series; Indian Food Made Easy which aimed at making Indian meals easy for the British people and to make people understand that Indian food is healthy as well as tasty.
As an author, Anand has published several successful cookbooks, including “Indian Every Day: two of her books include ‘’Cooking Light, Healthy Indian Food’’ and ‘’Anjum’s Indian Vegetarian Feast. ” Her writing is simple and motivates people to try out new Indian recipes at home.
Beginning with the sauces, Anand in 2011 ventured into the production of the food items under a brand she called The Spice Tailor that is Indian sauces and spices which could be used when preparing Indian foods at home. This venture highlights her desire to be an entrepreneur and a noble cause of extending the knowledge of Indian food to many across the world.
6. Hari Nayak: Top Master Chef In India
Source: Mint Lounge
Popular Indian master chef of the modern days, Hari Nayak, was born on February 8, 1974, in the Udupi district of Karnataka. The author did his schooling and graduation from the Welcome group Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Karnataka where Nayak fleshed out his skills at the reputed Culinary Institute of America.
As for the positioned approach to Indian cuisine, Nayak is quite modern, although the traditional basis of it is still present, with all the accents made on the contemporary ways of serving and cooking. This distinctive style has benefited him to attain international acknowledgement and equally provided a new platform to present Indian food in fine dining restaurants.
Nayak’s propaganda does not stop with writing books. He has set up restaurants of varied formats in New York — Sona, that he has started with actress Priyanka Chopra, Jhol, Charcoza, Alchemy, Masti, Café Spice and Bombay Bungalow. All of these outlets are reminiscent of Nayak’s creativity in Indian food processing.
He has been a well admired personality in the world of culinary. In 2015, he was awarded Pride of the Profession by the National Restaurant Association of India and ITC Chairman’s Award in 2014.
7. Vineet Bhatia: The Michelin Star Trailblazer
Source: Wikipedia
Vineet Bhatia was born on December 9, 1967, and he belongs to Mumbai He was the first Indian chef to be given Michelin star and is still the only Indian person who has received this great honour twice. This accomplishment alone is sufficient to qualify the man as one of India’s premier chefs. The Michelin Star challenges the concept of traditional fine dining and redefines it through’ The Michelin Star Trailblazer’.
The journey profile of Bhatia started at The Oberoi School of Hotel Management. The current easily recognizable style that can be associated with his “modern Indian” approach to Indian dishes has been applauded globally. It was Rober Bhatia’s gastronomic revolution that placed Indian food into a connoisseur ambience besides modernizing old recipes by applying new methods and approaches.
Today apart from the restaurant kitchen, Bhatia has popularized himself by televising cooking reality shows. He also was a judge with the Netflix show, ‘The Final Table’ and a judge-host with ‘MasterChef India’ where he continued to teach the world about food.
Bhatia is also an accomplished author, with cookbooks like “Rasoi: The result of this trend can be seen in two of Mitra’s shows,” New Indian Kitchen” and “My Sweet Kitchen” where he has demonstrated his creativity in preparing various dishes and applying new methods. That is the number of restaurants internationally where he currently has an influence, all of which showcase his signature style of cooking.
For his efforts in popularizing Indian cuisine Bhatia was enshrined as the Food Ambassador for the GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland campaign in 2021.
8. Nita Mehta: The Culinary Educator
Source: HospiBuz
Nita Mehta, not only a famous chef, but also a teacher, and an author of numerous cookbooks. It is impossible to quantify the degree of improvements that she introduced in the home cooking practices of millions of Indians; her recipes, as well as her approach to cooking, do come with concise and valuable pieces of advice.
With her influence impacting the Indian culinary arena in a very big way. This creative mind has produced well over 400 cookbooks with over six million successful sales in circulation. She has cookbooks that reflect different techniques of cooking and a variety of cuisines, thereby sealing her stance as the go-to woman for recipes in India.
In the year 2001, Mehta decided to expand her interest for culinary education starting her own institute, the Nita Mehta Culinary Academy in New Delhi. It has produced numerous chefs and home cooking enthusiasts of which Mehta fruitfully solidifies his place in Indian culinary history.
Its head, Mehta, has got international acclaim. In 1999, she claimed the World Cookbook Fair Best Asian Cookbook Award for her book Flavours of Indian Cooking. Being a celebrity has also seen her earn the media names “cooking expert” and “nutrition expert” due to her Passerine knowledge on food and nutrition.
9. Saransh Goila: Top Master Chefs In India
Source: Hindustan Times
Saransh Goila, who was born on 17 February 1987 in Delhi is a living example of new age chefs who are as much at home with the social network sites as with a brand new set of knives. Having studied at the Institute of Hotel Management, Aurangabad, Goila rose to popularity in the industry rather quickly.
Goila’s main ostentation is what he calls the Goila Butter Chicken, a dish that has been trendSetter in Mumbai and other parts of the country. This dish perfectly explains the Goila’s style, where Indian recipes are tendered with a modern touch.
Other than his cooking mastery, Goila has an interesting character and involves his audience frequently. He has anchored a number of television shows and a couple of them that are well-known are ‘ Roti Rasta aur India’ and ‘Healthy Fridge. ’ His web series ‘Run to Eat’ focuses towards the food and health enthusiasts belonging to the young generation.
Goila’s operations are not limited to India but has expansions in other countries. In the year 2018, he also featured as a guest judge in MasterChef Australia where he cooked his famous butter chicken to a larger audience. He also has a travelogue “India on my Platter ” which has been very popular and helps to explain India through food. In 2014, Goila appeared in the Limca Book of World Records as the “Longest Road journey by a chef.
10. Harpal Singh Sokhi: The Entertainer Chef
Source: ET Hospitality
The Candy Cane Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi is known for funny twists that he has incorporated into Indian kitchens since his birth in 1966 in Kharagpur, West Bengal. His famous catchphrase “Namak Shamak” and his racy cooking technique have endeared him to the viewers in the Indian subcontinent.
Like most chefs, Sokhi started his journey in the culinary arena by working in different hotels and restaurants or through a restaurant chain. But his television programs were what made him famous. His show which is called “Turban Tadka ” became an instant hit for the public for he made cooking seem like an enjoyable hobby. In 2013, having had enough of fake meats and greying SMEs, Sokhi opened his restaurant chain called “The Punjabi Tadka ” in India. This new undertaking best illustrates Sokhi’s passion and his goal to introduce true Punjabi food to the public.
Conclusion
The above ten master chefs are the epitome of Indian Cuisine each with his or her special insights, ability and commitment to the profession. Ranging from simple home made recipes to the more exotic East- meet- West culinary creations, from TV reality shows to actual Star Michelin rated restaurants, these chefs have taken Indian cooking experience to dizzying heights. Not only as cooks, but as cultural representatives who brought the fabulous range of Indian spices to the international tables.
They have encouraged several generations of home cooks, chefs and gourmands and have played an immense role in shaping the image and acceptance of Indian food around the world.
