CHENNAI: I belong to Chapra district in Bihar and am very connected to my roots. As a child, I used to cook simple dishes when my mom used to go out, but had never baked anything till I did a course specialising in it. I studied baking in a college at Durgapur, and that was the first time I had attempted to make something. I consider baking an art and it is tough to master it.
I started my journey in Vedic Village, Kolkata, where I was into baking, of course! The first dish I baked was a French baguette and the first pastry was a chocolate pastry. That was seven years ago and I have worked in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad after that. I came to Chennai just three months go. All these years I have just focused on baking. I am basically a shy person and I like the quiet and calm inside the bakery kitchen.
The kitchen is my comfort zone; I like to spend time there and make and design my dishes. When I said I am connected to my roots, that meant I like to experiment in baking by giving an Indian touch. My specialties are hazelnut-chocolate pastry, raspberry mouse on chocolate slab and besan crust and rabri cheesecake, which has become my signature dish now. In the dish, I don’t use cream cheese; instead I use rabri on a besan and ghee crust. From where I come, besan (gram flour) and ghee form an integral part of our cuisine. Recently we also did gulab jamun cheesecake and baked payasam tart.
Do you know that the bakery kitchen has many sections and that each section has its own temperature? Yes. And since I love chocolate and love to work with it, there’s a separate section for moulding and melting chocolate and the temperature there is 10-12 degrees. I know that many people are into home baking and the major difference are these compartments and equipment we have and the temperature that we maintain.
Even in my free time I think of how to better myself and bring another unique dish to the table. I don’t travel much but I like watching TV shows, though I fail to remember the names. I get inspired by them too. My colleagues, especially my executive chef, walks me through the variety of things he has seen in bakeries in different places. He guides me in whatever new thing I want to pursue.
I am particular about plating and designing my dishes. Since desserts are the last thing you order, and by that time the guests are already full, we need to present them something that appeals their eyes. While presenting a bakery product, it is not just that. There are four or five items that comes along with it like a mousse, a dollop of white chocolate and some toppings of fruits. They all need to be done right and made visually appealing.
As an amateur, I have also failed many times as baking is not easy. But for any pastry chef it is a must to follow the right measurement in the recipes. I have diary where I have noted it all down and if someone wants to learn my recipes they need to check it out. For anyone who wants to make it big in the baking industry I would say, follow the recipe and technique, don’t take shortcuts, always taste before serving the guest and present it well.