KOCHI: A juicy pomfret is marinated with ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder and lemon juice. It is then shallow fried on a banana leaf (meen chuttulli) and served on hot aromatic rice. It is one of the many ‘simply naadan’ dishes of chef Arun Vijayan. Arun has been making the netizens go gaga over rich flavours, especially of Kerala cuisine through his one-minute recipe vlogs.
With almost eight years of hands-on experience, the Chef has mastered enormous platters of India and the Middle East. Arun claims that his forte is south Indian dishes. His preparation of the same on social media will bowl you over.
Adding ingredients using his right hand and balancing a phone in his left, the young chef single-handedly captures footage of the flavours of Kerala, in their truest colour and texture. “I started making videos during one of my earlier visits to Kerala. I decided to post videos of recipes that are under a minute as a source of entertainment. Surprisingly, within five months, I could garner over 100K followers on Instagram,” says the Ernakulam-native. Arun is currently working as a consultant chef at a leading restaurant in Dubai.Though videos are less than a minute, he provides brief explanations as voice-over or as text underneath the video.
When people are busy with a fast-paced life, the idea of making food at home has taken a backseat. And for them, Arun’s mini vlogs have been a major time-saver. The dishes like lemon garlic prawn, meen manga porichathu, coastal fish masala, chicken wings to tawa fried rice all may sound complicated, however, his narration and editing makes everything simple.
“Many have thanked me for introducing such short vlogs and making cooking simpler. Cooking is easy when the required ingredients are chopped and ready on time. With a bit of multi-tasking, it is a breezy affair. Though the descriptions are short, people with zero to basic cooking experience too can ace the dishes,” says Arun, who also makes varied desserts and evening snacks. Though minimalist presentation is the new trend, Arun sticks to elaborate and rustic presentation, showcasing the burst of flavours. “For me, food has to be high quality and well-maintained in terms of texture and consistency. It should make a person with no appetite carve a bite or two,” says the chef.
Instagram: @chef_arun_vijayan