Learn the art of being a home chef from seasoned names in culinary business

O' Tenga Fish Meal with Payox

Home chefs, over the past few years, have taken the city's palates by storm and tempted us to try regional cuisine. Who would have thought we would sign up for a meal in a stranger's home, breaking bread with unknown people and organically improving our vocabulary and taste buds to appreciate Indian food?

Priyangi Borthakur and Joyee Mahanta

For the upcoming Guide Food Awards, a special category was made for Best New Pop-up and Home Chefs. These four nominees, who have created a niche for themselves, share lessons for aspiring home chefs.

'Research your cuisine'
Prabha Kini, home chef Organises pop-ups with Authenticook.com
First of all, you have to be a superb chef who makes interesting conversations. You must know the history of the state where the cuisine comes from, so that as a host, you can share insights about it and add some lesser-known trivia. It is necessary to know when the dish is supposed to be traditionally served, for example, at a pooja or during a marriage.

I am from Mangalore and promote GSB and Tulunadu (region that spread over parts of the Karnataka and Kerala). I specially cook dishes that are not available in restaurants. The toughest challenge for me was to nail the quantity to be cooked. It is not true that women eat less than men! I serve only freshly cooked food to the guests. Leftovers become our home meals.

'Cook, create'
Aditya Raghavan Co-founder, The Danda Food Project with Anandita Kamani
Stick to your strengths and cook food with love. It took us a while to sell all our tickets. Apart from word of mouth, we used social media to get our name out and have now gained enough traction so that we can continue to work on this project.

We give ourselves long-term targets, ranging a few months so that we can keep tabs on our growth in developing technique and creativity in the kitchen.

'Do what you love'
Joyee Mahanta Co-founder, O Tenga, with Priyangi Borthakur
This is the time for a home-chef revolution, so if you love food and cooking, just follow your passion and cook from your heart. As long as you are doing something you love, it will never get boring. We feel very lucky that people are adventurous with their food choices in Mumbai and open to experimentation and trying out new cuisines.

Ou-Tenga aru Xoriyoh Paator Gahori

We were sceptical when we started out as we weren't sure if our [Assamese] cuisine will be easily accepted by the people here. But the simple and unique flavours of our food seem to have hit the right notes.

'It's important to be focused'
Pooja Pangtey Co-founder, Meraki with Teiskhem Lynrah, for Kumaoni and Khasi food
Passion is the key for becoming a home chef. It is important to be focused - cooking for hours on the go is not easy. You need to know what you are getting into because when you are running a proper kitchen, you have to handle operations, purchasing as well as marketing! When you have your own business, you have to be your own CEO and peon, doing on-ground work like picking up the chairs.

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