Thursday, 01 August 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Rajeev Chauhan
A chef celebrated for a special dish known as Molecular Gastronomy, Rajeev Chauhan who had studied in the holy town of Rishikesh has joined as specialty Indian cuisine chef at the Saffron Indian Cuisine Cary in North Carolina, USA. He said that he had stepped off the family’s beaten path of teaching profession and embarked on an adventure in the realm of culinary art. “I am happy to be where I am, taking the Indian cuisine across the world with gusto. My family elders insisted that I should do graduation in Chemistry as a prelude to my joining the chemical industry. But I chose to join the hospitality industry instead. My mother was my first teacher who helped me learn the intricacies of culinary skill. As a kid, I used to watch her every move while she was cooking. I have learnt a lot in the past 18 years I have been in this field. I will learn more in the coming years of my culinary journey,” he said beamingly.
He had his primary education in Rishikesh. Keen on pursuing his career in culinary field, he joined a food craft institute in Rishikesh and completed a diploma in hotel management food production and qualified HACCP training from Doon institute of food technology in Rishikesh.
Before landing in the US, he worked as Chef De partie in Taj Dubai for two years at Bombay brasserie and at Signature by Sanjeev Kapoor Restaurant at Hotel Melia Dubai. He, however, began his culinary career at a hotel in Amritsar and worked for a string of leading hotels, including Lalit Laxmi Vilas Palace in Udaipur.
“After acquiring experiences in the nuanced art of special cooking, I dared to create my own recipes. The most famous of them is Molecular Gastronomy. It became quite popular in Dubai. Every guest who would visit Signature by Sanjeev Kapoor Restaurant started ordering for Molecular dishes,” he said.
Queried on what Molecular Dish actually is, the eminent chef said that Molecular Gastronomy is a sub-discipline of food science that seeks to investigate the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur in cooking.
Asked to recount his experiences as a leading chef catering to the culinary preferences of the VVIPs, Chauhan said that he had been flown along with Padmashri awarded celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor to serve VVIP lunch and dinner hosted by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed Bin Zayad Bin Sultan Al Nahayan in honour of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi held at Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. “Being a member of the culinary delegates flying outside India for doing special VIP events is something I treasure. In India too, I was chosen to participate in a special VIP event for the then chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir. Besides, I was one of the chefs on a special invite in Hilton Iru Fushi at Maldives to do special events for important delegates. These are wonderful moments of my life,” he said.
Dwelling on the world-wide appreciation of his culinary invention Molecular Gastronomy, he said, “This, of course, proved to be a great morale booster for me. It was something new. While working under Sanjeev Kapoor, I have learnt culinary details and in-depth hidden recipes.”
As far as awards and accolades bestowed upon him are concerned, he was a member of the team which won the Maggy Awards 2024. He was a member of the Bombay brasserie team that won the best caterer awards 2022. He was adjudged the best employee of the year of Lalit Hotel Udaipur in 2012. Plus, he was felicitated with the Gold Award for Signature By Sanjeev Kapoor Restaurant in 2017.
Speaking highly of the originality and many-sidedness of his culinary skill, Sanjeev Kapoor said that Rajeev is well- versed with current culinary trends. “He was the favorite chef of all the guests who visited my restaurant in Dubai. He is out and out a perfectionist and knows his job very well. I am sure he will rock wherever he goes,” he said.
