Meet the Chef (MTC) Session with Aditya Bal

A good cook is the peculiar gift of the gods.

He must be a perfect creature from the brain to the palate

from the palate to the finger's end.

 -Walter Savage Landor  

 Few days back I had an opportunity to attend cooking event "Meet the Chef" with Chef Aditya Bal at LeMeridien. This session was organised by the India's premier lifestyle channel NDTV Good Times to celebrate the NDTV Food Times Award 2012 ( Dec-3-2012) and also to celebrate it's 3rd year. This year NDTV Good Times celebrates the best food in industry by raising a toast to single most important ingredient that could make or break the fortunes of a restaurant - The Perfect Recipe.

  About the Chef - Aditya Bal, the model turned chef is one of the most celebrated chef across India. He hosts the  most famous cookery show Chakle India on NDTV Good Times. He lives in Bangalore and spends most of his time travelling and cooking around the country. As he is very much fascinated towards the traditional methods of cooking and wants the people to rediscover their heritage, he himself traverse different parts of India and cooking the favourite cuisines of the region and learning the techniques. Recently he launched his first cookbook called "The Chakle India Cookbook".

About the event- Coming to the cooking session at LeMeridien, it was house full with audience those were eagerly waiting to see a handsome chef churning out recipes. I thought for most of them, it was an opportunity they were waiting to see a chef in action and asking questions on cooking. Wow what a session it was, the chef delighted us with his cooking style, talk and charisma.

First recipe he tossed in was Aloo Chaat from Delhi, followed by Dohi Maach curry ( Fish in yoghurt gravy ) from Bengal and the Zafrani Pulao from Rajasthan.  All the way session was getting more and more interactive and he answered all the questions from the audience patiently. He also mentioned about different cooking techniques and also added that the food needs to be visually appealing as we eat through our eyes first. The highlight was, Luck smiled upon me and  I had a chance to share a few minutes on stage with him. I assisted in preparation of the Aloo Chaat recipe. I admire, being a celebrity chef his compassion to make me feel comfortable on stage. Thanks to him, I had wonderful moment on stage.

I would like to thank NDTV Good Times, Debasmita and Chef for inviting us for this session.