Occupation: Pastry Chef
I am from Puthenchantha in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. My father, Bhaskaran Nair, is a great cook and was in the catering business. I grew up in a ‘foodie’ atmosphere. But I wasn’t really into cooking or even baking, for that matter.
My passion for baking was born in 1990. It was during the summer vacation. I had just finished class 12. My father sent me to live with my cousin Puroshathaman, who was working in the baking section of the Hyderabad airport kitchen. I used to go with him daily to work and watch those talented people make breakfast rolls, cup cakes and muffins for in-flight meals. That hooked me to baking and I decided to make it my career. So with my cousin’s help, I got a job at the flight kitchen. I spent a couple of years there and in 1992 I joined the bakery at Taj Hyderabad. I have been with the Taj Group ever since. In 2008 I joined Vivanta by Taj, Thycaud, Thiruvananthapuram. I live at Nemom with my wife, Beena, and kids Aathira and Athulya.
My work at Taj starts at 8 a.m. Apart from cakes and pastries, I, along with my colleagues Ajesh, Sujith, Aji and Rajesh, prepare different kinds of breads for pizzas, sandwiches and burgers. We also have to make a variety of desserts and ice-creams for a la carte as well as buffets.
Among baked items, pastries and cakes are my favourite. I especially love doing special decorations. The 50-kg cream cake that I had to prepare while I was at Taj Hyderabad is the biggest and the best one I have baked. It was for some special event organised by Apollo Hospital and the theme involved intricate decorative artwork with the name of the hospital written in large fonts using stencils. It was a memorable experience.
It’s Christmas now and it is the time for plum cakes and plum puddings. For plum cakes the dry fruits should be soaked in alcohol for at least a month. So the preparations begin a month and a half before the Christmas rush. Plum cakes and puddings are not the only popular delicacies for Christmas. We also prepare special Chocolate Truffle cakes, Christmas Stollen breads and Yule Logs. Cookies, marshmallow desserts and mince pie too sell well. Also, during this time, the decorations for all sorts of dishes are done in Christmas themes. Even the breads are made in festive shapes. Then there are ‘Santa Hamper’ gift packages of various sizes that contain different kinds of baked treats in a large bread basket.
Baking is my profession. But the fact is, I don’t really have a lot of pastries or desserts beyond sampling the ones I bake. I prefer traditional South Indian food and that is what I love cooking at home. But my kids love banana cakes and ice-cream. So I prepare it for them once in a while. Other than that I don’t bake much at home save for those rare family functions.
(A weekly column on men and women who make Thiruvananthapuram what it is)
