No shortcut to success

Chef Ritesh Patil is the Chef de Cuisine at The Raintree, St. Mary’s Road, Alwarpet. Photo: special arrangement

What did you have for dinner last night?

Yesterday I spent my day off alone at home, absolutely not in the mood to cook by myself. So I ordered for a triple chicken cheese burst pizza followed by a chocolate cake (guilty!)

What are you reading now? 

Reading? Me? Impossible! I am more of a TV person, especially sports and movies. I have read a few books of Jeffery Archer and Fredrick Forsythe.

Your favourite recipe book?

I do not refer books for recipes; almost every recipe today is available on the internet. But as a beginner, I found

Professional Cooking by Wayne Gisslen very helpful and would recommend it to all young, budding chefs

What meals do you have planned for your next vacation?

For our next vacation, my wife Megha and I have planned to go to The Maldives, but that’s purely to satisfy our recently found craze for scuba diving. Just yesterday we were discussing how we wished to go to New York to sample the numerous Michelin starred restaurants the city has to offer and also the food trucks.

Best meal?

I am not a very fussy eater, so even an averagely decent meal would make my day. The last memorable meal that comes to mind, of which I spoke to several colleagues, was at Sangli in Central Maharashtra, where I had gone for a friend’s wedding. It was a simple home-style Maharashtrian non-vegetarian thali of chicken curry, mutton curry, egg curry and pandhara rassa (white broth made with chicken bones, fresh coconut and milk), accompanied with unlimited bhakari (rice flour flatbreads) and steamed rice. It was nothing fancy, but absolutely hearty flavours wherein I could taste the goodness of the chicken and the goat.

What about the worst?

Unlike me, my wife is very particular and well planned, so she does a thorough check of any place that we are going to eat, so we seldom have a bad dining experience. And even if anything was not correct, we would bring it to our servers notice and get it rectified before it turns into a bad experience.

Places you eat at most often?

Megha and I are huge movie buffs, so we are always at the movies on our day off. They have got decent fare at Dine and Blur; we love the grilled chicken and chips at Nandos, and I think Bay Leaf does good, succulent kebabs.

Lessons learnt in the kitchen?

Hard work! There is no shortcut to success.

Any secret junk food confessions?

Oh, I thrive on junk food, pizzas, burgers, fried goodies, and I also have a big, big sweet tooth, so cakes, waffles and all kinds of desserts.

Last meal on earth: What would you choose?

‘ Ghar ka Khana’, food cooked by my Aaee (mother) or maybe some nice scrambled eggs with crispy bacon rashers and warm buttery croissant… Err... Nah!

I belong to the Koli (fishermen) community of Coastal Maharashtra and the food that my mom cooks is very peasant-like; simple to prepare, but bold on flavours and very hearty and comforting. Although I feel very sad that none from the new generation, including me, want to learn that and the cuisine is slowly getting extinct. Megha was telling me that I should document all of my mom’s recipes and should do a cookbook on it later in life to keep the cuisine alive.