As the festive season approaches, celebrity chef Kunal Kapoor has good news for those who fear that Indian mithai is overly sweet and high on calories.
In a five-part web series called The Sweet BreakUp , which went live on YouTube on Friday, Mr. Kapoor shows how to eliminate the sugar and yet keep the taste intact.
“We all love our food and sweets take a special place in our hearts... We took it as a challenge to recreate the Indian mithai with the same taste but without the sugar and with much less calories. I am confident it will be as fun for everyone to watch as it was for me to make the sweets,” said Mr. Kapoor.
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Going places
The series revolves around the celebrity chef, and Rocky and Mayur from the cult show
“The series has attempted to capture our journey to rediscover some of the iconic mithais of India. We have interacted with fifth and sixth generation halwais with a legacy hundreds of years old. We have tried to explore the story and origins of legendary Indian dessert.
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“There is a lot of interaction with locals in every city. Once I create the mithai, we take it to the people of the city for tasting, which is the most exciting part,” Mr. Kapoor said.
Unique experiences
“Whether it was Tewari Brothers’ Gulab Jamuns from Chandni Chowk, or Malai ki Gilori from Lucknow, or Sandesh from Balaram Sweets in Kolkata, or Dharwad Peda from Bangalore or the modaks in Mumbai, every mithai was an experience in itself,” the chef recalled.
Expanding on the challenge, he said: “My endeavour was to try and keep the taste as close as possible to the original recipe. Trust me, it is the most difficult part.”
Last year, Mr. Kapoor came out with an 18-part TV show titled Pickle Nation .
What’s next on the cards? “There are a lot of things that I am working on. My research and writing on my book on pickles continues, chronicling the pickle evolution and innovations across the country,” Mr. Kapoor revealed.