Three Dishes With Vikas Khanna

This new column by Anjali Kumar invites you on a monthly adventure to great restaurants around the world to meet the amazing chefs, mixologists, restaurateurs and sommeliers behind them and the foods that inspired their work today. She sits down with Chef Vikas Khanna of Junoon in New York City to find out which dishes shaped his cooking style and outlook today.

Chef Vikas Khanna was raised in Amritsar, India where he grew up amid a succession of large family feasts, seasonal produce fresh from the fields of Punjab and of course, his grandmother�s cooking. It was at his grandmother�s side that he began his lifelong apprenticeship to learn the intricacies of Indian cuisine.

He started his own catering business, Lawrence Gardens, at the age of 17 and the business is still thriving today. Upon his graduation from the Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Vikas went on to train under renowned chefs of Taj Group of Hotels, Oberoi, Leela Group and many more. His current restaurant work includes the Café at the Rubin Museum of Art, Flavors and Feasts Catering and Junoon Restaurant, which received two stars from the New York Times.

He has authored several books including The Spice Story of India and Modern Indian Cooking. His next book, Flavors First, will be published this summer by Lake Isle Press. Vikas also is the creator of The Holy Kitchens, a series of documentary films that explore sharing food in different faiths. True Business, about Sikhism, had its premiere at the Asia Society last fall and Karma to Nirvana, on Hinduism, will premiere at the NY Indian Film Festival on May 7th. The films have also been shown at Oxford University, Harvard, Princeton and Columbia.

Vikas made his way to the United States and studied at Cornell University and New York University while getting his feet wet in the restaurant industry of New York City. He has also studied at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park and at the Cordon Bleu in Paris. He has had the pleasure of working with some of the most honored chefs in America while he was the Executive Chef of Salaam Bombay Restaurant in New York. He has received glowing reviews from the press, his gastronomic peers, and also recognition from the James Beard Foundation.

He is the founder of Cooking for Life and SAKIV, organizations which host gastronomic events around the world in support of various relief efforts and awareness issues. He is also supporting the work of Amma, the hugging saint of Kerala, India. Her work providing relief for the victims of the earthquakes in Haiti have been a model of human compassion and fiscal responsibility.

What is the dish that:

1. Inspired your love of food?

I learned to cook from my Grandmother and the very first dish that she let me make for the family meal was lentils. To this day, whenever I make a pot of lentils it takes me back to that meal where I was able to sit back and watch my whole family enjoy something I made.

2. Is your signature?

I guess my signature dish would have to be the Tellicherry Duck Breast. It certainly has gotten a lot of attention from the press and Martha Stewart really liked it when I made it for her.

3. You cook on your night off?

I always have friends dropping in on my days off and I never know how many or what time. I keep cooked chickpeas, lentils and a vegetable dish on hand so I don�t have to worry about anyone�s dietary concerns. Then I just throw together some dough to make some roti or paratha to go with it. Sort of like making a langar at a Sikh temple, I can feed people easily and quickly with little notice. Growing up near the Golden Temple I learned at a young age how important it is to feed people. That�s why I make my Holy Kitchens films now about how people feed their communities in different spiritual settings.

— Written by Anjali Kumar

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