Weekend Exclusive | Cooking is the continuation of my love for teaching: MasterChef Pankaj Bhadouria

Now Star Plus is keeping its promise and has launched a new show called "Chef Pankaj Ka Zayka' ” a dedicated cookery show through which Bhadouria can endear herself to millions of TV viewers by helping the average Indian housewives with kitchen queries.

Talking about the new show she says that she really adores the concept of having real people from amongst the masses coming on the show. "We have a lot of celebrities and celebrity chefs coming on the show too. But I am all the more excited about common people like me coming on the show," she adds.

Just like MasterChef changed the course of her life from a teacher to the greatest chef on television, Bhadouria, beginning on Sept 12, 2.30 pm, will help the average Indian homemaker change the way they run their kitchen. Bhadouria will play a warm interactive host of "Indiagate Basmati Rice presents Chef Pankaj Ka Zayka' where she will not only solve cooking problems, but also make the task easy and fun, besides work with celebrities and the aam junta. She will don the role of a connoisseur of great food whose review will matter to our gastronomic journey through life.

Bhadouria adds that through the show she will be helping the housewives solve their everyday kitchen woes. "For me the cooking funda is very simple- the food has to be appealing to the eyes, nose and then the tongue. Your food should appeal to all the senses and that is a primary mandate," she adds.

She further adds that this show in a way will help her keep up her love for teaching.

Talking about life after winning the title, Bhadouria says, "Oh! Life has changed completely. I have received immense love and adulation from people. I had been invited to New York to an Indian Food Festival post winning the title. I was also invited to the Cambridge University's and Medical Research Council of UK's conference based on the theme "Sizzling signs with added spice", where the main aim was to convey that healthy food can be tasty too."

For Bhadouria she derives inspiration from her mom and dad's cooking, more so from her dad's cooking she adds. "My dad was an excellent cook. My mom was 17 when she got married to my dad and it so happened that my mom ended up learning how to cook from my dad," she adds with a smile.

So how do her children feel about her winning all the accolades?

While signing off, Bhadouria adds that she would really like to cook something for Amitabh Bachchan, Rahul Gandhi and Dalai Lama. "Oh! I would like to cook again for Akshay Kumar although this time around in a stress-free environment," she light-heartedly adds. | By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]