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Nikita Gandhi – at 21, the youngest competitor to win MasterChef India – said her success in the reality TV series has cooked up a whole world of adventure allowing her to fly around the globe displaying her cooking skills.
Four years on, her culinary journey took her to Bahrain last week, just a short flight from her home in neighbouring Abu Dhabi, to dish up some delights for fans, foodies and fellow bloggers at Home Centre in City Centre Bahrain.
“MasterChef opened doors for me and has resulted in a lot of travelling, this event in Bahrain is one such example,” she told GulfWeekly. “There’s also been many events in India, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Singapore, the USA – I’ve travelled so much, all over, to do shows.
“There’s been media coverage involving a lot of interviews and live cooking … and I love it! It’s so much fun and, of course, it creates more recognition everywhere. I’m very grateful to MasterChef, it was a great platform and more and more opportunities keep coming up.”
It also helped boost her bank balance. Being crowned India’s top vegetarian chef on the fourth series of the popular show, after 11 weeks and 67 episodes of kitchen drama, enabled her to scoop the winner’s golden chef coat and 10 million rupees (around BD53,000)
Nikita was born and raised in Abu Dhabi – her parents live in Khalidiya – before attending university in the US, majoring in Business and Finance. She was initially worried that fact might work against her. Her fears proved unfounded. “I thought people might not be interested in voting for me because although I’m Indian, I’ve never lived in India before,” she told reporters at the time. “But that wasn’t the case at all. All throughout, I felt I was getting a lot of love and support from India and it all shone through.”
She didn’t grab the opportunity to publish a cookery book after the victory like others, although she admits to having shelves full at home, but decided to concentrate on social media instead … and who can blame her? She currently boasts around 37,000 followers.
Her latest post featured a ‘Bahrain Lunch’ which included goat cheese tikka peppers, coriander crackers and mint chutney, plus wild mushroom kofta with pumpkin gravy and methi rice, amongst the treats.
“I love to play around with food,” she said. “Although I specialise in vegetarian cooking, I love making different desserts. I have a huge sweet tooth!
“One of my favourites is a tiramisu, it’s one of my all-time favourites to eat. I actually have an Indian version of the Italian classic – instead of using Italian (sponge) ladyfingers, I use Rasgulla. (Editor’s note: a dessert made from ball-shaped dumplings of chhena and semolina doug). It’s really spongy and absorbs any flavour you feed in.
“I definitely do a lot of fusion, giving traditional Indian dishes a modern twist. I’ve grown up in Abu Dhabi and studied in America and went to India for MasterChef - being exposed to these three different cultures, especially Abu Dhabi, as just like Bahrain, we have all sorts of international restaurants. When I eat these different kinds of cuisines I often see similarities in flavours that kind of relate to Indian food. I always find common ingredients which can work for Indian, Mexican and Italian fare and I kind of fuse them together.”
And she has big plans: “I would like to open a restaurant for sure, that’s my plan,” Nikita said. “I’m just waiting for the right time … and the right place.”
