in delhi he was comfortable then and remains soi got into the kitchen because it felt like the one place i wasnt judgedhe said our family chef was a loving man i was the familys baby and from the age of 3 or 4 i watched him in amusementsaran said almost all of his early associations with food were pleasant in his home some food was cooked for the gods who were served before humans to mesaran recalled the kitchen was a cocoon a place where everything was lovelythis shows in sarans cooking in my cookoffs with chefs over the past couple of years i found his bold flavours retained a sense of gentleness and beauty the most challenging aspect of his food is assembling the ingredientslike many indian chefs he uses a tandoor which has 700plusdegree heat that is impossible to mimic in a home oven he features flatbreads that remain daily fare in india but are too timeconsuming for most home cooks he toasts and grinds his own spiceswhen he made a lamb paratha i could see how duplicating the process would take hours i countered with a tortilla stuffed with spicy mashed potatoes a kind of bastardised aloo paratha saran called my creation a deformed knishthat would have both our grandmothers turning in their graves but he said it closely resembled a muchbeloved snack sold on mumbais streets