Chef At Home Private Chef Harsh Dixit Celebrities Industrialists

When we arrive one evening, Dixit and two members of the Private Chefs Club are in the middle of preparing Brie Bao for a two-day pop-up at Pooja Dhingra’s cafe Pardon Our French. The bao has become one of his signature dishes. A filling of caramelised onions, leeks and hoisin sauce is tucked into soft, pillowy dough. Each ball weighing precisely 25 gm and each portion of filling is exactly 15 gm. Nothing here is left to andaaz (estimation). Precision, organisation and cleanliness aren’t just part of Dixit’s cooking style, they are part of who he is.

Dixit, 37, rose to fame as Ranbir Kapoor’s private chef and now caters to the country’s cream of the crop, curating private dining at their homes. In his fifteenth year as a professional chef, he runs a Private Chefs Club that trains young chefs to cook for actors, sportsmen and industrialists. His premium chef services work on referral only.

What does the job entail? “You’re the head chef, the commis doing the veg prep, the butcher, the purchase manager and sometimes the dishwasher,” he says, seated at the dinner table where he also hosts a supper club for eight.

Dixit was six when he decided this was the life for him — hooked by watching his mother and grandmother. His nani’s reshmi kebab, made in an old oven with a boiler at the bottom, remains an early memory. Cooking shows by Sanjeev Kapoor and Gordon Ramsay fanned the fire further.

In 2008, he got into IHM, Goa and by his final year, he realised his pull was toward Asian food. “Dumplings and momos were my entry point,” he says. “I realised there are two cuisines Indians are perfectly happy eating every day, Indian and Chinese. You can ask me to eat fried rice or noodles seven days a week and I will happily do it.” By 2011, he was kitchen operations trainee at Yauatcha, the Michelin-starred restaurant franchise, in Mumbai’s BKC (Bandra Kurla Complex). Over the next three years, he helped open the brand’s outposts in Bengaluru and Delhi. When growth stalled, he moved on.

The next chapter began almost accidentally. He prepared a roast chicken for a bodybuilder friend, cooked in its own fat without extra oil or butter. The friend’s comment on how he would have achieved his fitness goals had he had access to such healthy and tasty food, led Dixit to co-found Six Pack Meals, a premium subscription meal service for the fitness-conscious.

A chef batchmate from college, his bodybuilder friend, his girlfriend (a Swedish pro bodybuilder) and he came together to do about 150 meals a day, for about 30 clients, from 9 pm to 7 am, after which they send out food for delivery.

Then the call came that led him to private cheffing. It was from Ranbir Kapoor, an old Six Pack Meals client. “Technically, Shahid Kapoor was our first client,” he says.

For the onion and leek jam Onions (finely sliced) – 500 gm; Leeks (finely sliced) – 150 gm; Fresh bay leaf – 1; Butter – 30 gm; Hoisin sauce – 20 gm; Chinkiang vinegar – 2.5 gm; Potato starch – 2.5 gm; Spring onion greens (finely chopped) – 5 gm; Salt – 7.5 gm; Sugar – 7.5 gm

For bao dough Red Lotus flour or refined flour – 200 gm; Sugar – 42 gm; Baking powder – 6 gm; Yeast – 4 gm; Milk – 95 ml; about 20 ml water

On medium flame, heat oil in a flat bottomed pan and add the onions; sweat them down. Add leeks, sugar and half the salt. Keep stirring Halfway through, add butter and other half of the salt, continue until the mixture has caramelised. Once the onions have caramelised, add the starch, Chinkiang vinegar and hoisin sauce and let it cook until the starch gelatinises. Add the chopped spring onions Line a perforated tray/ dim sum basket with oiled butter paper squares for individual baos For bao dough, place the flour, yeast, sugar and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Pour in milk and water and start the stand mixer. If the dough feels dry and stiff, add a bit more water, one teaspoon at a time. Continue to knead at low for 12-15 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Knead the dough by hand for a couple minutes until smooth. The dough does not need to rest at this point Immediately weigh and portion out dough balls. Roll each dough ball out and stuff with onion & leek jam Place the bao in the perforated tray that you will steam it in. Cover it with a damp cloth to proof until it’s risen (30-45 mins). Spray it with water mid-way through resting. Steam for 6-8 mins Cut a brie (cheese) wheel. Heat butter in a pan and sear the flat side of the steamed baos until golden brown. Put a slice of brie across the seared bao and torch it with a blow torch until the cheese gratinates. Drizzle hot honey on the cheese and serve

Heena Khandelwal is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express, Mumbai. She covers a wide range... Read More