He cooked for the Queen, the late Indira Gandhi, and now, Singapore’s vending machines
India’s chef Satish Arora has accomplished many goals that very few in the culinary world can. At 26, he was the youngest chef to helm the kitchen at the Taj Mahal Hotel. In the 80s, he prepared a dinner spread for Queen Elizabeth – who gave the thumbs up for his butter chicken – and subsequently for a delegation led by the late India prime minister Indira Gandhi, whose praise for his food caused Satish to tear even till today.
Most recently, he was the first chef revealed by Singapore’s vending machine cafe brand Chef-In-Box to have handpicked six of his dishes and adapted them for purchase from its Pasir Ris outlet.
“I visited the outlet at Lakeside MRT station and stood nearby for nearly an hour to observe the people visiting the VendCafe,” said the 70-year-old during a recent interview with Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore.
He was in town for the official launch of VendCafe’s newest outlet at the void deck of Block 766 Pasir Ris Street 71. His featured dishes are prawn chettinad, chicken korma, mixed vegetable Goa-style curry, homestyle chicken curry and butter chicken.
“I was amazed to see both the young and the old going to the VendCafe to buy meals from the vending machines and warming them up in the microwaves to eat. Some [even] bringing them back. I looked at them and thought, wow, this is the future,” said Satish, who was with the Taj Hotels Group for nearly 50 years.
India’s culinary pride
Vending machines hadn’t existed when Satish was growing up in New Delhi. Back in the 60s, it was also rare to see men take up cooking. Satish’s father himself had expected his son to grow up to become an engineer or a doctor.
“My mother was a very strict cook. I would look at how she cooks and then try cooking myself. I had a logbook in which I would write notes about my cooking,” Satish reminisced.
The first meal he tried to cook was Upma, a South Indian dish consisting of roasted semolina cooked as a thick porridge. His mother saw the potential in Satish and convinced his father to enrol him in India’s first catering school that had opened in 1963.
Satish’s remarkable performance in school landed him a job as a training chef at the Taj Mahal Hotel in 1967, before he was quickly promoted as sous chef one and a half years later. By 1973, he became the executive chef at age 26.
“It was difficult being young while the chefs in my team were all in their 40s. I remember one of them, his name was Santan, and he refused to cook Fillet of Pomfret Bonne Femme for me,” said Satish, who ended up having to stay up till the wee hours to prepare the dish himself.
“There was nothing else I could do. I had to make it myself since my reputation was on the line,” said Satish. He later realised that because of the incident, he had gained the respect of his team members, who were initially sceptical of his skills due to his young age.
In the 80s, Satish had the honour of cooking for the then-UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher and the British royal family, including Queen Elizabeth and the late Princess Diana. He was in charge of hosting a banquet for 100 people at the St James Court Hotel in London.
“When the banquet was over, I was standing with my chefs when the Queen came. She said, ‘Chef, Thanks! Butter chicken was excellent. Marvellous’,” said Satish. “I didn’t know what to do. It was a morale booster.”
Another proud moment for him was in 1983, when Satish was the corporate chef for a dinner attended by the heads of the Commonwealth government. The dinner was hosted by the late Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, who commended Satish and his team for their efforts.
“Excellent job done by your team… your team has made our country proud,” Satish recounted Indira telling JRD Tata, the then-chairman of Tata Group, which the Taj Hotels Group is a part of. “Till today, I become emotional when I talk about it,” he said.
Embracing the future
Now a veteran chef, Satish is also well-known for being adaptable with his culinary skills. The father of two spent nine years from 1999 as one of the chefs behind some of Singapore Airlines’ dishes.
For airlines, once the food is cooked, it is sent to the blast chiller where the temperature will be reduced to 5 deg C to prevent bacteria from being active. The food is then taken to the holding room and packing room, before being brought aboard the aircrafts. Through this experience, Satish was able to familiarise himself with the standard procedures for airline food preparation.
Some of them are similar to those of vending machine cafes. One such requirement is that the temperature of the foods to be reduced to minus 20 deg C before being transported to the machines.
“I have had to make some changes, but not to the ingredients. I had to change the strength of the heat when cooking and pick spices that don’t have strong smells,” said Satish. “But people eating them will enjoy the same texture, same taste, same flavour as what you would get from a restaurant,” he added.
Related stories:
Vending machine cafe in Pasir Ris will feature dishes by renowned chefs
Vending machine cafe opens at Ang Mo Kio MRT Station; Lakeside is next
Follow Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore on Facebook.
