Meet Rakhee Vaswani – Her Journey From A Picky Eater To A Celebrity Chef

Celebrity Chef Rakhee Vaswani – A Mompreneur who started the Palate Culinary Academy, a Chef, Host of the famous culinary Show “Rewind with Rakhee”, author of cookbook “PICKY EATERS” and fondly called as the Desi Nigella, strongly believes that it is never too late to start or restart your career. “If your passion is strong enough, you can shake it and wake it to make it your new goal ANYTIME” is her advice for all budding entrepreneurs.  Adding that “Age should never be a bar! Even if you’re 50 or 60 years old, just start! You never know what works out and how 🙂 No competition is good enough for you to stop yourself from being yet another player in the market!”

She believes that one should never give up on learning, no matter who you are or how much you have achieved. “Never think you know it all. Each and every day will teach you something or the other.  And of course imparting that knowledge further is a great deed” quotes Rakhee with the passion for learning evident in her voice. With all these morale – boosting messages which Chef Rakhee gave team Plattershare, It’s an honor for us to have got the opportunity to catch up with Chef Rakhee Vaswani who is an inspiration for all.

When you cooked your first dish, did you know that this was your passion and you wanted to be a Chef?

Yes, I loved going into the kitchen and loved cooking. When I was 12, I remember seeing one of those glossy magazines with a nice chicken gravy recipe and that’s when I was inspired to cook restaurant style food which should be appealing because everyone eats with their eyes before tasting it. Back in those times, few people were aware of Chefs and cooking as a fulltime career except one show “Khana Khazana” where Chef Sanjeev Kapoor would cook. But one thing which was always in my head was that I always wanted to cook well and eat delicious and yummy food. It’s when I met my husband who himself is a big foodie, and I wanted to impress him with whatever I cook. So, slowly I started with my classes and finally aspired to be a Chef.

Tell us about how “Palate Culinary Academy” is changing the food industry?

Palate culinary studio is bringing the change in the food industry because it helps the home chefs who aspire to be the entrepreneurs and work for the food industry. Studio conducts various workshops and provides certification courses which are UK affiliated and thus helps them to get a job and start their own entrepreneurial journey.

I remember how hard it was for me to leave my family for 2-3 months to do culinary certification courses and learn the intricacies of the career. I used to travel to London and many other places to get certified which made me realize not everyone can do that, so why not bring it to India. In India, we have Hotel management courses but we don’t have culinary courses and that’s where palate culinary studio is bringing the change.

People who have hidden talents and passion and want to hone their skills with the practical knowledge of the industry can join our workshops and courses. We bring in veteran industry chefs who love to share their knowledge with the budding chefs. I feel so good that I am giving back to the society because after completion of courses, a lot of the students have been picked up by restaurants and most of them start their own ventures.

Your Book on Picky Eaters is about Kids who are Picky eaters, how do you deal with adult picky eaters? 

A Picky eater can be of any age. I myself am a picky eater. So my book ““PICKY EATERS” is not just about recipes for kids. This caters to the Picky eater of any age. My husband and kids are also picky eaters and that aspired me to work on this book. Picky eater doesn’t mean that they don’t eat food but it means that they know a lot about food and can’t just eat anything. The food has to be appealing and has to have a good presentation style along with health and nutrition to be picked up by picky eaters. I will share one example, I love Upma and it’s healthy too but I never forced my kids to eat it. Whenever I made it, I presented it in style and they got tempted to eat it. So “Picky eaters” is about making delicious food so that it’s enjoyed.

Could you please share few of your recipes from the book “Picky Eaters”?

Sure, These recipes are healthy, nutritious and delicious. Do try them at home and I am sure you will love them.

If you love chicken then these are must try recipes –

• Chicken Fricassee,
• Teriyaki Chicken and Veggie Noodles  and
• Grilled Chicken with Brown Rice Pilaf

If you are a vegetarian then you should try these recipes:

• Quinoa Stuffed Baked Potato
• Oats Moong Dal Tikki Frankie

And to satiate your sweet tooth  try this

• Banana Boston Creme Shot

From being a celebrity chef to mompreneur to the author, what’s next?

A Culinary college will be the focus for next few years. Right now we are doing the certifications and diploma but going forward I would like to bring in more programs and affiliations from universities across the world. Move to a bigger place so that we can have more number of students taking benefit of these programs and move it to the next level. I don’t want to jump and rush. Everything should happen in its own time because then things come out of passion.

What’s Rakhee’s Mantra to handle Day-to-Day Situations? 

My Mantra is my husband.  Two minutes of phone call and I am all set to go start again. He is an amazing listener and every time when I want to just speak out I just call him.  Everyone has a level and you need someone to hear out. He will say “Hold your breath for 20 seconds and you will be fine.” And it works for me. He is an avid reader, amazing conservationist but lets me speak out when I need it. On my first day shoot of “Rewind with Rakhee,” something strange happened, even though I am so natural in front of the camera and just say “Jai Mata Di” to begin any work, that day I was so nervous and was almost in tears. I requested my Director to give me just two minutes as I wanted to speak to my husband. I called him spoke to him for some time and then there was no looking back. We share the bond of a 27-year relationship.

One message which you would like to give aspiring home-chefs and entrepreneurs on Plattershare –

So this is Culinary Expert and Chef Rakhee who runs Palate Culinary Academy to hone the skills of new cooks. You can follow Celebrity Chef Rakhee Vaswani on  Twitter: @PalateStudio , Instagram: @palateculinary and her  YouTube Channel Rakhee Vaswani. 

If you loved this story and want Team Plattershare to interview your favorite celebrity chef. Do let us know by commenting on this article and we will work on it.