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Social media star of the week: Saransh Goila
Instagram’s #SadakChef famous for his Butter Chicken now has a new focus: his love for his mother and Sindhi food!
The HT Brunch Social Media Star Of The Week goes to the butter chicken chef who’s now famous for so much more: Saransh Goila. Why? For driving non-stop for 20 hours (as a social distancing move) from Mumbai to Delhi to spend time with his mum, who has an autoimmune disease. And for making a feast out of it as a social media series.
Mama’s little chef
“I first came to Delhi for two weeks as lockdown restrictions began to be eased, but I didn’t cook much then. I let my mother do the pampering,” says Saransh. The big hit was his Instagram video documenting old-fashioned Indian kitchen tools that his mother uses efficiently even today.
“All of what we did was spontaneous. I didn’t expect the video to become such a hit,” the #Sadakchef, as he is sometimes called on social media, tells us. “We made a lot of Sindhi food. Mum showed me how to use lotus stem in different ways, and we cooked cholai ka saag in a lohe ki kadhai!”
Saransh inherits his camera-friendly demeanour from his mum. “Mom enjoys being in front of the camera as much as I do. I’m especially connected to my mother because of what I do, but my inspiration has also been my granddad, who was a great cook.”
Family first
“A year ago, my mother was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, and that’s when I started coming to Delhi more often,” says Saransh. “My mother is mentally strong, works on her lungs, does a lot of exercises. Seeing her deal with it positively makes us stronger.”
Saransh may have put himself on the map by being the “marathon runner” who’s also the chef who serves butter chicken. But his recent posts show that deep in his heart, is Sindhi food.
“Sindhi food comes with the story of Partition, and my nanaji lived through it,” he says. “It’s a cuisine that cares a lot about slow cooking. We bhoono a lot, that’s why Sindhi food is brown in colour. A lot of our food is also fried, which is a preservation technique. It fills you in such a way that you don’t have to eat a lot of meals.”
Why do we not see a lot of Sindhi restaurants? “Because people go out for an experience, while Sindhi cuisine is about food. I think Sindhi food would work wonderfully for delivery. It’s something I’d want to do.”
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From HT Brunch, November 8, 2020
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