Love is the Basic Ingredient of all Foods: MasterChef Shazia Khan

Afra Afzal Sait | NT

Bengaluru: Her guiding principles are to "aim for the stars, dream big, and follow the heart."

She has lived by these principles, and as a result, she has become a well-known chef on television as well as on social media. Hailing from Bengaluru, Shazia Khan made her entry into the culinary world as a competitor in MasterChef India, a programme shown on Star Plus in India.

In MasterChef India Season 2, she was the first runner-up. She serves as a member of the board of management of Delhi Public Schools in Bengaluru. Though she is daughter-in-law of the former Union Minister K Rahman Khan, she came into the limelight as hostess of cooking shows and still later as a cookbook author.

'What's on the Menu', her first cookbook, was borne out of a desire to share her love of cooking with young aspirant cooks. The creator of ‘The Cooking Studio’, ‘The Studio Café’, in Goa and Chennai respectively, Shazia Khan has been honing her culinary skills to perfection through creative twist of the traditional recipes as well as adaptations.

Raised in a large-sized joint family, Shazia had been a keen learner of culinary skills while working with a wide range of family women. Not alone this, she had an eye for presentation skills too as food served with love acted as a bonding agent.

She could experiment with a wide range of tastes and textures, would discover pairing of uncommon ingredients and additives.

End result of it all was unique recipes that would have gourmands smacking their lips. Shazia says, "There is no love sincerer than the love of food,... Food is my greatest passion…, I love cooking, eating, experimenting with diverse ingredients and also sharing it with people who love it. Cooking for me is a stressbuster and a magical experience... it has always transported me into a blissful world. I draw comfort from food that brings cheer.”

She began her career in television with The Good Food Guide on Star Plus (Middle East beam), and she has since hosted K for Kids Season 2 on the Food channel and has been active on a number of other YouTube channels.

The Studio also offers training programmes for young women from low-income families in whom she finds a great deal of potential to become excellent cooks. Shazia's goal is to unite individuals from all backgrounds who like eating. Garlic has been Shazia’s favourite spice.

However, she feels the essence of all dishes is love with which individuals cook and serve it to guests and friends.

The featured dishes are special to her and cherished by her family. The book struck a chord with her fans and food aficionados inasmuch as the Gourmand Awards judges named it the national winner in the category of First Cookbook.

Her cooking studio also offers training programmes to girls from low-income families. She pursues the objective of uniting people from all walks of life who draw pleasure from eating.