“A Plate Full of Natural Ingredients and Full of Colors Adds a Lot of Value to Your Cooking”: Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi Talks About Holi

Celebrity Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi looks forward to celebrating Holi every year. As the country is gearing up to celebrate the festival of colors, he shared that moong fritters are a must-have during the festival. Being in the culinary industry, he also stressed that, like the festival, even a colorful plate cheers one up and adds nutritional value as well as taste. 

He said, "Food should be colorful. It cannot be black and white. A colorful plate full of natural ingredients and full of colors adds a lot of value to your cooking and, of course, uplifts the mood, a festive mood. The color palette actually enhances your taste, hunger, and even eye appeal. And you can create so many dishes, and quite a lot of these are available on my YouTube channel, Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi." 

"The traditional Holi dishes after my marriage have been like a ritual in my house. Fritters made out of moong with the skin on are a ritual in my house, and even black chickpea curry. Jalebi is a ritual in my house, and then we get samosas from outside. But the green gram fritter is something that is made in kilograms, and we all relish it on Holi. Sometimes we have the whole family come together, and a huge basket of these fritters is made and served," he added. 

He further shared he has recently created a dish, cream cheese rainbow toasts, on his YouTube channel. He said, "There are various flavors added to cream cheese, like blueberry, saffron, and cardamom. Then there is a salted one, and there is a chili one with beetroot. There's a spinach one with garlic. So a lot of these creative ideas, they've been put on toast, and the recipe is available. It's called Rainbow Toast, especially created for Holi." 

"Then of course, you have the spiced milk (Thandai) cheesecake we've made as well. Thandai cashew fudge, which is an excellent addition to the cashew fudge. Tiramisu gujiya (sweet deep-fried dumpling) is another interesting thing I've made. "You can browse these recipes on my YouTube channel," he added. 

In his restaurant Karigari, they have the Thandai. He elaborated, "Thandai Rainbow Shahi Tukda and Thandai Ghevar (traditional honeycomb dessert) are served in my restaurant. There are various drinks that are served at Karigari. So we do personally add a few specific dishes that are specific to Holi and all festivals in our restaurants also." 

Asked if he has any healthy twists on traditional Holi sweets that don’t compromise on taste, he said, "Sprouted green gram snack with a little temper of curry leaves makes it very healthy." 

"There are a lot of healthy things, but I still feel that festivals are meant to be enjoyed and indulged in with good food, and then burned off and balanced out over the week. And that is what one should do," Chef Harpal ended.