In My Kitchen with Paula

Beyond Butter Chicken with Chef Gurjyote Sethi

• Paula Mohammed • Episode 14

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Spices, Stories, and Smiles:  Exploring Indian Culture and Cuisine with Chef Gurjyote Sethi

In this episode of 'In My Kitchen with Paula,' host Paula Mohammed invites Red Seal Chef Gurjyote Sethi (Chef GJ) to share his culinary journey from India to Canada. Chef GJ delves into his family's rich culinary history, regional Indian cuisines, and the importance of hospitality. He provides insights into daily life in India, cooking techniques, and his philosophy of spreading love through food. The discussion also touches on Chef GJ's culinary tours in India and his ongoing cooking ventures in Canada, including his experience with 'Tiffin To Go.'

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In My Kitchen creates connections one dish at a time, by exploring culture through food. I do this through unique culinary workshops, speaking engagements, and of course, this podcast.

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Paula Mohammed:

I am so excited to share this episode with you and invite you on this journey to India. With red seal, Chef Gurjyote Sethi also known fondly as chef GJ Chef GJ is a red seal chef who moved to Canada from India in 2014. We met maybe a couple of years after that. Chef GJ was actually a host within my kitchen and brings with him this joy, love, generosity, and passion for not just Indian cuisine, but for people in general. Chef GJ shares with us in this episode, detailed information about spices, the regional cuisines of India, how to travel in India and insight into his life in India and Canada. Grab a pen and paper as there are some great cooking and travel tips in this episode. Hope you enjoy it. Hi, I'm Paula Mohamed and welcome to In My Kitchen with Paula. This podcast is a gathering place for culinary adventures who love to travel. Every week, we'll come together with chefs, cookbook authors, talented home cooks, and everyone in between to talk about their story and their unique dish. Using food as the vehicle, we'll take a ride into the ins and outs of their culture and country. Come on, let's get this party started. Hello, Chef GJ. It's great to have you on the show.

Gurjyote Sethi:

Hello Paula, it's nice meeting you as well.

Paula Mohammed:

Chef GJ is a Red Seal chef who has a passion for cooking and sharing his love of India and Indian cuisine. I have been so looking forward to this episode, GJ. As the listeners may not know this, but I've had the opportunity to not only cook with GJ, but share meals with him and learn some of his family recipes and they are delicious. GJ, I'd like to just dive right in. And if you don't mind sharing with our listeners a little bit about your family background.

Gurjyote Sethi:

Thank you so much for that opportunity. my full name pronounced as Gurjot Singh Sethi. And G. J. is, for the loved ones who, to make them comfortable. I'm born and brought up in Delhi. Come from a business background family, but always got an opportunity from my parents. To live life how I want to. So I already had a passion to, uh, to cook. Looking up at my grandma because, uh, my grandfather had seven brothers and three sisters. So there was always a party at home. My grandfather was the eldest one, so I saw my grandma cooking every day for everyone. And that beautiful smell of, uh, the aroma of all the spices and she used to bake as well, all the Indian breads made at home. I had the opportunity to go to my family business, but, uh, but I, I was given the opportunity to do, go to hotel management school and then live up to what I want to do. I went to Institute of Hotel Management in Delhi. Then I got trained by Hyatt Regency, New Delhi. Then, climbed up the ladder, started from as a kitchen trainee and climbed up the ladder, worked for Amman, Crowne Plaza, Hyatt, Intercontinental, my last was Taj. Before I move to Canada here in 2014, welcome by beautiful souls here and given a lot of love and respect to and that's how I've been growing here, worked for Fairmont Hotel in my initial stages and then opened my company called GJ's Kitchen and got the opportunity to spread love through food.

Paula Mohammed:

I know that your family background in terms of where your grandparents are from is quite interesting. Is it your grandmother that was from Indonesia?

Gurjyote Sethi:

Yes, my grandmother was from Indonesia and my grandfather was from Pakistan, Lahore. Then after the world knows that the country were divided into two and some went to India and some were in Pakistan. So we moved to India and my grandfather moved to India. It's not my great grandfather moved to India. And, uh, yes, then the whole family followed there. And my father was also born in Indonesia

Paula Mohammed:

Did that have an influence on your family recipes and the family cooking?

Gurjyote Sethi:

Yes, because, my, Because my great grandmother was typically like Punjabi cooking, and my grandmother came for the influence of Indonesian Punjabi cooking, so it was a little bit of, yes fusion in in the recipes to make it more delightful. Because in, in Asia, they use more of peanuts and peanut oil and more on coconut spices, things like that. So, yes, it was, uh, infusion in our recipes.

Paula Mohammed:

What year did you move to Vancouver, to Canada?

Gurjyote Sethi:

So I moved here I have written that in my diary that it was a historic day of my life. I moved here 9th of May at 2014.

Paula Mohammed:

What was it like growing up in India?

Gurjyote Sethi:

So India has almost 27 states and and five union territories. it's a big country not comparative to Canada, but yes it's a relatively big with lots of people. So I got the opportunity that I was living in in the capital city of New Delhi and It's basically, it's called a food city. People come there to enjoy and relish different kind of food and cultures, because every couple of kilometers you follow, you go out of the city, or you do, the culture and the food changes. So, um, so coming here was, yes I initially, I used to miss my food over there, since being a foodie, uh, and yes, but now coming in 10 years, there's been a lot of diversity and lots of people here, so. Yes, uh, initially it was a little bit of a struggle, but now it's okay.

Paula Mohammed:

Can you tell us a little bit more about like the daily routine when you're growing up? What your breakfast would look like, lunch, dinner, what those meals would look like typically?

Gurjyote Sethi:

Yes, so a typical Punjabi breakfast, anyone you ask, is, uh, is any household is a paratha. It's basically stuffed bread with either, every day it's like some days potatoes, some days cottage cheese, some days cauliflower. It can be anything. But and then sometime on a weekend, basically you do everyone, uh, if you must have heard about it too, it's called chore-puri it's like fried bread with the chickpeas. It's like a delicacy every weekend used to do. And, uh, so as the, uh, the world was evolving, then the parameters were back and the bread was in. So yes, so typically a breakfast is a paratha with a glass of either milk or it's called buttermilk and on the weekend it was nice and a feast with the chole bhature or pav bhaji. It's pav bhaji is basically a bun bread with all the mashed vegetables. My mouth is watering, too, when I'm talking about it. As you go into within the day, so lunch is basically two types. My household was two kinds of vegetables with a lentil. Lentil is a staple for, for lunch, basically, with the chapati. Chapati is whole wheat bread, whole wheat flour bread. And then in the afternoon, later in the afternoon, it's like a tea. Uh, or coffee. Coffee is later, but tea was yes, and it's called masala chai, and then later in the evening, it's any kind of snack, and then dinner is, when I came here, I was like, oh, 4:30 5:00 o'clock, it's dinner time, but over there, 4:30 5:00 o'clock is like snack time, right, and dinner is like, the party starts at 9. 30, 10 o'clock, and here when I came in, The party was like, over at nine o'clock. I said, what's going On? When I came here, my, uh, I stayed with one of my aunts and they used to have dinner at five o'clock and when I had dinner at five o'clock, I was hungry again at 11 o'clock because over there we don't sleep until midnight

Paula Mohammed:

Is that because of the heat,

Gurjyote Sethi:

no, um, because I have. Um, even if I have to wake up at six o'clock in the morning, um, typical day ends at 11 o'clock, not before that, still you don't feel tired, and this routine is like, The day go pass by so smoothly and when you have a feast, mostly the dinner is basically a feast. I didn't finish that. The dinner is basically a feast. So if you go out, basically you're eating kebabs. Or if you're at home, any middle class family would have again a vegetable. A lentil, and if anyone eats a non vegetarian, then a non vegetarian dish. Basically, most of the time, it's the dinner time.

Paula Mohammed:

And when you say the party just gets started, does hospitality play quite a big role then, are you visiting with people in the evenings, with

Gurjyote Sethi:

Oh yes, because any festival, so there's every second weekend, there's some kind of festival. Yeah, and yeah, so we don't celebrate all of them, but the major ones. Which are which are more known, renowned around and like you must have heard about Zaki, Diwali and then Lori um, holy, so holy is coming up, uh, after two weeks. So they are big feasts at that time as well. But now when we are growing up there, we know who our neighbors are coming in, we are going there. It's a, if it's, if we are living in a, we call that colony, over here we call community, so in that big colony, uh, everyone knows who who is. Yeah, because all the children play in one park, all the parents walk in that park, and like, if I was the third generation in that colony, so everyone knows whose kid I was, right? And I knew who, where, which family they belong to. So it was like, even if there's nothing, but still everyone used to meet and greet everyone every day, almost.

Paula Mohammed:

That sounds lovely. Were you able to find that here when you came over, or is that something that you miss?

Gurjyote Sethi:

No, that's still missing here. Yes. Yes. Mostly we don't have time, enough time, uh, for ourselves. How would we find time for, um, to, to socialize? It's a little bit difficult, but yes, uh, maybe the next generation would try up to it.

Paula Mohammed:

I hope so. Uh, I'm always curious as I've been doing these podcast interviews, I find it fascinating learning about what the school children have for lunch, and if it's, do they go home for lunch, do they bring lunch to school, or does the school serve lunch, and what that would look like.

Gurjyote Sethi:

So most of the schools uh, if there are public schools, so there are two categories of schools over there, like here. So public schools are like government funded schools. Uh, over there. And, uh, the private. But the private ones are more popular. Than the government funded in because of the level of, I don't want to say that, but there are different categories of people over there. So different classes as we call. So it depends on how much money a person has. It depends on the school. Uh, according to it, it goes accordingly. So I was blessed enough that my parents invested in my education. I went to a private school. So most of the private schools do have a canteen like here as well, but it's paid. Even in the government one as well, it's paid. But if we go into interiors over there, then yes, it's government funded meals. But if we talk about the cities so typical lunchbox goes from home. If you have extra pocket money, then you spend, uh, at the canteen. And the typical lunch is the sandwich. And I still remember it's like every so my mother used to make a very nice, um, mint chutney and it's a chutney cucumber tomato sandwich or or a bread made out of if you know, carom seeds, uh, the ajwain, you call it ajwain, with a little bit of chili pepper and salt. Make that bread goes with so every Indian, usually if you ask about achar, it's like a pickle. Uh, mango pickle. So we, most of the Indians, we eat our meal with pickle. We try, we love it. So, uh, every tiffin, most of the tiffins, uh, would have, uh, a roti, a pickle, or a vegetable in it.

Paula Mohammed:

That's interesting. I would have made the assumption that if the kids were taking lunches to school from home, that it would be the similar as the tiffin box lunches. I wanted to ask more about that tiffin to go. And I know you did this for a bit in GJ's kitchen. And I'll come back to that. But in India, is it still the practice that there's the whole Tiffin delivery system to business people from their homes? Can you talk about that a little bit?

Gurjyote Sethi:

yes. So it depends on what's, uh, what culture of, uh, how busy work you're working in or how busy city you're in. So if I talk about Delhi, so the tiffin service is very popular in Mumbai. From where it's known as Dabba, like it's a three layered, three layered boxes with different vegetables and bread in it and it's more popular on that coast. It's a coastal city as well, and it's where the Bollywood is, and and it's the most busiest. It's called the financial capital of India. So everyone is, like, running, you From morning to evening. So then if people do not have time, they do take that. But now that system has come to Delhi as well. So it's a very popular service that if you like, like now we order on Uber or Skip the Dish. Over there, the system is still you call in and make a personal relation with the restaurant and they send you food.. In the same way. So it's, there is gadget and high tech, but we still, uh, people over there try to make connections personal relations. We feel that if we talk to with, talk to someone in politeness, we it's in our mind that first of all, hospitality. And secondly, if we talk or say good words about their food, they might give us a little bit like more better service. I would say that. Yes.

Paula Mohammed:

Okay. That makes sense. GJ, what is your philosophy around cooking?

Gurjyote Sethi:

I, philosophy is I have learned over the years that by cooking, I can spread awareness about food Indian food or the culture I had come from, and plus the hospitality. And I have always learned from my my teachers and my grandma, the more you cook with love, the more you spread. So it's like spreading kindness through food. That's my main motto. You know me for like many years now and you must have always seen me that I, whenever I'm cooking, my, my inner GJ is always smiling and that's always on my face.

Paula Mohammed:

Yes, absolutely. Cooking with you, you're always smiling, you're happy. And I see photos on your website of you doing cooking classes, and it just looks like it's play for you. So much fun.

Gurjyote Sethi:

Yes, I don't do it just for the sake of of cooking or just for the sake of making money. Yes, money is a necessity, but when you do something with love and out of passion, it'll come up to you, come back to you automatically. So I do more for giving. Yes.

Paula Mohammed:

And can you tell us now a little bit more about GJ's Kitchen and what you do now here in Canada?

Gurjyote Sethi:

I've worked different jobs here when I came in, but I got the first opportunity to open my own kitchen in in Surrey near Guilford. Then I moved on and opened a new one. In Vancouver, from where I got to know you as well. It was called Tiffin To Go by Chef GJ. And in between I used to do school cafeterias and canteens and cooking classes in downtown Vancouver. And it was called Cook Culture at that time. And then with In My Kitchen with Paula. And yes so in Tiffin2Go, I wanted to answer that question for you as well, which you were asking. That Tiffin2Go, that started during COVID time. And the name was not Tiffin2Go before it was going to start. It was to be named something different. But I took over that place in the, in Jan, on January 31st, March 15th or 16th, I got the handover and there was a lockdown. 2020. So, when the lockdown happened, I thought I should If we have to open, we have to open with a name where people should it should be safety for everyone. So that's why it was, like, different to go it's packed, ready to go. Maybe curbside, you don't have to look and see us, just delivery, come pick it up, your choice. That's why the Tiffin2Go name was invented.

Paula Mohammed:

I'm just remembering my boys and I ordered from Tiffin To Go and it was fantastic. It was some of the best Indian food we've had. And I'm not just saying that to promote you. It was, it truly was. And I wanted to ask you, the type of food, was it, is that what you would call street food almost?

Gurjyote Sethi:

Yes, that was street food which you could find anywhere in, in India. You go different parts. So they're served the same way, but taste differently. So since I come from Delhi but I used to make it a different way. That's why it's called upscaled Indian street food. Presented differently. So I used to do all kinds of wraps and kati roll, uh, sandwiches. I still remember the other one of the menu, which I had, it came out of my heart and that I wanted to showcase that this is what out of more pakoras India has to offer. Yeah. Indian cuisine has to offer in terms of street food and samosas, more than samosas. So I made a point that if I open something, I'll not have pakoras or samosas in my menu. Because Anyone who looks at the menu, the first thing they look at is the pakora or the samosa. I wanted my patrons to come and enjoy something different. That experience was wonderful, but that was a little bit short lived. I had to, due to family reasons, I had to go to India and my different things happened. But we'll be doing something soon. And to relive that, I do cooking classes now, as well I started doing that again. Plus I do consultancy, and I do personal chef services. Like private dining and give so if anyone wants to have a wonderful dining experience at their home, just a phone call away. And the same experience what they experience in a fine dining or a Michelin star restaurant, they would have that.

Paula Mohammed:

I just want to segue into now talking about Indian cuisine, because I think a lot of people jump to Oh, I'm going to have, you know, it's butter chicken and samosas and pakora. And, similar to Japan, people think sushi, but Japanese people don't eat sushi that, that much. So can you talk to us a little bit about the about Indian cuisine? generally and how it's regionalized.

Gurjyote Sethi:

Most of the North, if I talk about North, West. Yes, Northwest. If I talk about Northwest, there, it's mostly Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and yes, so that part, that region we more, are more stable is wheat. And we eat more wheat, more vegetables, and the staple is wheat. Anything made out of wheat, everyone eats it. And their diet is mostly the day starts with, as I said, paratha. And if you go northeast, so northeast is basically hilly area and their staple is basically rice. Rice and a different bread. If you go a little bit southwest, that's where Mumbai is. It's more of vada pav, more fried items, keema pav, parathas, things like that. If you go a little bit south, it's basically more, they grow rice. The rice is beautiful in south of India. That's how they come with Italy's, uh, dosas made of rice and lentils, but shaped differently, cooked differently. So if, like you were saying that everyone in southern or in Japan, they eat sushi, or if you talk about Indian, they talk about butter chicken, but every region of India has a different food culture. And different spice levels. And every region or a city has something different to offer. So if you come to Delhi, yes, for sure Delhi is most popular for butter chicken. Yes, for sure. It was originated in Delhi from one of the one of the citizens who came after partition during British era. So he generated sorry, he created, Butter chicken. Then when it moved to UK, no, not the gentleman, the butter chicken moved to UK, it was made chicken tikka masala. It's almost the same thing, but a little bit of chunky gravy, basically. And if you go a little bit towards Punjab, it's more of kebabs and tikkas. If you go to Lucknow, it's also kebab because it's called the city of Nawabs. Most of the, you would find Mughal era things over there on that side, as well as in Delhi. So mostly kebabs over there as well. If you go Rajasthan, it's more on lentils. Lentils and goat meat. you go and if you go south, it's more of red chilies and spice, different levels. Yes, so when I create a menu, I feel that I put a little bit of influence on all the Elements, what I have to offer in terms of showcasing what India has to offer more, coming to Canada as well. If you've seen my chef's jacket, I wear a Canadian flag as well as the Indian flag too. Because one is my birth country, one is my adopted country, I, they cannot leave either. Yes. I got love from both. One is my motherland, one is the mother which has adopted me. Yes. Yes.

Paula Mohammed:

That's a great time for you to share with us the dish that we're going to share the recipe for to our listeners.

Gurjyote Sethi:

Yes so that'll be Chicken Curry. Chicken Curry is very basic very easy to make. If you go any different culture, everyone makes chicken curry. So the curry is the same. You can substitute with vegetables or you can substitute with paneer or tofu or anything else you like. Chicken curry, so if you, it all depends on the spice level and the consistency of the gravy. Anywhere you go. So if you have to eat with rice, it's a little bit liquidy. If you have to eat with bread, it's a little bit thick. So we'll be sharing that recipe.

Paula Mohammed:

And is that one of your own recipes, or does that come from your grandmother?

Gurjyote Sethi:

It came out of my grandma's kitchen. Yeah, so sorry. I had a little bit of a twist and change in it because of to make it more appetizing of the different cultures who will be joining who will be enjoying that recipe and to make it more simplified and easier with all the ingredients available around.

Paula Mohammed:

My mom, I think I've told you this before and you've, and GJ, you've met my mom and when we did some cooking together, she took my Bibi's chicken curry recipes back in the seventies and did the same thing. Simplified them, but she also wanted to approach them with a healthier approach and that's become our family curry recipes now. I mean, she was way ahead of her time cause she was going to do a cookbook back then. And yeah, too bad she didn't.

Gurjyote Sethi:

When I met her, she inspired me that I should write a cookbook and we can incorporate both the both, it's a generation. So her generation and our, you are from the same generation, our generation recipes to be collaborative together and write a cookbook.

Paula Mohammed:

sounds great. And on a personal note, I wanted to ask you, because I actually just made our chicken curry a couple of nights ago, and it was delicious. And I think sometimes people are intimidated by the spices, and you hear you can't keep your spices for more than six months if they're already ground. I tend to keep mine for more than six months, Because that's what happens. I don't use whole spices first, I just use ground ones. And this is how we've simplified it. And I have to say, it turns out delicious. For you personally, are you always cooking with whole spices and roasting them? Or what's your approach to everyday cooking Indian food?

Gurjyote Sethi:

No, so for whole spices we don't grind all the spices, as you say as you said, yes, to give a little bit of flavor. So if you keep any spice either ground or whole, if it's kept in an airtight container, it can live, it can stay along for at least one year or more than a year. Nothing happens to it. Even if you buy the packed spices, which come from India or anywhere around the world, they must have been packed almost like a year ago. They were not packed like six months ago or three months ago. Because when they reach here, it takes almost three months to reach here. Anyway. So if you have to flavor any kind of, for example, if you want black cardamom flavor in your dish. Or or a cinnamon flavor in a dish or any any spice you like, or a star anise. So you you heat a little bit of oil, like what I do, or ghee, and add that whole spice into it and let it sit in there on low heat for some time, and then add your ginger, garlic, or onion in it. So with that, what'll happen the ghee is already flavored, and when you add your onions, they get flavored along with it. And when you add the spices and the when the spices and the dish has been cooked, so how do you get to know that your spices are cooked? When the side leaves around the oil of the spice. So every, so when it's the dish is leaving the oil, that means that everything is incorporated with the flavors and the aroma. What is inside, inside that?

Paula Mohammed:

So what Chef is saying is it's when you have your curry or masala in the pan and it starts separating from the sides, then you know that's ready. And actually, could you just for my listeners, talk about the difference in terminology of curry? Because I think people often think curry is one spice. What a masala is, And then what is garam masala?

Gurjyote Sethi:

Okay. Curries are Everyone, anything liquid everyone calls or Indian is curry. So it, they're not wrong, but we call it curry. Yeah, since it's liquid. So in terms of, we'll start with doing garam masala. Garam masala is basically, why is it called garam masala? Because the whole spices, what we add in our garam masala is basically, they give you heat. Not heat to the dish, but heat within your body. So the spices give you heat. So whenever you're adding, if you add too much, they become too bitter. Everything, whole spice you add on an equal quantity, they will not give you a bitter taste. But yes, if you add a little bit cloves extra, they give you bitter. So cloves should always be a little bit less. If you toast it's it's if you toast the spices and grind, it's better. If you cannot toast, it's still fine, they're dried, so they're, it's the same. And toasting gives so when you're, when the, when you're toasting with the heat, the flavors come out, that's the only difference. And I always suggest and I put in my dishes as well, I don't put garam masala while cooking. I always add the garam masala because we always want those flavors of the whole spices. So it's always added to where the very end, and then you mix in the curry or any dish you are making. So that leaves a very nice flavor and a very nice aftertaste of what you want to eat.

Paula Mohammed:

I'm glad you mentioned that because that was my next question. In our family recipe, the garam masala, it just, I just, it's what's been passed down and it says you add it at the end. And so thank you for answering that because I actually never knew why we did that. I just do it.

Gurjyote Sethi:

Yes, because anyways, you're already adding too many spices in it. If you add all the other spices in it as well along with that, so the purpose of adding the garam masala to the dish. Would not, it's it has no purpose in it. It's just there.

Paula Mohammed:

Right.

Gurjyote Sethi:

if you don't want to grind and do that kind of, uh, take too much of hard work on yourself, just add the whole things to to the oil or a ghee, what you're doing in the beginning, and then you can take out so it doesn't come while you're eating.

Paula Mohammed:

Okay. Got it. And I'm curious about your own family cooking. What do you cook for your family, or do you tend to do the cooking at home, or how, what does it look like in your household?

Gurjyote Sethi:

Yes. So, uh, I would add one more thing, the masala, what you're talking about. You asked me in the last,

Paula Mohammed:

Yes,

Gurjyote Sethi:

So the masala, there are different kinds. So the basic one is called onion tomato masala. So if you make onion tomato masala, that's your, uh, mother sauce, you would say. Mother masala. Add it into anything. If you put in your oil or ghee, you add a little bit of cumin. So I would ratio, it would be two tablespoons of oil with a half teaspoon of cumin. Add two large onions, chopped, for some time. Add all your cumin powder, uh, sorry, add ginger and garlic in it, like a half a tablespoon each, and then cook for some time. Add all your cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric, cook for some time. Add your chopped tomatoes, so if you add two large onions. We'll add at least five to six tomatoes chopped, cook for some time. But if you want to give it a little bit of longer, long lasting thing and make it more delicious, add a little bit of crushed tomatoes as well. Puree the tomatoes and add in it. It'll give a little bit of texture to the, to your masala. Cook for some time, keep it in the fridge, or pull it down, keep it in the fridge, it'll stay with you for at least a week, nothing goes wrong. So anytime, scoop out something, pour it in your curry, put it on your vegetable, saves time.

Paula Mohammed:

Oh, that's a great idea. I'm going to write that out and put that in the show notes for people, those ratios, because yeah, that's, I, it's interesting, because again, in our family recipe, it's very similar, but then it also says, if you don't have enough tomatoes, add half a can of crushed tomatoes. And I haven't done both, so I'm going to try that next time to give the sauce more texture, because I do find ours a bit runny, but it's tasty.

Gurjyote Sethi:

so yes, it'll because it's, first it'll give you a little bit chunky as well, because of the chopped tomatoes, and with the crushed tomato, even the canned ones, they will give you like, because the tomatoes nowadays are not similar color. It gives you more color as well in that. So yes, I sometimes get an opportunity to cook for my family, but most of the time if I'm busy, then I have a trainee with me my wife. No, she's well trained by her mother and my mother. So she follows the same family recipe and that tradition. So any festival, then something special is made. Otherwise, yes, Like every, we had a, we have a lentil for lunch most of the times. And after coming here we got to taste like my kids grew up here, my two daughters. So they have a different palate as well. So we have to try bits and pieces of different things as well. So lunch is basically lentil or vegetable with a roti. And breakfast is basically either oats and oats or toast or avocado toast or things like that with the egg, boiled egg or scrambled egg or sunny side up, things like that. For school, they do take sometimes pasta. They do a lot of pasta and every child likes pizza. So I, so my, my, both my daughters have, maybe they have my They've taken up my genes of cooking, so my younger one likes to cook a lot. So she makes her own pizza dough at home. She wants to make her own pizza at home with her creativity and bake at home. Yes, I'm, I think that I'm getting the next generation is taking up as well. We do not eat so much of meat, but yes, sometimes when it's It's a good day. Then we do roast the chicken or we are mostly chicken or fish eater. So we do a chicken or a fish. And if, because my wife does not like cooking fish, so I have to sear the fish and she does the rest. So it's basically not the Indian curry over the fish because We try to experiment different times with different things. So yes, and salad. Most of the time, if it's a heavy lunch, we keep it light for dinner. But till now, our dinner is not at 5 o'clock. We are not able to adapt that.

Paula Mohammed:

Hey, my dinner, we've never had dinner at five o'clock, so that's too early for me too.

Gurjyote Sethi:

Yes, it's basically 8. 30, 9 o'clock, but not before that. Because when we are with young kids growing up, their any class or any activity they're going to, that finishes. After 8. 30. By then, they come home, they take shower, everyone's sitting at their table. It's basically nine o'clock. Our cycle is still Indian style.

Paula Mohammed:

I think it's interesting because you prioritize sitting together and having the meal together versus people grabbing it before they go to the activity and everybody eating at different times. So I think that's also a big difference too,

Gurjyote Sethi:

Yeah, I try to, that, because most of the time at lunch, I am not home. So, I try to eat one meal we should eat together. So that even if we maybe a slight of the very small things to share happy or sad? What's happening at school? What's not happening? What happened with me? What's something to share? And the topic comes up and yes, there's something to discuss about every night. when you're going with Gen Z, yes, I like your smile, so you're going through that too. So when you're living with Gen Z, you get to learn something very interesting every day.

Paula Mohammed:

Isn't that for sure?

Gurjyote Sethi:

yes.

Paula Mohammed:

Oh, that's a whole other podcast, isn't it? Raising Teens. Actually, I'd be interested to know what your thoughts are around raising your daughters here in Canada versus how you were raised in India. If you had to find, one thing that you wish you could bring over from India and one thing that you prefer here in Canada.

Gurjyote Sethi:

The most important thing what I miss and my family misses there is our seniors. We anyone from India like for me we always going around a family like seniors. We'd, my, I got that opportunity to live with my grandparents and great grandparents, which my, my kids did not get that. So that's definitely one thing we all miss. And my parents can't come here, but like they don't want to come here my mother is there now and neither from my wife's side. So we only have to go. That's the most important thing. What we miss. Second is a little bit of cultural difference. We try to keep up with yes, where we are living. We should take, adapt that culture to that we are, we have, and live with the legacy as well as we say. So we are trying that raising teens because when you're in teens, parents are most of the time wrong. No, but I'm blessed they listened to me and my wife and yes, that's the most important thing. What we think is I miss and my family misses.

Paula Mohammed:

Jumping to traveling. I know you have done some tours to India. I do want to talk a bit about traveling in India. I have never been and I hope to go one day.

Gurjyote Sethi:

Coming with me then.

Paula Mohammed:

yeah, I'd love to go on a culinary tour with you. So that was my question is what is the best way, if I'm traveling in India, what is the best way to explore the culture through food when you're, when traveling there? A lot of friends I know went backpacking in India in the 90s and, 80 percent of them are like, Oh yeah, I got so sick, but that just happens. So I think sometimes I wonder if there's this bit of fear people have about that happening. But also there's a part of me that would be like, I wouldn't even know where to start. I'd be overwhelmed by just where would I go? Where should I go? New Delhi, I think.

Gurjyote Sethi:

Yes, start with New Delhi for sure. So there's a saying in Hindi, I'll say in Hindi as well as I've translated in English too. So it's called Dilli Hai Dilwale Oki. So that Dilli is Dilwale means Dilli is from Delhi, is of people with big hearts. So I come from a city from Delhi with big heart. So that's the first place anyone should visit. It's welcome with because, yes, if I go now as well, the one thing anyone who is going there backpacking or, or just traveling just the main concern is about the water. So even if I go now after living here 10 years, I avoid drinking any water from the tap. Always use distilled water or bottled water is for suggestion. Food is no problem. It depends on your immune system how. How how strong you are from inside because the food is all the things are made with spices over there. And how your body takes the spices, it all depends. So my palate has gone a little bit so mild that when I went back two years ago, I had to eat like the mildest of everything because I couldn't take spice anymore. Yeah. So anyone who, like when I started travel with Chef in India, so I, I did a tour. Which started from Delhi, going to Rajasthan, Amritsar then Palace on Wheels. It's a very beautiful train, like you do, like we do here on Rockies. So it's it's not Rockies over there, but it's a high end, very classy different hospitality you could experience in that train. So it starts from Delhi to Rajasthan. It's somewhere in in in the middle of the desert. But India has everything. So it's it has it's a peninsula country. So it has oceans. It has a bay. It has island. It has one lock island. That's it. Landlocked as well from the north. So you have mountains, ice, snow caps, everything. It goes from temperature from minus 50 to plus 50. So when I went so it's all the food destinations where I used to take them starting from Delhi. So you eat the local culture. What safest places are and and get to know the hospitality of the people have to offer there. Yes, the people do hear about different things, what's happening in India, what does happen. Yes, it happens everywhere in the world but it's not that it's not safe to go. It's always safe. Bigger cities are always safe. would say that and if you are traveling with someone you know and that person knows that place well, then you are in the safest of all the hands.

Paula Mohammed:

right.

Gurjyote Sethi:

And I would say that once in a lifetime, someone's, anyone should travel to India to experience the hospitality. And if someone wants to I will be very happy to have a good companion to travel and showcase if they're a group or a couple, I can arrange things for them the culinary experience, or if any kind of experience they want to explore.

Paula Mohammed:

I was going to ask you if you were still doing your culinary tours there.

Gurjyote Sethi:

Yes, I do. Yes.

Paula Mohammed:

I'm curious what you see with the next generation in India. Do you see the, still the the respect and love for the elders, that, that cultural piece happening? Do people want to continue cooking and, Saving those traditional recipes. Do you see that in the next generation coming up?

Gurjyote Sethi:

I would say it's 50 50. Yes, because people like like me I moved out of my family from from Delhi. So there's no one who can replace me over there. We are moving out, but the next generation is, the life is so simplified for them over the smartphones and gadgets. They're like, I would say in one way they are being made helpless. They, they cannot help themselves anymore. But yes, if you go, but it all depends on every household. Like we were, when we were growing up, we were told that you should always be ready for the rainy days. Like you need to be prepared. Anything can happen anytime. So if it all depends on your upbringing, if you are if you're connected with your roots. You'll always be paid for it. Not in paid towards in terms of money, but in terms of, yes, kindness and how you can grow and spread the love around. So because in India, our culture is basically welcoming any stranger or anyone serving food or anyone who is hungry to give food to anyone. So it's the major of the temples. If I talk about the Golden Temple, it's a number, sir. It's the basic, most important symbol in our religion of giving back to the community. What I try to do here as well is like they serve almost 200, 000 meals a day free.

Paula Mohammed:

Wow.

Gurjyote Sethi:

a community kitchen. If here also, if you go to any Sikh temple, if you're hungry, you would get food over there as well. It all depends on the parents how they are bringing their children. And over here also, I try to do the same that you should. If I, if Canada has given me something, how I can give back to the community or the people who supported me, held my hand in my initial stages in stabilizing myself in this country. Through that I did donate myself for Surrey Memorial Hospital for, and Centre for Child Development to do different things and donate my services for Canadian Dental Association as well. So they're small basic things how I feel that I can give back to the community. That's how sure the generation is trying to train the generation. If the ticket is good for them. But I try to do the same as well.

Paula Mohammed:

G. J. for our listeners that want to continue following along and who perhaps want to do some traveling and cooking with you, how can they find you and how can they follow you on social media?

Gurjyote Sethi:

Yes so they can either call me directly. I'm always available. They don't need to take an appointment to call. Just text me if I'm available. Yes, definitely. I can give a call back. My number is 778 875 8535. Or they can shoot me an email on gjsindiankitchen@gmail. com or they can follow me on my social media page that's Chef Gurjyote Sethi. And if you Google GJ's Kitchen, you'll find everything.

Paula Mohammed:

And it's fun following your Instagram because our listeners may not, won't know this. But you've been all over the world as a private chef. I've seen you, I think, this past summer in France. Is that right? Doing a beautiful wedding there.

Gurjyote Sethi:

Yes, I was in Paris and then got an opportunity to do Christmas time in in Dallas. And then then over here as well, I travel to, I do destination weddings anywhere in the world. And plus I do all the work with all the Fairmonts in Lower Mainland, plus the Convention Center as well. Any Indian wedding I do cook for people over there. Whistler as well. Most of the weddings I do in Whistler Mexico, down south, or U. S., or here in Canada, anywhere. I was there at the, in Toronto as well, Niagara Falls. Summer as well, so it's always good to travel and as I said connecting with people and showcasing what what I have to offer and what I can do. It's just not Indian food. I can take you around the world on your plate. And yeah, that's how I get connected to people.

Paula Mohammed:

It's been wonderful connecting with you today. I've really enjoyed it. Your energy comes through even when we're not in person. So you're the first person who's actually given their phone number out on the podcast. So you really you stick to your word about connecting with people by talking to them and not just over, over email. Thank you so much, GJ, for sharing and being so generous with sharing with our listeners today.

Gurjyote Sethi:

Thank you, Paula. I would thank you that you made me so comfortable while talking that I thought that I'm talking to my family. And I'm just discussing things with you that what I want you and your listeners to know about and how we can collectively make a beautiful world.

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Paula Mohammed

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