The internet is buzzing with a ton of interesting home chefs. The stunning, quick and everyday recipes on Sonia Sarpal’s page surely make her one of the home chefs watch out for, but she is not alone. Sonia Sarpal is accompanied by her mother-in-law Nisha Sarpal, and the team is all-things remarkable. The duo can cook up a storm, and are pretty famous in their circle for the same reason. Sonia calls their recipes, ‘Mom Crafted’. Both Nisha and Sonia are very particular about the ingredients and substitutions they use, as one can’t compromise on the quality when it comes to ‘Ghar Ka Khana’. We caught up with Sonia and Nisha, who are also proud members of 'Slurrp Community', for a quick chat about their kitchen, their love for cooking and comfort food. Excerpts…
1. When did you start cooking? Who taught you how to cook?
We are a team of mother-in-law (Nisha Sarpal) and daughter-in-law (Sonia Sarpal). Both of us have had interest in cooking right from our childhood. We feel our passion for cooking was always there and we have now come together to develop and create fusion recipes from our past experiences, keeping in mind the knowledge both of us inherited from our respective mothers.
2. Why do you love Slurrp Community?
The Slurrp community is an amazing and knowledgeable creative cooking platform to encourage and showcase home chefs to come forward and exchange knowledge of cuisines, culinary art and kitchen hacks used across the globe taking care of diet and fitness also.
3. What does cooking mean to you?
Cooking is our passion and inspires us to take care of diet, tastes and health of my family members. We’re pretty famous in our social circle for the wide range of layout at our parties/get togethers/family functions, and that makes us so happy.
4. What do you think you cook the best?
Our family and friends appreciate many dishes that we make, few of them are :-
Sonia Sarpal :
- Dal Makhani which I’ve learnt from my husband, Namit Sarpal
- Dips and chutneys
- Pasta
Nisha Sarpal:
- Pindi Channa and pickles, which I’ve learnt from my mother
- Mocktails
- Russian Salad
- Date Nutties
4. What is your comfort food?
Indian and Continental dishes.
5. Do you have a fond memory associated with food or cooking you would like to share?
During the peak of COVID pandemic the entire family was down with virus except myself (Sonia). I remember, besides acting like a nurse without any household help, I used to cook all the four meals, taking care of the diet and health plan of each family member. It was really a challenging time for all of us, but we came through by God’s grace. I still get jitters thinking about it, but now it is one memory that will always stay with me.
6. Who is your cooking role model?
Sonia Sarpal: My cooking role model is my husband Namit
Nisha Sarpal: My mother who was an excellent homecook, from Dehradun
7. Take us through your day. How do you decide what to cook, how do you shoot and plan to release the pictures and videos?
It’s basically fulfilling my family’s diet, my kids choice and my followers feedback. I pre- plan my recipes and shoot accordingly. Most of my shooting is at night as there’s silence and calm. Editing and compiling is done thereafter. I release my videos keeping in mind the occasions and upcoming festivals.
7. What inspired you to bring your cooking to social media?
Our family and friends encouraged us to display our talents on social media. Specially mentioning my sister Sujata who kept on pushing me. Mentors who inspired us are Chef Ranveer Brar, Chef Ashish Bhasin Chef Kunal Kapur Chef Nishant Choubey.
8. If we only had 10 minutes and basic ingredients, which recipe would you recommend us? To serve within 10 mins we would recommend
- Bread Pizza toast
- Achari Laccha Paratha
9. Most useful cooking hack or tip you would like to give out to beginners?
According to our experience we recommend that vegetables should be finely chopped, so as to take less cooking time besides cooking on medium flame which retains the flavour and natural colour of the ingredients and spices.
