Kabita Singh is a YouTube chef and Indian food blogger from Uttar Pradesh who rose to fame with Kabita’s Kitchen, and her YouTube channel focuses on teaching quick recipes. A banker by profession, we caught up with Kabita to dig deep into her journey to become a chef.
What is your childhood memory of cooking?
My mother started teaching me cooking when I was very young, from 7 or 8. I loved stirring the dishes as they cooked; this allowed my mom to take care of other household chores. I admired my mother's passion she used to cook and the love she used to serve food. While replicating recipes from cookery shows, my mother used alternate ingredients (the ones available at home) when the recommended ingredients (shown in cookery shows on TV) were not available. This had a significant impact on my cooking, and I try to do the same.
What made you pursue cooking?
Since childhood, I have been fond of cooking, but my fondness/passion took a back seat because of my studies and banking job. After my marriage in 2009, I shifted to the UK and took a break from my job. But my husband is a foodie and loves to cook, which made me try various recipes and him. Trying these recipes re-ignited my passion, and I decided to prolong my job break. After we shifted back to India in April 2014, my son started to go to school, and I had some free time. So, in late 2014, I decided to take my love for cooking to Youtube and started "Kabita's Kitchen".
Tell us about the journey to Kabita's Kitchen, the roadblocks and the success.
The journey of Kabita's Kitchen is full of joy and memorable experiences. When I started my YouTube channel in November 2014, I never thought my channel would grow as much, and my only expectation was that my recipes would be of help to a few. However, there were brief periods when it was challenging to keep up because one has to keep posting the content consistently on the social media platform. However, looking back, if your work is fueled by passion, you will find more solutions than problems/roadblock. My channel was among the handful of tracks that crossed the million-subscriber mark in early 2017, and YouTube invited us for media interaction and Fanfest, which remains the best experience of my life to date. The passion, hard work, consistency and most importantly, love from my viewers have made Kabita's Kitchen family grow, and we are more than 10.7 million strong families on YouTube.
What is your favourite recipe or comfort food?
My parents are from eastern UP, where Litti Chokha is very popular, and it is one of my comfort foods. I am fond of sweets too, so mishti doi is my comfort food among sweets. Chowmein is one of the dishes that I love to cook and eat again and again."
The pandemic led to many food trends. Did you try any and see any of them becoming big shortly?
It led to many food trends. First, I thought about it briefly and made a recipe for Dalgona Coffee, one of the trending recipes during the first wave. Subsequently, I decided not to be particular about the trend. Then, I started getting requests for essential recipes from my viewers, focusing on crucial recipes. I also posted many recipes to satisfy my viewers' taste buds with the ingredients available during the lockdown. The second wave has been tougher on all of us, and I have consciously decided to focus on creating some content around the role of nutrition in Covid recovery and immunity-boosting. I collaborated with one of India's top nutritionists Ryan Fernando to educate my viewers about the role of food during these challenging times.
What is that one thing you would like to tell aspiring chefs?
Keep following your passion, be consistent and keep sharing your recipes on social media; your breakout moment is sure to come as it was after 89 recipes for me! Try to find a niche for yourself and keep listening to viewers' requests and feedback.