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Desperate Housewife? Destined-To-Dine-Alone Bachelor? Viji’s Solution To KItchen Catasrophes And The Sad TV Dinners Of Single-Dom
Desperate Housewife? Destined-To-Dine-Alone Bachelor? Viji’s Solution To KItchen Catasrophes And The Sad TV Dinners Of Single-Dom
Lifestyle Jun 01, 2013
Renowned chef and restauranteur brings his latest line of quick-cuisine
Flying in to host a weekend dinner party at All The Best Fine Foods, renowned South Asian chef and restaurateur Vikram Vij took a few minutes from his hectic schedule to discuss his latest creation to make dinner a breeze.
Waiting at Pearson Airport to catch his flight out of Toronto, Vij, the Vancouver-based chef and owner of Vij's and Vij's Rangoli, opened up about his newest venture: pre-cooked, packaged and quick-frozen authentic Indian curry. "[The meals] are the same recipes used at Vij's," he says, referring to one of his loudly-touted restaurants off Granville St. "We know which dishes are really popular-curried kale and potatoes, Punjabi daal, coconut beef curry-and those are the ones we used."
Ready in 15 minutes, the meals come in a boiler bag which you can either boil by stove-top or microwave. Alternatively, you can remove the bag's contents and cook them yourself by adding them to ¼ cup of water in a saucepan and heating. "It's ready to eat, like pasta, but it's the fact that you're actually making it," he says. The packaged meals are perfect for those who routinely bring the apocalypse upon their kitchen (guilty), as well as those who are tired of stocking their freezer with the generic 4-minute microwave meals so popular with singles (also guilty. I fail at life).
Currently in stores across Canada, with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian bags sold in Vancouver and vegetarian bags sold in Edmonton, Calgary, Jasper, Whitehorse and Toronto, Vij is teaming up with grocery giant Loblaws to sell his product: "I came [to Toronto] last year in the fall and gave a presentation [to Loblaws] and they loved it."
Vij's pop-up dinner party at All The Best Fine Foods pitted 3 meals cooked by Vij himself against the same 3 meals from his pre-cooked, frozen line. With Toronto's top food critics in attendance, the response was overwhelming. "They were amazed; they couldn't tell the difference between the two," says Vij. An impressive feat considering the sub-par slop that usually constitutes as frozen, pre-cooked fare (I'm looking at you, Michelina's). Vij's recipes are strictly traditional, mainstream Indian cuisine and-as the saying goes-the proof is in the curry. Customers of Vij's two restaurants have nothing but praise for the downtown chef and his meals.
With the reasonable price-point, ease of cooking and authentic Vij recipes, the affable chef is sure to leave the kitchen-challenged, bachelors and curry fans feeling satisfied. And that's not all: While Vij has vowed to not expand his restaurant business east, he is currently working to open up a third restaurant in Vancouver: "I'm always working 4 years ahead," Vij laughs. "I love what I do, and I love to bring awareness and cuisine of my country to the people."
Source: Vij's, Huffingtonpost.com, Vij'srangoli, and Starchefs
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