In good old days, whenever the food was served, the first thing we did was to join our hands in gratitude to ‘Annadhata’ the Goddess of food and thank in our prayers for giving us our daily meals.
Today, what do we do?? We immediately scramble for our cameras.
Whether the food is delicious or bland, it is important that it should be clickable. If it is curry, we capture the right shade of reddish maroon ingredients swimming with glow of oil clinging the sides. If it is salad, then it is the artistically arranged, a balanced combination of colours carefully aligned, if it is a dessert, then we are excited by some drama of molecular gastronomy on the narrow neck of the glass, the props are rightly placed, we search for proper lighting, sometimes, might even want to take it to the balcony to drop a natural look, like a gift from the skies.
Hungry family members don’t understand this passion of a food photographers, they just want you to eat as soon as it is served. Granny is amused to see you bend down to click that rustic vessel (which seems quite ordinary to her) and that dhal and bhakri roti (what is so unusual about it?) She laughs at your foolishness and nags you to hurry up because the food is getting cold. And when you finally settle down to eat, you patiently explain to her about the latest trends of sharing the photographs on social media, and about how the lost traditional recipes are making a come back. She feels happy when you start to curse hamburgers and pizzas, french fries and sausages, and start appreciating her food that is cooked with love and care. You, then continue to follow your own passion because good food photographs really capture the banquet in their most artistic way.
If you have seen the photography-inclined, Home Chef Binal Valand, you are likely to drool.
Binal Valand is an artistic person and there is elegancy in everything that she does. She started off her career as a flight attendant on Lufthansa airways, got interested in food photography and food styling, liked the food that was behind her lens, fell in love with exotic spread, then learnt to bake the sourdough bread/desserts and finally, now a home chef, Wow!
While growing up, she had never stepped into her home kitchen although her mom is an excellent Indian cook who cooks everything ‘Aandas sey’ the indian way of cooking. Her love affair with food started when, as a flight attendant, she started travelling internationally, she discovered new cultures, collected lot of food stories from the strangers she met on her flights, specially when she had lay-over for some days in strange places, she would go exploring the city on her own.
“The sad part is that we are always on wait-list, so I had to change two airports to get the flight that leaves,, I was almost in tears when I finally got a flight. But while I was waiting at the airport, I came across this beautiful ‘Laduree Champs Elysees’, very unique this shop that represents the ‘French Art de Vivre’. Till then. I had only heard of Macarons, never tasted one, This beautiful shop was kind of beckoning me, It was a french luxury bakery. I ordered a ‘Pistachio Macaron’ and a ‘Caramel Macaron’. I clearly remember, it was something I fell in love at the first bite. It was an exclusive experience, that I can say, that was the day I fell in love with French Cuisine.”
As a Home Chef, she specialises in cakes and French desserts that are rich in flavour, have rustic look and are not laden with too much cream and butter. She has got interested in Sourdough Bread. She understands the science and technique behind it, and the sheer joy of seeing it rise in the oven. During this lock-down she has perfected the skill of baking Sourdough bread so much so, that now she is confident of her product and is proud to add it to her menu.
It doesn’t end just there. (remember, she is multi-talented) She has been conducting online workshops on photography and food styling, and has clients from across the seas, as far as Europe and Middle East. She keeps them engrossed with her tips and tricks of food photography and her experiences on food styling. As a food stylist, she pays special attention to the minute details of the products shown in the ad-videos.
She is happy to share her recipe of Butter Milk Biscuits
1. Cut 140 gms of butter into small cubes, and stick in the freezer till it rock hard.
2. Chill 1/2 cup butter milk.
3. Mix 2 cups all purpose flour, 1tsp baking powder, 1tsp castor sugar, 1/4tsp baking soad and 1/2tsp salt.
4. In a food processor, add the all dry ingredients and chopped cold butter. (step 1+step 3).
5. Pulse it a few times, till the mixture resembles bread crumbs and the butter is chopped in pea-size.
6. Add the chilled buttermilk,(of step2) don’t add all at once, reserve a little and add only if needed.
7. Your mixture will now look a little wet and a lot dry, flour still in dry form.
8. Bring the mixture on a floured surface, and gently comb till it all comes together,
9. DO NOT KNEAD the dough.
10. Get help from a bench scraper if need be to form a square from the dough.
11. Touch it as less as possible.
12. Cut the dough in half, that leaves you two equal parts.
13. Mount one part on another and roll in a square again, very lightly.
14. Cut the dough in one inch squares and Lay on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
15. Stick the tray in the freezer and wait for 20 minutes
16. Now this is where you can pre-heat your oven to 200 C or 400 F.
17. Brush the tops with mixture of 1tsp Butter and 2tsp whole milk.
18. Bake the square for 20-25 mins, or till you see a light golden top.
Binal Valand was awarded Home Chef and Baker's award 2020 for the contribution to India's Home chef & Baking Industry in the category of 1-2 years
Follow her Instagram handle at binal_valand
Watch her Food Styling Videos at
