Jiggs kalra lives in Gurgaon but his kitchen is in Defence Colony. The distance can be daunting, but not for Jiggs (“Don’t call me chef”), who doesn’t stay away from his kitchen for long. This is where he prepares his special dishes, plans his many menus and browses through recipe books.
“The Defence Colony house belongs to my brother, but my sister-in-law Rominder and I designed the ground-floor kitchen for my use,” says the culinary maestro, who was inducted in the Gourmet Hall of Fame in 2004.

Despite misgivings of the architect, Jiggs opted for an island kitchen—one with a table-like working space at the centre. The island is high enough for him to work from his wheelchair, to which he has been confined since a stroke in 2000. It is fitted with a gas pipe, and the marble top holds his “library” of books. “The island is my favourite oddity. It is perfect for marination. Marination requires large vessels in which a cook can turn the meat over and over again until every little bit of it is coated. With a smaller space, I’d have had to use a smaller utensil and run the risk of leaving some corner of the food uncoated. Imagine, what a catastrophe that would be! I challenge anyone to find a better table in any house in Delhi,” he says.

Not everything in kitchen enthuses him similarly. “Now, that’s something I never use for cooking,” says Jiggs, pointing to the microwave that lies near a four-burner cooking range. “I use a microwave only for reheating.” The kitchen is lined with storage shelves and cabinets, though Jiggs swears by his 15-year-old refrigerator when it comes to stocking his ingredients. Apart from regular fruits and vegetables, Jiggs keeps his cereals and dry fruits in the deep freeze. “Try storing walnuts in the deep freezer and see how crisp they remain,” he says.