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The culinary art is one of the most difficult and special skill sets to hone. Putting flavours, freshness, innovation, and nostalgia altogether on a plate is indeed a hard nut to crack.
However, Chef Sanjyot Keer seems to have figured this puzzle out. With his innovative ideas and love for cooking, this ‘MasterChef India’ alum is trying to take culinary art to the next level. Recently, he even appeared as a guest on the latest season of ‘MasterChef India’ and gave the current contestants a challenge. In an exclusive conversation with us, he opened up about his experience re-visiting the set and his journey of taking his flavours to the next level. Here are the excerpts from our conversation:What was the very first emotion you felt when you walked back on the set of ‘MasterChef India’?“The first emotion was a heart full of gratitude. For a second, everything paused. For over a decade, I’ve been building, creating, and pushing forward with one clear vision - to present Indian cuisine to the world in a way that feels authentic, detailed, and rooted in our rich food culture. With Your Food Lab, we’ve consistently shown up every single day, setting benchmarks for how Indian food can be presented on the digital screen and how its stories can be told.
When you’re in that loop of creating and pushing forward, you rarely pause.But the moment I walked back into the MasterChef kitchen, there was stillness. It took me back to 2015, when I first entered that same kitchen behind the camera, absorbing everything, working with some of the greatest culinary minds in the country.Walking back in on the other side as a special judge after a decade didn’t feel like a victory lap.
It felt like homecoming. It reminded me how far consistent work, patience, clarity of vision, persistence, and above all, belief in yourself can take you.”This wasn’t a typical ‘MasterChef’ appearance — you judged, hosted, and cooked alongside contestants. What was the thought behind it?“Cook-along challenges on MasterChef happen just a couple of times across an entire season, and they’re usually led by resident judges.
So to be invited to lead one was truly humbling.The format is very close to my heart because of the work we’ve done on Your Food Lab. Our cook-along IP, Chef It Up, has completed two seasons, and Season 1 won the YouTube Works Award for Best Branded Series. That’s where we built a structured, competitive cook-along format in India.This one was not very different, but here, contestants were competing in an elimination round.
That adds real stakes. I had to present a recipe packed with technique, flavour balancing, timing precision, and plating, and they had to match all of it.Since I’ve worked behind the scenes on ‘MasterChef,’ I understand the nuance of what works on that stage. A lot of thought went into the dish.I wanted to stay true to my core - Indian cuisine. So I presented a recipe inspired by Lucknow’s basket chaat. But instead of the traditional tokri, I used a savoury ghewar from Rajasthan - transforming a dessert into a savoury, honeycomb-style hexagon base.There were four different baskets, each representing a different chaat in a reimagined form. Nearly 30 components. Lesser-known Indian ingredients like Bandel cheese, Kachampuli from Coorg, and Bhuransh flowers from the Himalayas.
On MasterChef, you can’t just replicate a chaat. There has to be skill, surprise, and structure. It had to challenge technique while staying rooted in flavour. I wanted India to reflect in every bit of it, with technique, nuance & flavour. It was demanding, but it was deeply satisfying, and I was genuinely impressed with how the contestants rose to it.”Was there a specific moment during those early days on set that planted the seed for Your Food Lab?“Working on MasterChef gave me first-hand exposure to how television operates at scale, how food is structured, presented, dramatised, and consumed by millions. The show gave India a new lens to see food through competition, pressure, and performance.But at the same time, I was observing something else.Recipe-driven food shows had become somewhat stagnant. They followed a fixed format for years. And around 2016, something fundamental was changing - internet access was becoming widespread, smartphones were in everyone’s hands, and digital screens were becoming the primary consumption medium.Yet, nobody was approaching food from the lens of how it should truly be presented on digital.I saw that gap as an opportunity.I strongly felt that food itself had to be the hero. Strip away unnecessary clutter. Focus on clarity. Focus on technique. Focus on storytelling rooted in Indian cuisine. If Indian food could be presented beautifully, simply, and with depth on digital platforms, it could change the ecosystem entirely.”On a personal level, what does this ‘MasterChef’ return mean to you beyond the headlines?"Beyond headlines, it’s a reminder. A reminder that beginnings matter. That learning quietly matters. That showing up consistently for years matters.This return isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about gratitude. It’s about knowing that if you stay committed long enough, life sometimes brings you back to where you began - just on the other side.But this moment is not only about me.It belongs to every viewer who watched the videos, tried the recipes, cooked for their families, sent messages of encouragement, and believed that one day they would see me back in that kitchen on the other side.For everyone who rooted for this, this one is for them.”
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