Saransh Goila in Hyderabad | Photo Credit: Prabalika M Bora
Saransh Goila, the man behind Goila Butter Chicken, likes to say ‘bye sweet butter chicken’ when asked to describe his chicken curry. He might be licking people’s fingers with his butter chicken, but reveals that his family is vegetarian and took their family’s approval before finalizing the gravy recipe. Saransh, who hails from Delhi, says that coming from the butter chicken capital (Delhi has some of the most popular butter chicken outlets) getting the basic knowledge about the gravy was not the biggest hurdle. “The biggest hurdle was to change that taste, yet it should be called butter chicken and food lovers should be able to accept it.”
Saransh became popular as India’s ‘Butter Chicken Wale’ after #goilabutterchicken went viral after showcasing his skills as a part of MasterChef Australia in 2018. He says that his friends were responsible for creating #goilabutterchicken which was trending on Twitter at the same time. , When he decided to set up Cloud Kitchen, he couldn’t think of any other name.
During college days, Saransh had the recipe of butter chicken ready. He says he wanted to make ‘the concentrate strong and the gravy, a bouquet of spices’.
When he moved to Mumbai in 2012 to work with Sanjeev Kapoor food food Channel show as a trained chef (IIHM Aurangabad) he says he couldn’t have got a better platform to get noticed. He had also previously worked in Leela. “I was on food food People started recognizing me on the streets after the show and it was an exciting experience for me at the age of 24. I was in the right place at the right time and I will always be grateful for my time on the show. This is when I want to connect with people through food. I had already decided on my basic recipe but wanted people (besides my family) to try it. This led him to launch Goila Butter Chicken in 2016 as a cloud kitchen in Mumbai.
Saransh Goyla
When he started the pop-up at his home in 2012, he had to explain the concept to people who didn’t know about it. Saransh decided to take the chance and was happy with the polling percentage. “It worked and it was the best place to connect with people, over food, get feedback and learn. Everyone who tasted my butter chicken was gracious. One major change I made to my gravy, That is I have reduced the dairy. Added cashew paste and changed the tomato-dairy ratio from the classic recipe (class method) of 60-40 to 80-20. For this I added smoke, limited the use of butter and artificial colors Stay away from,” he explained.
As someone in the food business, Saransh says he welcomes criticism and is open to feedback because the idea is to make people happy with food and not disappoint.