WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. (WKBW) — For Smita Chutke, the art of cooking has always been embraced, in her Indian culture.
"You will always want the flavors from your home and I did not want to take that away from people," Smita Chutke said.
Smita Chutke is not just a commercial real estate portfolio manager by day, she's also a Netflix competition-winning chef and spice maker.
The popular Indian chef grew up on an Air Force base, and was used to traveling with her family, especially throughout parts of India where her paternal and maternal grandmothers lived.
"Both of them had a great influence on me, in terms of cooking, and also owning the business. My mom's mother owned a small business. She woke up at 3 a.m. and she would make these handmade noodles, handmade crackers," she said.
When she arrived to the Empire State, to pursue her biomedical engineer masters degree, she noticed Western New York was missing something.
She added, "I was doing my biomedical engineering and at the same time, I wanted to eat Indian food. I come from India. I was exploring the Indian food I grew up with. I did not find anything that I grew up with. It was more of the colonized food that I could find."
Twenty years later, you can find this popular, Western New York chef wearing a saree when at cooking events.
"Depending on the occasion, you can change the style and the fabric but for generations, that's what women wore when they did all the chores at home and it's a symbolic way to represent the Indian culture," the chef explained.
She hopes to continue her heritage, while showcasing cooking techniques passed on down to her.
"That's when I started to do cooking socials to raise awareness about how Indian food we grew up with, and what's the concept of it. Doing that, people loved it so much and they asked me to do cooking classes, cooking socials, private dinners," Chutke said.
One of her favorite things to cook is dhal (lentils) and rice, which is a comfort food eaten around brunch time.
She showcased cooking dosa and chutney, which is like a thin pancake and sauce with 7 News' Pheben Kassahun.
Chutke recently won an episode of Netflix's new cooking competition, "Cook at All Costs," a show where contestants bid on $25,000 worth of ingredients to make an appetizing dish that impresses celebrity chef judges.
"Going to Netflix was a really amazing experience. I am really grateful that they represented all kinds of diversity," she said. "I just knew the techniques that I learned from my grandmothers. I was just thrown into this cooking game. Whatever came to me, I just took some time to remember the techniques."
As she looks back at her culinary work, spanning two decades, she is grateful that her goal of seeing Indian cuisines in a fine dining space has flourished bigger than she ever imagined.
"It means a lot to me. I was hoping to see that one day. It's a big thing, so thank you, Buffalo. I love Buffalo," Chutke said.
You can buy spices and follow Smita's recipes on her website, here.
Follow Smita for updates on social media here: Instagram and Facebook
