A simple-yet-complex dish of lemon pepper chicken with lemon rice is what got Sandeep Pandit the perfect score and immunity pin on season 11 of MasterChef Australia. Little did he imagine that within two years of moving to Australia from Bengaluru, he would go on to not just participate but also get adulation for his Indian preparations, which wowed judges Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston and guests like Rick Stein. While Pandit went back to his full-time IT job post his elimination on the show, he has been busy with pop-ups across Australia. In Mumbai to prep for a pop-up and a demo on Kashmiri food coming up in January, Pandit talks about rediscovering cooking and his love for food.

We see that you have been exploring Indian street food while here.