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What Do Ranbir Kapoor, Mahesh Babu, Janhvi Kapoor and Alia Bhatt Eat? Here Are Private Chef Harsh Dixit's Culinary Inspirations and Monsoon Favourites
Celebrity chef Harsh Dixit shares his monsoon menu — congee, ramen, ice cream — crafted for Bollywood’s most exclusive kitchens.
Who Is Chef Harsh Dixit?
A private chef to the stars, Chef Harsh Dixit’s clientele includes Bollywood A-listers such as Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. He leads the Private Chef’s Club, where his team caters to celebrities, including Nagarjuna, Ayan Mukerji, Janhvi Kapoor, Mahesh Babu, Athiya Shetty, Suniel Shetty, and KL Rahul, among others.
His culinary inspiration came from an unlikely source: Saif Ali Khan’s character Nick Arora in Salaam Namaste (2005). “That’s when I knew I wanted to be a chef,” he recalls. His spirit animal, however, is Po from Kung Fu Panda — an unlikely dragon warrior, destined for greatness he could not foresee.
His career began at Yauatcha in Mumbai, where he absorbed the rhythms and patterns of cooking professionally, building on the instinct he inherited from his mother and grandmother. His first venture was a customised meal service focused on nutrition and flavour, tailored to clients’ diets. “I got my first celebrity call from Sidharth Malhotra’s manager,” he shares. “That same evening, Ranveer Singh’s team reached out. Then came Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif, Shahid Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Arjun Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur, and it just kept going from there.”
Today, Chef Harsh is serving up some monsoon favourites that his A-list clients keep coming back for.
What Does a Private Chef Do?
“At its core, being a private chef is about bringing systems into people’s homes,” Chef Harsh explains. What he values most in his clientele — celebrity or not — is their investment in understanding their own bodies, lifestyles, and how food fits into that picture. “It’s one of the most powerful forms of self-care.”
Congee
Congee (a rice porridge) is the ultimate monsoon comfort food. “It’s basically rice cooked slowly in a flavourful broth until it breaks down. Light on the stomach, fantastic for gut health, and surprisingly energising.”
Chef Harsh has tailored congee for many clients. “We once made a corn congee for Ranbir Kapoor since corn is a monsoon staple. KL Rahul, a pescatarian, enjoys his congee with a fish broth, or occasionally with crab.”
The key to elevating congee is crispy chilli oil. “It’s like crack. We make ours with garlic, onions, sesame seeds, peanuts, Sichuan peppercorns. We use Kashmiri chilli and sometimes even Guntur chillies from Andhra Pradesh. It’s fried but not oily, crunchy but layered. A must-have on the monsoon menu.”
Congee with Crispy Chilli Oil (Serves: 4)
Ingredients for the congee:
Jasmine rice – 150 g
Chicken stock (or water) – 600 ml
Salt – 7.5 g
Castor sugar – 5 g
White pepper – 2.5 g
Chopped scallions – to garnish
Method:
Add the jasmine rice and chicken stock to an Instant Pot.
Set the function to Slow Cook.
Cook on low pressure for 90–120 minutes, until the rice breaks down completely and reaches a smooth, porridge-like consistency.
Stir well, add the salt, sugar and white pepper.
Serve hot, garnished with chopped scallions.
For the crispy chilli oil:
4 tbsp neutral oil (like rice bran or sunflower oil)
2 tbsp garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp shallots, finely chopped
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp crushed peanuts
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
Salt, to taste
To make the crispy chilli oil:
In a small saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat.
Add garlic and shallots and cook until golden and fragrant.
Turn off the heat and stir in sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, and Sichuan peppercorns.
Immediately add chilli powder and salt. Let infuse and cool.
Ramen: Chicken and Pork
Chef Harsh has been perfecting his ramen for over a decade. “I have made this chicken and pork ramen for Alia Bhatt and Deepika Padukone. Alia told me it transported her to her travels. That’s the power of intentional food.”
He breaks it down: “There’s the tare (the seasoning base), often soy or miso, the broth, noodles, protein, and toppings. But I’ve started seasoning the broth directly instead of using tare. That trick has been a hit with all my clients.”
For Padukone, he offered two broths — Tori Paitan (rich and creamy) and Shio tare (light and clear). The noodle options included classic alkaline noodles and Shirataki noodles made from konjac. “They’re called Miracle Noodles, virtually zero calories.” Padukone asked for her ramen to be “ultra-hot, extra spicy, with Miracle Noodles. It hit the spot for her, and she asked for seconds.”
Alkaline Noodles (Serves: 1)
Ingredients:
500 g flour
200 ml water
5 g salt
5 g alkaline soda
Method:
Add all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and knead to form a smooth dough.
Once the dough is ready, let it rest, preferably overnight, for the best results.
After resting, divide the dough into smaller portions.
Roll out each portion into a thin sheet.
Cut the sheets into noodles of your desired thickness.
Your alkaline noodles are now ready to be cooked or stored.
Tori Paitan Broth (Serves: 1)
Ingredients:
1 kg chicken bones (feet and wings; 500 g each)
40 g coriander stems
2 inches of ginger
20–25 g scallion whites
Method:
Add all the ingredients into a deep pot.
Pour in enough water to completely cover the ingredients.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook for four-five hours, or until the broth reduces to half.
Skim off any scum that rises to the surface during cooking.
Strain the broth, if desired, and serve hot.
Note: Replace the chicken bone in the recipe with pork bones (including trotters) to make tonkotsu broth.
Soft-Boiled Eggs (Serves: 1)
Ingredients:
2 eggs
Boiling water
Ice
Salt (to taste)
Method:
Bring water to a boil in a saucepan.
Gently add the eggs into the boiling water using a spoon.
Boil the eggs for 6 minutes.
Immediately transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.
Let them cool completely.
Carefully peel the eggs and season with salt to taste.
Serve and enjoy!
Chicken Roulade (Serves: 1)
Ingredients:
Chicken skin (from the leg)
2 chicken breasts
1 chicken leg
5 ml char siu powder
Coriander stems (to taste)
Method:
To make the farce: Debone the chicken leg and extract the meat. Blend the leg meat with char siu powder and coriander stems until a smooth mixture forms.
To make the roulade: Lay one chicken breast flat. Spread the prepared farce evenly over the chicken breast.
Place the second chicken breast on top to sandwich the farce.
Take a large piece of cling wrap and place the stacked chicken breasts in the centre.
Using both hands, roll the cling wrap tightly from both ends to form a cylindrical shape.
Once shaped, wrap the roll in aluminium foil for extra support.
Steam the roulade for 20 minutes, then immediately transfer it to an ice water bath to stop cooking.
Once cooled, remove the foil and cling wrap.
Slice and serve.
Char Siu Pork (Serves: 1)
Ingredients:
3 kg pork belly
Char Siu powder (enough to coat the pork belly as a dry rub).
Method:
Take the pork belly and apply the Char Siu powder generously, making sure to coat the entire surface evenly.
Place the pork belly in a sous vide bag and seal it.
Cook the pork belly at 68°C (154°F) for 12 hours using a sous vide machine.
Once the cooking time is complete, remove the pork belly from the sous vide and let it rest briefly.
Slice and serve it hot.
Optional: For added texture and flavour, sear the pork belly in a hot pan or under a broiler for a few minutes before serving.
Chef’s special monsoon ramen broth. shivangi kulkarni
A Pho Twist: Snakes for Vegans?
“You have to keep things interesting,” says Chef Harsh. “For Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma’s anniversary in December 2019, I made Pho, but with a twist.”
Traditional Pho isn’t vegan. “There’s chicken and beef in the broth. But they were eating gluten-free at the time, so we went with rice noodles, which are traditional in Pho and gluten-free.”
And then came the twist: “Vietnamese cuisine includes a lot of snake — snake wine, even snake meat. So, how about serving ‘snakes’ to vegans?”
Snake gourd was the star. It was stuffed with peanuts, coconut, tofu, a bit of coriander, then smoked. The dish included water chestnut, enoki mushrooms, and chillies, all in a lemongrass-ginger-coriander root broth. A chilli oil was served on the side. “The idea was to have fun while staying within the dietary boundaries. That’s what being a private chef is about.”
Ice Cream, But Make it Interesting
Chef Harsh is no stranger to indulgence. “Janhvi Kapoor is almost always on a diet, but she loves ice cream. We have made all of these interesting ice creams for her.” The monsoon menu features flavours that have earned cult status among the stars: “All favourites of Janhvi.”
The key to making ice cream interesting is to pair it with contrasting kicks. “We made a mango ice cream for Jr. NTR and Nagarjuna, paired with a Banganapalli mango hot sauce — we call it the banging hot sauce.”
Corn Ice Cream (Serves: 1)
Ingredients:
1 l fresh cream
8 egg yolks
280 g castor sugar
Boiled corn
Cheddar cheese
Method:
For the base: Mix the castor sugar, vanilla (if using), and egg yolks together. Set aside. Heat the fresh cream in a saucepan until small bubbles begin to form — do not boil. Slowly temper the egg yolk mixture by gradually pouring in the warm cream in a slow, continuous stream while whisking constantly.
For the corn mix: Boil the corn and let it cool completely. Once cooled, add cheddar cheese to the corn and blend until smooth. Strain the blended mixture.
To Finish: Add the strained corn mixture to the base and churn in an ice cream maker as per instructions.
Freeze until set and serve chilled.
Black Sesame Ice-Cream (Serves: 1)
Ingredients:
1 l fresh cream
8 egg yolks
280 g castor sugar
28 g black sesame tahini
250 g crème anglaise
Method:
For the Base: Mix the castor sugar, vanilla, and egg yolks and keep aside. Heat the cream until small bubbles appear. Temper the egg yolks by slowly adding in the warm cream in a slow, continuous stream.
To Finish: Add the black sesame tahini to the ice-cream base and churn.
Note: Replace the black sesame tahini in this recipe with 15 grams of wasabi powder to make wasabi ice-cream, or with 20 grams of brewed hojicha powder to make hojicha ice-cream.
Why Monsoon Is Tricky to Plate
“Monsoon in Mumbai is a mood swing,” says Chef Harsh. “Some days the sun’s out, it’s humid as hell, and all you want is an ice cream. Other days, it’s pouring and you’re craving broth. There’s no fixed vibe. It’s dynamic and unpredictable, so the menu has to be just as versatile.”
Friendly Advice From a Chef
Cook fresh meals as often as possible. “Eating fresh is a luxury — but one we should return to.” Meal prep when cooking daily isn’t feasible.
Support local vendors. “Buy your vegetables from local markets instead of dark stores. The produce quality is so much better.”
Flavour boosters are key to break the mundane routine: “Have one or two flavour bombs in the fridge. Could be sriracha, homemade chilli oil, crispy thecha, pickled cucumber, olives — whatever works for you. And keep your fridge organised.”