One morning, as she was reading her newspaper, Upasana Makati wondered, “What do the visually impaired start their day with?”   This thought led her to create White Print, India’s first magazine in braille for the visually impaired. Earlier this year, Upasana sat down with Pooja to talk about the struggles of being an entrepreneur, convincing people to believe in your dream and what she learned from working with the visually impaired.    —    You can now buy Le15’s Cafe Cookbook at...

When you invest in early stage startups, 90% of your portfolio is going to fail.    And yet, Sanket Parekh has made a name for himself as a venture capitalist and founder of Miami-based Secocha Ventures. A couple of months ago, Sanket and Pooja sat down to discuss why he invests in the companies he does, his work-life balance philosophy and their emotional working relationship.    —    You can now buy Le15’s Cafe Cookbook at shop.le15.com. You can follow Sanket at @SanketSParekh and...

  Take some Income Tax Raids Stir in a newspaper column for 20 years Add 1 answering machine Sprinkle some blind dates Pepper in 39 books Serve with barbeque chaas on the side On the season finale of NoSugarCoat, Pooja chats to India’s most popular food critic, Rashmi Uday Singh. She talks about how she moved from writing quasi-judicial orders to writing about food, creating the first restaurant guide in India and how to use Instagram correctly. --- You can follow Rashmi at...

  4 acres of farmland 1 wholesome roast chicken A job at the world’s best restaurant Add one super secret love story Some “seal the deal” pasta Trail attempts to make a dosa And 1 book of family recipes This week on NoSugarCoat, Pooja calls up cookbook author and home cook Nadine Redzepi in Denmark. They talk about her relationship with food, her work at Noma and her brand new book, Downtime: Deliciousness at Home. --- You can follow Nadine at @nadinelevyredzepi and Pooja at...

  1 “super simple” lobster and avocado salad 100 kilos of peeled walnuts A zero-waste kitchen A hint of wild lavender A whole bunch of sea buckthorn 1 purple sweet potato & coffee sorbet Mix in nostalgia for Kashmiri home-cooking Serve with some collard greens on the side This week on NoSugarCoat, Pooja chats with Chef Prateek Sadhu. Originally from Kashmir, he trained at CIA and has worked in restaurants across the US. After spending time in Noma in Copenhagen, he returned to India...

Take 1 Chicago chef 1 big leap of faith 9 months of struggle 1 aggressive fishmonger Some CrossFit A night that shall not be talked about And multiple picklebacks! This week on NoSugarCoat, Pooja talks to her friend and chef Kelvin Cheung. Raised and trained in the US, Kelvin moved to India 6 years ago to run Ellipsis and is currently the chef at Bastian in Mumbai. --- You can follow Kelvin at @chefkelvincheung and Pooja at @Poojadhingra For more information, go to le15.com. This is a...

1 self-taught cook Some kharvas A private yacht A beagle 8 attempts at the perfect pulao Stir with Jamie Oliver Garnish with tons of dhaniya A dollop of pineapple chutney Served with homemade prawn pickle on the side This week on NoSugarCoat, Pooja talks to chef and writer Maunika Gowardhan. Based in the UK, Maunika specialises in authentic indian cuisine and her cookbook Indian Kitchen is a bestseller. Even Mindy Kaling loves it! --- You can follow Maunika at @cookinacury and Pooja at...

Start with a boring finance job Add unlimited cups of coffee The plume of a peacock 7 tons of coffee beans One super hot dry cappuccino Mix well with 100% Arabica coffee Enjoy your cuppa! This week on NoSugarCoat, Pooja learns all about coffee from Matt Chitharanjan of Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters. Matt and his wife Namrata built this online coffee business starting from their home and currently run multiple cafes and barista training workshops alongside their subscription company. --- You...

10 seasons of MasterChef Australia Over 30 years of being a chef
 The perfect eclair 5.5 million people 1 lemon curd tart 1 rustic butter chicken recipe Brutal 12-14 work hours for 10 days straight Mix well and fold into one laccha paratha This week on NoSugarCoat, Pooja calls up Gary Mehigan in Australia. Trained in London, Gary is one of the most popular chefs in Melbourne. And of course, he is a judge on the extremely popular cooking show, Masterchef Australia! --- You can follow Gary...

Some American cheese slices 1 supportive Dad 1 injured finger 1 Job in Paris 1 Job in Dubai 1 Job in Copenhagen Some important lessons in humility A large amount of love for Bangkok This week on NoSugarCoat, Pooja sits down with Chef Garima Arora of Restaurant Gaa in Bangkok. This Le Cordon Bleu trained chef has worked in some of the best restaurants in the world including Noma and Gaggan. She now runs her own restaurant in Bangkok. --- You can follow Garima at @arorgarima and Pooja at...

A bound book of Grandma’s recipes 1 asparagus Some phodshi 1 year at Le Bernadin An epic journey through India A fateful meeting with Massimo Bottura Bowls of drumstick soup Lots of karaoke  A generous helping of Irksome Bliss This week on NoSugarCoat, Pooja chats with Chef Thomas Zacharias from The Bombay Canteen. Trained at Culinary Institute of America, Thomas  has previously worked at Le Bernadin in New York and Olive in Bangalore and Mumbai. --- Follow Thomas at @cheftzac and Pooja at...

1 Chef's knife A slightly drunk parrot Many sunny side up eggs 1 finely washed radish An unmarked pork shoulder 3 Michelin Star Restaurant 2 Michelin Star Restaurant 1 Michelin Star Restaurant Some Bhut Jholakia to taste And one pink latte to go On this episode of NoSugarCoat, Pooja talks to Chef Pablo Naranjo Agular from Le 15 Cafe in Mumbai who grew up in Colombia and trained at Le Cordon Bleu before moving to India a few years ago. Follow Pablo at @chefpablonaranjo and Pooja at...

Welcome to Pooja Dhingra’s brand new podcast, NoSugarCoat where she talks to chefs, entrepreneurs, friends and mentors about the blood, sweat, tears and all other ingredients that go into making it in the food industry. In this teaser episode she sits down with Mae of Maed in India, to discuss, - Her plans for world domination - How to order macarons  from Le 15 patisserie anywhere in the country. - Giving up sugar - What to expect from this season of NoSugarCoat by Pooja Dhingra! Tune in...