Surbhi Sahni - Michelin Chef on Making Mithai Mainstream in America & Employing Immigrant Women

Surbhi Sahni is a chef with over two decades of professional culinary experience. She served as the Creative Director behind the Michelin-starred New York restaurants Devi and Tulsi. Today, she continues to work her magic at Saar Bistro in Midtown, New York. Surbhi is also the founder of Tagmo Treats, a small-batch South Asian food company, through which she creates delectable mithai confections like burfi in chocolate, pistachio, and rose flavors. Through Tagmo, she aims to make Indian mithai a mainstream dessert in America. Aside from her culinary delights, Surbhi has used her work as Job Director at Sapna NYC and Founder at Tagmo to provide job training and employment in professional kitchens for immigrant women. In this episode, she shares her own story starting as a chef in an all-women kitchen in Delhi, before successfully immigrating to the USA despite a Visa mishap. She explains why we continue to see a gender disparity in professional kitchens and about her qualms with the coveted Michelin Star award. Lastly, she talks about the form of recognition that brings her the most joy, the real process behind how chefs draw inspiration for dishes, and about her cookbook recommendations.