Baking a cake in a coffee mug within a few minutes is not something everybody is familiar with, but a quick online search throws up plenty of such recipes, which delight cooking amateurs and seasoned chefs alike.
More Indians search for "How-to" recipes online and the country is pegged number one among those viewing cooking videos according to video sharing site YouTube, which lists food among its top five popular categories.
Homemakers, amateur cooks and professional chefs have also blazed ahead as some of the top global contributors of cooking content, says the site, which hosted some popular and creative cooking talent here recently.
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Nisha Madhulika, 54, from Noida and Gayatri Sharma, 40, from Mumbai, both homemakers gained recognition for their cooking blogs and videos that have attracted wide viewers. They are among those listed by YouTube as 'Top Chefs'.
Madhulika speaks in Hindi to showcases delicious vegetarian recipes in her video tutorials, which have over four crore views.
"My passion for cooking led to start my food and cooking website in 2007, and with help of my son and husband I started my YouTube channel in 2011. By doing what I love I have now created an identity for myself and my viewers tell me that am an inspiration for many homemakers in India," says Madhulika.
The homemaker cites Gujarati dish Undhiyu as a personal favourite and her most searched recipes include "cooker mein cake", "tawa pe pizza" and rasagullas.
Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, one of the better known names in the domestic food industry, Sanjay Thumma, best known as "VahChef" for his YouTube recipes channel with over 185 million views, as well as Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi, a professional chef with over 25 years of experience are among the popular celebrity chefs.
Based on watchtime, two of the global top ten YouTube food channels come from India. Similarly, four of the top ten most watched YouTube food channels in Asia are also from India, making domestic creators some of the top cooking content contributors on the site in Asia and around the world.
"Food and cooking videos are thriving on YouTube, with cooking content being amongst the top ten most watched categories globally. In India, it's amongst the top five most watched categories," says Gautam Anand, Director, Content and Operations, YouTube Asia-Pacific.
Anand says a 40 per cent year-over-year growth in viewership for food and cooking videos has been observed on the video sharing website.
