An interview with Chef Imran Kidd

We all love pasta. But Chef Imran’s love and passion for pasta have elevated the humble pasta dough into beautiful works of art and little masterpieces.

Welcome to Mel Makes With… – my new series featuring invited guests to the studio kitchen. What kind of people will be here? Well, only the BEST kind, of course! The kind who love to (make and) EAT! Together, I hope that my guests and I can create some havoc, have a blast and who knows, perhaps make some culinary magic ✨🪄 together?! 

I am beyond excited to introduce my very first guest Chef Imran Kidd @chefimransg, Singapore’s pasta chef extraordinaire! When he’s not busy making pasta and conducting pasta masterclasses, he is representing Singapore 🇸🇬 overseas – currently, he is on a 14-day US cheese tour at the invitation of the USA Cheese Guild! 

It was such an honour to have him at the studio kitchen and I was so thrilled to finally meet him in person, instead of just stalking him on his IG! You HAVE to check it out, it’s filled with his stunning and unique, handmade pasta creations! Chef Imran was so generous, and I’d learnt a lot about the making of pasta from scratch during our time at the Mel Makes studio kitchen.

There is another post where I share Chef Imran’s pasta recipe as well as the recipe for the pasta dish that we made together. For today‘s post though, we are interviewing Chef Imran and I hope that you get a glimpse of his genius, his graciousness and how inspiring he is.

You graduated with an IT diploma, back in 2001, how did you discover your passion for the culinary arts?

Chef Imran: I graduated with a Diploma in Multimedia and Infocomm but, I was an artsy- fartsy kid who aspired to be an artist or a designer. However back in the day, design softwares weren’t easily downloadable and their prices were prohibitively expensive for me. So, I started my career out in the hotel industry and while working, it dawned on me that the food that came out of the kitchen was much more artistic than whatever it was that I was creating  sitting behind the desk. Because in the kitchen, you need to use ALL of your senses. And from then on, my journey started. I’m still learning everyday. That’s the beauty of this industry, it’s a never-ending learning journey. There’s always something new to discover. 

I can imagine you as an artsy-fartsy kid, I mean look at all your pasta, they are truly works of art!

How did you fall in love with making pasta?

Chef Imran: It started out as just trying to survive during the Covid period. I began with selling pasta home-kits and, with time on my hands, slowly started self-discovering and self-learning other pasta shapes, shapes that are more commonly made by the Italian nonnas and not necessarily by chefs. I learned everything by myself because there is no nonna in Singapore to teach me! I then began to teach myself how to fold these shapes – the lorighittas, culurgiones and other Sardinian types of pastas but I was curious to do more. I soon discovered double-sided pasta which uses details such as lines and colours to create pasta designs that are unique. These unique double-sided pasta with lines like that are only made by three chefs in the world, myself and two others. I bounce off ideas with them to create intricate pasta designs.

Tell us about when you decided to pursue pasta?

Chef Imran: It was back in 2020 when I first started making pasta (from scratch) and my idea was that pasta is a blank canvas that can be paired with many different types of sauces, garnishes and flavours. But after a while in late 2020, I realised, why not make pasta THE masterpiece. That was when I started to think of ways to create double sided pasta designs. Questions such as, how to create finer lines, how to use natural colouring that are vibrant enough to show and also how to create different tones in colours came up. There was no manual, there was no mentor, there was no nonna to teach me. I began to R&D and after about 3 months, I finally got it and began pursuing it as a career¹. So you can say anything about Covid, but for me, Covid was a hikmah² and if it were not for Covid, I would not be doing what I am doing right now.

Ok, wait, Chef Imran, you are telling me, that you started making these intricate kinds of pasta only when the pandemic hit, circa 2020?

Chef Imran: Yup.

Ok, so my mind is officially blown right now because I was under the impression that in order to reach your level of mastery, you must have been doing this for many many many years!🤯

Would you encourage a home cook to make pasta from scratch?

Chef Imran: YES! I do. This is a skill that can take you places. In the early days of the pandemic, back when it was during the Circuit Breaker period³, many people were panic buying. Lots of essential food such as rice, noodles, canned tuna and even ready-made pasta were sold out! But the one item that was always available throughout this period was flour! So with just flour, eggs or even just water, you are able to make all kinds of pasta shapes and sauces to be eaten with! Also, another good thing is, you can eat pasta everyday!

Oh yes, I totally agree with you! Pasta-making is an essential survival skill for sure! And, I could also eat pasta EVERYDAY!!!

What is your favourite pasta shape? And what sauce would you eat it with?

Chef Imran (without even catching a breath): My most favourite one is tortelli piacentini, an intricately braided filled pasta from Piacenza, Italy! A little fun fact, this pasta is the only pasta with a tail! The traditional way of eating this pasta is unique too. In the olden days, Italians would usually hold the tip of the tail and dip the body of the pasta into butter. They would bite into the body of the pasta and discard its tail! And the best sauce for me to pair this lovely pasta with, is burnt butter sauce topped with some sage, cheese and pine nuts!

OK so er….just to repeat this to everyone, this is a braided or weaved pasta. You use your hands to make the braids. No need rubber band to tie the braids, but you’ll still end up with a tail, the most gorgeous tail. And you repeat. These are just WOW! I cannot take its beauty! I mean, you probably won’t find this pasta in restaurants here right? And even in Italy, this pasta is probably not common also right?

You’re right, this isn’t common in Italy nor is it normally served in restaurants. When I posted this on my Instagram, it gained plenty of attention from the Italian community , one of which was Igers Italia⁴. My caption had suggested this pasta shape and the centuries old pasta making techniques  to be listed as a UNESCO Heritage, which was agreed by many Italians!  Igers Piacenza [Tortelli Piacentini].

“@chefimransg calling Tortelli in the way we call them in our dialect makes you a real icon!”

Quoted by Piacenza mEMES

Apart from that, this post also got featured on a popular Italy Instagram page,  Piacenza Memes, highlighting me for making and featuring the unique Italian speciality and pasta shape, the Tortelli Piacentini pasta;  Piacenza Memes [ Tortelli Piacentini]

“@chefimransg you are officially named the first Asian ‘razdor’. It’s the male version of ‘rezdora’ ; once upon a time this word meant housewife, now simply defines a woman who knows all secrets of piacentina culinary art.”

Quoted by netizen from Piacenza, Italy

I mean wow, to gain the respect of the Italians in pasta-making! Must have been an incredible feeling. Chef Imran, If you could make pasta for anyone, who would it be? 

Chef Imran: EVERYONE! And especially the knowledge of making pasta from scratch. This is an essential skill and I would like to spread the joy of making pasta and creating something with your hands.

“I always believe making pasta should come from the heart and the love and appreciation will fill the stomachs of your loved ones and into the person’s hearts once again.”

Chef Imran kidd

And one last question.

If you could have pasta EVERYDAY? What would it be?

Chef Imran: Definitely the Aglio Olio. It’s easy to prepare, and it’s very fresh. One of those dishes where you could make bomb flavours with the simplest and least amount of ingredients.

Well, what a pleasure that was, Chef Imran! Thank you so much for spending time with us! 🙏

At the end of the interview, my assistants Shafeeqah, Jannah and I were just in awe and gushing at not just Chef Imran’s incredible journey as a chef and a pasta maestro but for his humility and openness and collaborative nature. If you haven’t been following him, now is the time to do so @chefimransg

Reference:

¹ A Mano SG is a pasta project by Chef Imran. Selling DIY pasta kits that have – the handmade pasta and exact measured out ingredients that are to be cooked into the sauce. A Mano SG also holds artisanal pasta classes conducted in groups, by Chef Imran and curated private dining. 

² Hikmah in Arabic: حكمة, ḥikma, meaning wisdom, philosophy; rationale, underlying reason, is a concept in Islamic philosophy.

³ The Circuit Breaker also known as a national partial lockdown was put in place by the Singapore government during 2020-2021.  As a form of  response to the pandemic, stay-at-home measures were implemented. 

⁴ A national association that recognizes professionals who specialize in the production of digital content