Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma live a healthy lifestyle. In fact, the cricketer prefers a vegan diet while the actor is known for her no-gluten, no-sugar food. In an interaction with The Hollywood Reporter, their private chef revealed how he once served them a vegan meal – exotic – but made of snake gourd (chichinda), and they loved it very much.

Chef Harsh Dixit shared in the interview that he made an Indian version of a Vietnamese dish called Pho, and included snake gourd and mushroom to appeal to his clients’ taste buds.

Dixit said, “You have to keep things interesting. For Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma’s anniversary in December 2019, I made Pho, but with a twist. 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.”

He elaborated on the cuisine and mentioned that it was a challenge to serve a Vietnamese dish to vegans. “Vietnamese cuisine includes a lot of snake – snake wine, even snake meat. So, how about serving ‘snakes’ to vegans? Snake gourd was the star,” he said.

Dixit explained the method of preparing the dish, and all the ingredients that went along. “It was stued 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,” he said.

The chef had even posted about the experience on Instagram in 2020 as a throwback post. He concluded in the interview, “The idea was to have fun while staying within the dietary boundaries. That’s what being a private chef is about.”

Anushka and Virat are known to have a low-key lifestyle, away from the media – sometimes in London, sometimes in a spiritual place in India. The couple got married in December 2017, and have two children – Vamika and Akaay Kohli.

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