KOCHI:
State Bank of India, country’s largest lender celebrated the talent of young superstars who are transforming society with their skills and expertise with ‘YONO SBI 20 Under Twenty’ awards. 7 years old Nihal Raj (Kicha) – young chef emerged winner of this title.
Nihal Raj, also known as Kicha, is India’s youngest chef. He has been tempting viewers and cooking enthusiasts with his mouth watering recipes for coconut payasam, ice cream cakes, and even Thari Kanji since he was 5 years old. Nihal is at the top of his game in the social media and culinary world. His father then created a YouTube channel for him, and what started off as one video soon became 10 and eventually, Kicha had his own YouTube channel called KichaTube HD, which has over 30,000 subscribers today. His viewers are impressed not only by his ability to make mouth-watering recipes but also by his unique presentation style and spirited nature.
Kicha has also been invited to the popular American television talk show, ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ where he taught Ellen to cook Kerala’s traditional breakfast, Puttu. In May 2016, Kicha added another achievement to his list when Facebook acquired non-exclusive rights to his Mickey Mouse Mango ice cream video and paid the young chef USD 2000. This made Kicha an international sensation overnight at the tender age of just 5 years.
The winners were chosen through public voting that counted to more than 1.7 lakh in 10 diverse categories such as sustainability, performing arts, acting, entrepreneurship or innovation, sports, global Indian, disability champion among others. The nominations were shortlisted by an esteemed jury panel of 8 eminent personalities including bollywood actress Dia Mirza, Sports journalist and author Boria Majumdar, Sashi Sreedharan, MD, Microsoft India, Dilip Asbe, MD & CEO, NPCI, Mallika Dua, Social Media Influencer, among others.
