How it started
The origin is unusually well documented for a child creator, because Kicha himself explained it. At three and a half he watched EvanTube, an American children's channel, and asked his father for one of his own. His first attempt was popsicles, and he asked his father to film it. “I knew my dad would upload the video because I made it,” he told YourStory.
The household was well placed to help. His father, Rajagopal Krishnan, works in advertising; his mother, Ruby Rajagopal, is a professional baker. His sister is called Nida, known as Dida. By the time of the profile the channel, KichaTube HD, had passed 14,000 subscribers.
What he cooks
The repertoire described in the profile is a child's version of a Kerala kitchen crossed with a dessert counter: oatmeal cookies, ice cream cakes, coconut payasam, rainbow idli, and the signature dish, a Mickey Mouse mango ice cream.
That last one is the reason the channel stopped being a family hobby. Facebook acquired the non-exclusive rights to the Mickey Mouse mango ice cream video for $2,000. A platform paying a six-year-old for a cooking video was, in early 2017, a novel enough transaction to become part of the story itself.
The Ellen appearance
The appearance that made him internationally recognisable was on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and the segment inverted the usual arrangement: rather than being interviewed, Kicha taught. The dish was puttu, the steamed rice-and-coconut cylinder that is Kerala's standard breakfast, and he coached the host through both the cooking and the pronunciation of puttu kutti, the vessel it is steamed in.
Ellen DeGeneres's show had a long-running habit of flying in young performers from around the world, and most of those segments turned on precocity. This one turned on instruction, which is a harder thing for a six-year-old to carry on an American network.
What followed
By the time of the profile he had become a brand ambassador for Double Horse, a Kerala food brand. His parents' description of what was happening was deliberately undramatic: “He loves what he cooks and enjoys eating all that he makes.”
Nearly a decade later, The Better India returned to the subject of Indian child chefs building large followings with simple, joyful recipes, in a March 2026 piece whose coverage places Kicha within that group. What that later article says about him specifically was not read for this page, and no source used here documents what he is doing now, what he studies, or whether the channel is still running.
Why a six-year-old cook travelled so far
Children's cooking videos work because the format removes the two things that usually make cooking content dull: expertise performed at the viewer, and a recipe that assumes skills the viewer does not have. A six-year-old following a recipe is a demonstration that the recipe is followable.
Kicha's case added a second element, which is regional food travelling outward. Puttu on an American daytime show, explained by a child from Kochi, does more for the dish's recognition than any amount of restaurant promotion. The commercial outcomes recorded here, a platform buying a video and a food brand signing an ambassador, followed from that reach rather than from the cooking itself.
Watch: Nihal Raj on camera
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rajveer Meena | India | Reciting 70,000 decimal places of pi blindfolded | Age 0 |
| Rishi Shiv Prasanna | India | Winning the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar in 2023 at eight, for… | Age 0 |
| Nihal Raj | India | He asked for a YouTube channel at three and a half. At six he was teaching | Age 7 |
| Ishita Katyal | India | Becoming the youngest Indian speaker at TEDYouth in New York at 10 (2015) | Age 10 |
| Nandini Agrawal | India | All India Rank 1 in the 2021 CA Final at 19 years and 330 days | Age 19 |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Aged six, first standard at Choice School, Kochi, in January 2017
- Runs KichaTube HD, with more than 14,000 subscribers at the time of the profile
- Taught Ellen DeGeneres to cook puttu and to pronounce puttu kutti
- Facebook paid $2,000 for non-exclusive rights to his Mickey Mouse mango ice cream video; brand ambassador for Double Horse
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- Date of birth is not published; the birth year here is inferred from his age
- The date of the Ellen appearance is not given in these sources
- What the 2026 Better India article says about him specifically was not read for this page
- Nothing documents his current activity, schooling or whether the channel still runs
Questions people ask about Nihal Raj
How old is Nihal Raj?
He was six in January 2017. No source used here gives his date of birth, so the birth year on this page is approximate.
Why is he called Kicha?
Kicha is the name he uses publicly and the name of his YouTube channel, KichaTube HD. The sources used here do not explain its origin.
What did he teach Ellen DeGeneres?
How to make puttu, Kerala's traditional steamed rice-and-coconut breakfast, and how to pronounce puttu kutti.
What did Facebook buy?
Non-exclusive rights to his Mickey Mouse mango ice cream video, for $2,000.
Who are his parents?
Rajagopal Krishnan, who works in advertising, and Ruby Rajagopal, a professional baker.
What does he cook?
Oatmeal cookies, ice cream cakes, coconut payasam, rainbow idli and his signature Mickey Mouse mango ice cream.
Where is Nihal Raj now?
Not documented here. The detailed profile used for this page dates from January 2017, and no source used here records his current activity.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Kicha’s story?
What dish did Kicha teach Ellen DeGeneres to make?
How much did Facebook pay for rights to his mango ice cream video?
What is his YouTube channel called?
Sources
- This six-year-old from Kochi is 'Kicha'ning his way through people's hearts! — YourStory, 2017-01-12
- These Indian Child Chefs Are Gaining Massive Instagram Followers With Simple, Joyful Recipes — The Better India, 2026-03-25
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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