Shazia Khan recently hosted a workshop at Copper Chimney, Phoenix Market City. The event had the MasterChef India runner up whip up a couple of starters — grilled cottage cheese peppers with pineapple cherry tomato relish, smoked subz kebab with lavash, Lebanese chicken skewers and desserts like the molten lava cake, served alongside almond crumble with strawberry basil coulis. There was also a Q and A session, covering a wide range of topics with witty answers from Shazia. The author of the gorgeous looking cookbook What’s on the Menu? talks to Metroplus about her passion for the food and kitchen. Excerpts:
What is your favourite food memory?
As a child, I vividly remember sitting alongside my grandmother as she made hot gulab jamuns . I loved and enjoyed being fed the first one.
You mentioned that cooking for you is a stress buster and a spiritual experience...
When I enter a kitchen, it is a different world. I think a lot and my brain is on the move. The spices, the aroma and everything is beautiful. I am passionate about it. Even if I were to wake up at 3 in the morning, I would be excited enough to cook something.
Has the culinary sphere in India changed?
Of course it has. In fact, it has been changing over time. I think there is more knowledge with regard to ingredients — perhaps, all thanks to TV shows such as Master Chef . In India, with the beauty of regional cuisine, people are now ready to experiment with new flavours and textures, which makes them re-create existing recipes.
What are your thoughts on working with a cookbook as opposed to recipes that have been passed on?
I am a cookbook lover. There is something about a chef you like and trust, which is something you only get from a book because recipes have been tried and tested. Yet, traditional recipes are important because they have been passed on generations.
What are your plans for your next book?
When people think about Muslim cuisine in India, they assume it is Mughalai. But there is so much more to it than that. There is Malabar, Tamil and even Bohra Muslim cuisine. I am trying to trace traditional recipes of this cuisine in India and synthesise it.
What is the one ingredient you love working with?
That is difficult to say. I am more of a non-vegetarian cook. There are many spices I love working with, and I pick the star anise.
How was the shift of cooking for people you know to cooking for a panel of critics at Master Chef?
I am relaxed and always positive. I took criticisms as feedback and worked on it.
What is the one dish you love eating?
I love anything my mother makes. Dal chawal , basic chicken and the abundance of love in all of it.
