Start 'em young

What's the best way to introduce kids to the joys of cooking Indian food?

 

I have always been a fan of Jamie Oliver’s, having enjoyed his many TV cooking shows. I became even more of a devotee when Oliver dedicated himself to improving school dinners in the UK. But it was his recent initiative, 10 Cooking Skills for Life, rolled out for schoolkids to help them learn how to cook, that set me thinking: how could we best introduce our kids to the joys of Indian cooking? It must be done in a way that doesn’t scare them off the process. And yet, it needs to be challenging enough so that they learn the requisite skills to put an Indian meal together.

 

So, how do we reconcile these two objectives, while keeping things fun and wholesome in the kitchen? Well, here are just some tips I thought of in case you have children around the ages of 10-12, whom you would like to introduce to the art of cooking their own cuisine.

 

·       The easiest route to learning how to cook for a child is through the humble egg; and the easiest recipe to master is the akuri, the spiced scrambled eggs that make an appearance at most Indian breakfasts. Just chop up garlic, onions, tomatoes and green chillis, sautee them quickly, then add the whisked eggs with your choice of spices like cumin and coriander, and you are good to go. Once your child has mastered this art, you can move on to the other Indian breakfast staple: the masala omelet. 

·       All parents struggle to get their children to eat their vegetables, so cooking with them may present a challenge. But not if you start with something every kid loves: the potato. Teach them how to peel and cut the potato in thin strips to make aloo bhaja; to boil potatoes and sautee with masalas to make a tasty aloo dum; or mash it up with onions, chillis, spices and a dash of mustard oil to make a chokha. Once they have mastered these arts, you can incorporate other vegetables into their recipes: maybe add some aubergine to the bhaja; slip in some peas or even a few florets of gobhi into the aloo dum.

·       If you’re starting with the basics of Indian cooking, then you can’t really ignore the yellow dal. Thankfully, making this is not difficult and long-winded. All you need is a pressure cooker to boil the dal and some ingredients for the tarka. This can be as simple or as complicated as you wish. You can go the whole onion-garlic-tomatoes route or you could just teach your child to heat some ghee, toss some jeera or mustard seeds in, add a dash of red chilli for colour. Splash over your dal and enjoy.

·       While making a chicken curry or even mutton kebabs may be beyond your child’s burgeoning skill set, there are simpler ways to incorporate fish and meat in your meal. Fish may be messy to handle, but prawns are easy to peel and stir fry with your masala of choice. A finely-chopped keema is easy to put together with some beans for texture. And once you’ve taught them how to boil rice, they are ready to feed themselves for the rest of their lives. Bon Appetit, everyone!

Breakfast of champions

It has to be Indian all the way...

 

One of the things I enjoy most about travelling abroad is the opportunity to try new cuisines, enjoy exotic flavours, and immerse myself in an unfamiliar food culture. There is something magical about eating sushi sitting at a small counter in a Kyoto restaurant, slurping up a gelato in a tiny Italian town, gorging on bangers and mash in a British pub, or even having my sinuses opened up by a fiery Thai curry in a Bangkok food court. 

 

I say all this to establish that I am not one of those unadventurous eaters who arrives in a foreign city only to search for the nearest Indian restaurant so that I have some dal makhani and butter chicken for dinner. I am happy to eat the local cuisine, wherever I may find myself, for both lunch and dinner. It’s only first thing in the morning, when I head down to the hotel breakfast buffet, that I miss the food of India. 

 

Don’t get me wrong. There is much to enjoy about a great breakfast spread in a good hotel. And for a couple of days I do just that, filling my plate with local pastries and cakes, and then getting my protein fix with a couple of fried eggs accompanied by bacon and hash browns. But by the third day, ennui sets in. And that’s when I begin to long for the infinite variety of Indian breakfasts.

 

Even as I eat my almond croissant, my taste buds are craving for a pillowy soft idli which I could dunk into a spicy green chutney or gunpowder. The scrambled eggs on the buffet are no substitute for the fiery railway-style masala omelette that we get back home. And while I like a good sourdough as much as the next person, it really can’t stand up to a aloo paratha, eaten with a dab of achar and lashings of dahi. It’s only at the breakfast buffet do I begin to understand why some Indians travel with home-made theplas and achar to give their tastebuds a respite from the bland fare that most Western hotels serve up for the first meal of the day.

 

And it is only the West that is guilty as charged, given that it seems unable to think beyond pastries, eggs, sausages and cold cuts for breakfast, with some cut fruit thrown in for the healthy eaters. If you are travelling East, though, breakfast will generally include a variety of dimsum and congees, all of them served with spicy sauces and condiments to kickstart your palate for the day. 

 

But there is no denying that it is Indian hotels that do us proud when it comes to breakfast. You can order anything from a puri-bhaji to poha, upma or luchi served with channa dal or aloo dum. Most good hotels will have a live station, where you can order a dosa to your specifications. And I have fond memories of a stay at the Grand Chola in Chennai, where they actually have a sambhar buffet, featuring varieties from every part of the south.

 

Which may explain why I find myself increasingly choosing to stay in Indian hotel chains (if possible) when I am abroad. That way, even if I am in London or Marrakesh, I can start the day with a taste of India.