Cooking, It's Child's Play!
Meet this young lad who says he will either become an animal rights activist or a chef. More likely a chef, says Farzana Contractor, who watched him cook an entire Sunday morning. "It was last year, some time in February that mom made some steaks at home, they were great, I loved them and she looked so happy that I was enjoying them so much.  So I found myself thinking, how does it feel to experience that pride and happiness I was seeing on my mother's face. It was then that I decided I would make some steaks too." This was young Altamash Gaziyani replying to my question, how come he started to cook? Not yet 12 years, Altamash is the youngest person I have ever interviewed and that too as a cook. To tell you the truth I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into when I decided to go meet this little wonder ball, watch him cook, and then have lunch with him and his friends. I have to admit, I came away bewildered, for honestly, the manner in which this young gentleman went about the task, I started to wonder if he isn't a Master Chef in disguise, or perhaps have Remy the rat of the Ratatouille fame, hiding somewhere in his kitchen, helping him along. Yes, for apart from his mother Saba Gaziyani, the well-known food stylist and now food photographer who has inspired this lil' genius to cook it was also the movie and the Ratatouille comic that got him into serious cooking. But it wasn't steaks that Altamash cooked for the very first time, it was a pie. It was mentioned in a story book he was reading at the time and therefore decided to make a pie just by reading the description in the book. It was then that Sadiq, his ever encouraging father went and bought him a big, fat recipe book.  "It is called 1000 Classic Recipes, actually, and proved to be quite interesting", he enlightens me and continues, "Not only did I find the exact recipe for a pie in it, but a whole lot of other nice dishes that I eventually went on to cook over all these months". "Hmm, and how many have you cooked till now?" I asked. "Oh, about 50 or so, of which I cooked Sheppard’s Pie three times, I love eating that", says the young cook with a rare smile and an exaggerated shrugging of shoulders. An action that proceeded most answers, I went on to notice. Very attitudinal, I thought. Whether the shrug represented abundant confidence or complete nonchalance, or a plain I-don't-care I couldn't figure, but his repeated shrugging was something that at once bugged me and simultaneously made me smile. You have to put up with genius, I guess. It's not often that you come across an 11 year old who skates like a dream, plays the keyboard, makes the most creative pottery, writes columns for a newspaper, tunes for songs he composes, tops his class and also cooks, and very well at that!I spent one full Sunday morning watching him do so and our question-answer session went on alongside.  All the ingredients, which were washed, chopped, processed, boiled, as required were placed in different cups and bowls, cling wrapped and kept ready to be used. I saw Altamash was very meticulous about his ways and knew exactly what he was doing. Obviously delegation of the smallest of chores was not his style, and he wanted his Mom out of the way. Though one heard the occasional yell, “Mom I am putting the eggplant in now..., where are the toasted almonds...” For her part Saba steered clear but lay at his disposal all her beautiful tableware, cutlery and crystal. But when he was done, she helped him serve his friends who were a bunch of ravenous school friends and he did allow me to empty out the food in the serving dishes that he had marked out beforehand with little slips of paper: Pasta, Pie, Salad, Omelette, Noodles... The friends who had arrived way before lunch hour were all over the place. They'd peep into the open kitchen and yell, "How long, now, we can't wait!" and then disappear. And then once in a while when my attention would shift to them, I'd hear queries like, “What’s the colour of the Black Box, which they search for when a plane crashes?” or “How many bricks were used to make the Taj Mahal?" And while the others were trying to guess, the questioner would guffaw and go, "Not one, silly, the Taj Mahal is made of pure white marble!" Gulp, thank God I wasn't planning on answering the question.  But I got intrigued by Aneesh Chavan, the five year old who had asked that question and started to talk to him. He said to me he liked French cheese, but not hamburgers which is junk food. He likes pizzas which according to him is not junk food because he likes it. He recognises every flag of the world and can in fact describe them to you in detail from memory. He has read all the Tin-Tin comics and loves reading Thomas Engine books. His hobby is to be ‘fast asleep’, and he is fascinated by Kashmiris who live in houses on the water (he went to Kashmir for his birthday), and was scared by all the plants under the water in the lake. As for cooking, he will do that when he turns eight, for now he sometimes stands  guard over boiling milk, though his mom tells him to keep away from the gas, not play with the knobs because it is dangerous. I could have gone on talking to him but just then I heard my cook’s voice. “Sweet smells revive me", I heard Altu say, as I turned around to watch him lovingly smell a ripe Alphonso mango that he had picked from a fruit platter and was cradling with both hands. “They relieve me of my tensions…", he went on to add. Before I could react to his food philosophy he was already expounding on smells and flavours, "Everything has its own unique flavours. When you combine two flavours you get a third one and like that there can be infinite combinations.  It's fun to experiment with different ingredients, to see how the combinations work. I then evaluate whether I like a smell or not." "My most favourite ingredient is the tomato. I really like that. But not cheese, it's too heavy for me, I think. And I hate chocolates. I eat them sparingly, because of my cavities. I don't like to go to the dentist so I rather not eat chocolates. But cookies are the best. I like the lovely, crumbly taste in the mouth". This was interesting and I just let him ramble on… "Most people think cooking is a waste of time, but I don't think so. I get to try, experiment, taste, do my own thing. I also get to smell a lot of herbs, which I just love. My mom gives me herb tests. She blindfolds me and makes me guess.  I get most of them right now. It's unfortunate that I don't get to cook everyday, I have a rather tight schedule. Neither does mom, so we have a cook who cooks." And what about eating out? "Yes, we go out quite often." And what are your favourite places? "Well, I like Lemon Grass at Big Bazaar, which is South East Asian food, really nice and I like Trishna, which has only seafood, it's really amazing and then there is Oh! Calcutta where most of the dishes are coconut based. Very heavy, but that's the good thing, even if it is heavy". I loved his logic. "And what about other cuisines?" I enquired.  "I like Italian and Chinese but I don't much care for Japanese food. I tried it at Pan Asia at the Grand Maratha for my aunt's birthday last week, it was yuck! Chilli Cod Roe tasted like vomit!!" "And when did you eat vomit?" I asked. "Oh, I tasted it in my mouth when I once vomited. I had not eaten sushi then, though…" he said, matter-of-factly. Thanks honey, that was a good explanation.He concluded his experience at the restaurant by saying the Hunan style lamb though different was normal, straight-forward good food, not out of the ordinary, not what you would call, superb food! A food critique in the making then? Since Altamash was leaving in a few days for America for his summer holidays, I asked him what he was going to do there. "Oh I was there last year too, on a student exchange programme (he studies at Podar International School), it was fun, but the food is nothing much. All of America eats junk food, all these chips and burgers and pizzas…" he shrugged, this time he also raised his eyebrows, "not healthy at all. But I don't care about that. We plan to drive from Virginia to Florida. We are going to Disneyland!!!" he kind of gave a yippee - whoppee shriek. I was so startled with his uncharacteristic display of excitement I almost fell off my chair. But of course he would be excited about Disney, he is a child after all! What else did I expect he would do anyways? Go eat out at a three Michelin starred restaurant and do a food review for UpperCrust? MINTED FENNEL SALAD  Ingredients:1bulb fennel, 2 small oranges 1 small cucumber 1 tbsp chopped mint 1 tbsp virgin olive oil 2 eggs, hard boiled (cooked) Method: Using a sharp knife, trim the outer leaves from the fennel. Slice the fennel bulb thinly into a bowl of water and sprinkle with lemon juice. Grate the rind of the oranges over a bowl. Using a sharp knife, pare away the orange peel, then segment the orange by carefully slicing between each line of pith. Do this over the bowl in order to retain the juice. Using a sharp knife, cut the cucumber into ½ inch rounds and than cut each round into quarters. Add the cucumber to the fennel and orange mixture together with the mint.  Pour the olive oil over the fennel and cucumber salad and toss well.Peel and quarter the eggs and use these to decorate the top of the salad. Serve at once. SHEPPERD'S PIE Ingredients: 700 gm lean minced (ground) or lamb beef 2 onions, chopped, 225gm carrots, diced 1-2 garlic cloves, crushed, 1 tbsp plain (all- purpose) flour 200 ml beef stock 200 gm chopped tomatoes 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp chopped fresh sage or oregano 750 gm-1 kg potatoes 25 gm margarine, 3-4 tbsp skimmed milk  125 gm button mushrooms, sliced (optional)salt & pepper Method: Place the meat in a heavy - based saucepan with no extra fat and cook gently, stirring frequently, until the meat begins to brown. Add the onions, carrots and garlic and continue to cook gently for about 10 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute or so, then gradually stir in the stock add tomatoes and bring to the boil. Add the Worcestershire sauce, seasoning and herbs, cover he pan and simmer gently for about 25 minutes giving an occasional stir.  Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender, then drain thoroughly and mash, beating in the margarine, seasoning and sufficient milk to give piping consistency. Place in a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle (tip)Stir the mushrooms (if using) into the meat and adjust the seasoning. Turn into a shallow ovenproof dish. Pipe the potatoes evenly over the meat. Cook in a preheated oven at 200° C /400° F for 30 minutes until piping hot and the potatoes are golden brown. DEVILLED CHICKEN Ingredients:  8 chicken drumsticks 4 tbsp tomato ketchup 2 tbsp barbecue sauce 10 drops tabasco 4 cloves garlic (chopped) 1 onion (sliced) 1 capsicum (cubes) 2 green chillies (chopped) 2 tbsp oil salt to taste Method:  Marinate the chicken with the 3 sauces for half hour. Heat oil, saute the garlic and onions for 2 mins. add green chillies and further cook for a min. Place the chicken pieces on the above vegetables and let it sear for 4-5 mins. Turn over and further brown it for 3-4 mins. Add capsicum and rest of the ingredients, cover and cook for 15 mins on very slow flame till the chicken is tender. Adjust seasonings and serve hot. |
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