Marika Azzopardi
If you lived in Britain at any point during the past decade, you would surely have heard of Manju Malhi whose promotion of Indian cuisine has turned her into a top television personality.
Meeting her in Malta during her first ever visit to the islands, allows me to appreciate this very down-to-earth woman whose story is not particularly extraordinary, but rather proves the fact that willpower can get you places.
Her life started off quite romantically and adventurously, after her Indian parents eloped to Britain. "They actually ran away from India and settled in the UK where I was born. I had a pretty normal childhood, but one thing which I remember keenly all through my younger years, was observing my mother cook. She used to very ably combine British and Indian ingredients to prepare exquisite meals. When I grew up I tried to find recipes involving this kind of combination, but I simply could not find a cookbook of the kind."
She decided to start creating some recipes herself. Her turning point came when she participated in a BBC competition which invited viewers to cook a dish, film the process, and send the film off to the TV show for selection. Her recipe was chosen and she appeared on live TV, presenting the preparation of a relish - her now famous Coriander Chutney recipe. She won the competition, and was immediately thrown into the limelight.
Today Manju Malhi is an Anglo-Indian chef whose constant presence on local television has contributed to her popularity, as have her books, some of which have been translated in some 10 different languages. In the 10 years since her first TV appearance, she has in fact published varied books, including her first cookbook called 'Brit Spice, followed by 'India with Passion' and the 'Easy Indian Cookbook'.
Whilst the most authentic Indian food is only found in India, Manju Malhi explains how it is possible to find Indian spices and ingredients which are shipped directly from India. In London there are specialised shops and markets selling fresh produce, fruits, vegetables, and spices just for Indian cuisine. She also refers to online spice suppliers who can send any kind of spice to any location around the world.
Manju expands on how one can learn to create uniquely straightforward dishes using a handful of ingredients from the staples of Indian cuisine, namely lentils, potatoes and other root vegetables, spinach, basmati and long grain rice, wheat flour, cumin seeds, ginger and cardamom. "One can tamper with ingredients, within reason, using certain herbs and spices to prepare a dish around something as simple as English sausage. I always explain to people that less is more where spices are involved . But one can start simply by adopting five basic spices which are typical of India and which I always recommend people to keep in stock for basic recipes - cumin, coriander, turmeric, chilli powder and garam masala."
"In order to create a dish which is acceptable to the western palate, one needs to tone down certain ingredients especially chilli. Most people living in the West are not able to handle very hot chilli. And although most Indian spices are used in recipes prepared by British cooks, there are certain spices which are particularly hard for Westerners to enjoy.
"One such spice is the very pungent Asafoetida which Indians call 'devil's dung'. It is a resin retrieved from a gum tree and used in the form of dry ground powder or granules. One tiny pinch released in oil provides a strong onion/garlic taste. In India it is popular with people whose faith does not allow them to consume root vegetables such as onions and garlic. Asafoetida is also handy to use in certain dishes involving lentils, since it effectively reduces the bloating typically felt after consuming cooked lentils."
Talk veers back to her appearances on live television and I ask whether there was ever an embarrassing moment that really stands out in her memory. My question prompts some contagious giggles."Oh, yes, I was preparing my dish on TV with a chef presenter. It was a fish dish with tamarind. We had to be very fast since we had a limited time slot in which to prepare the dish, so we whizzed through the preparations without any hiccups and presented the final dish with a flourish to the camera. Only afterwards did we realise that we had forgotten to put in the tamarind which have gone in at the very end of the recipe. I doubt anybody noticed, but for myself, being a professional, this was an embarrassing omission."
"My professional objective is primarily to educate people in understanding that Indian cooking is not difficult. I provide ideas on how to combine ingredients effectively for home cooking, and the fact that I appear on live TV means people feel they can connect with me. I encourage people not to be too afraid to go wrong and to experiment in order to find what they like best. Somebody once told me, 'I found out I could cook after following your instructions.' This person had never cooked anything before, and to me it was extremely satisfying to know that my message came across successfully."
Manju Malhi was in Malta on the invitation of the Sa Re Ga Ma authentic Indian restaurant which was the official Indian restaurant for the recently held 'Days of India Food Festival 2014'. During the week of events celebrating Indian culture, traditions and Indian food, award winning chefs created original & innovative menus promoting popular Indian food from all regions of India. Chef Manju held cooking demonstrations and presented her popular Indian recipe books to the Maltese public.