How do our food experts cook and eat? This week, Dinuka of @Dinux Kitchen takes our Q&A!

What’s your first memory of cooking?
Probably during my pre-school time. I helped my mom clean and cut vegetables and I think I made a delicious lentil curry on my own. 

Who taught you to cook?
My first cooking teacher was my lovely mom, and then my grandma. After that, I learnt everything else with our executive chef Mr Nalaka and chef Mr Lahiru at our villa. 

What started Dinux Kitchen?
I know that everyone likes to watch cooking videos and they are interested in food but they don’t really know how to make it. I think I wanted to teach people who can’t cook how to cook and make them love to cook. I’m so grateful to the Chairman of Three Gables Boutique Villa in Mirrissa, Dr. Nalitha Wijesundara who really encouraged me with Dinux Kitchen. Now I’m able to teach all my followers what foods are essential for a healthy life and how healthy food can be delicious. 

Cook outdoors vs. Cook indoors?
I do both but, in my opinion, being outdoors with hands-on nature is really the best. Because cooking is a beautiful art, like meditation. 

What was your favourite childhood meal? 
Actually, I live in Ambalangoda area in the southern province. My favourite food is Sri Lankan yellowfin fish curry, bilin pickles, and steamed red rice with grated coconut. Even today, the taste of that food takes me back in time.

Dead or alive, who would be your dream dinner-party guests to cook for? 
I like classical music very much. Unfortunately, though he is not alive today I would really like to cook a delicious meal and pay my respects to the late Mr. Pandit Amaradeva. I would like to make him a traditional Sri Lankan rice and curry meal.

Your favourite recipe so far? 
I’m a big fan of Sri Lankan kottu and I have my own signature recipe for it! My favourite recipe is my take on the Sri Lankan ‘Dolphin kottu’ that everyone loves.

What’s the most exotic food you’ve eaten?
When I was completing my degree in Malaysia, I remember I once had soup at a street food shop without really knowing what was in it because I was new to the country. I found out later that it had boiled frog legs…. it’s still such an unforgettable memory. 

What’s a dish you want to eat again for the very first time?
My Grandmother’s delicious signature coconut sambol. I wish to taste it again for the first time but unfortunately, she passed away.

Out of all the recipes on your YouTube channel and TikTok – what recipe you’d recommend for a first-time viewer?
As Sri Lankans, we all like to eat rice and curry. If someone looks at my TikTok page first, I will recommend watching my recipe for Sri Lankan lentil curry. 

Your favourite recipe that has been passed down to you from family?
My mother is a good teacher as well as a good housewife. In fact, the most delicious recipe I learned from her and from living in the southern region is how to make a  delicious spicy lagoon crab curry.

What’s your favourite go-to recipe person?
Chef Gordon James Ramsay of the United Kingdom. He is my favourite chef. I like his personality and how he finishes each dish perfectly.

Master one cuisine or do it all?
I think a lot of chefs are always good at one cuisine - it could be Indian, Sri Lankan, Japanese, Chinese, European, or of any other origin. In my opinion, a good chef should be able to prepare food in any situation at any time so personally, it’s better to study everything.

Your favourite comfort food after a long day?
I really love to eat Japanese food – any kind of sushi and sashimi would do. As a chef, I am also now learning to make Japanese food. 

When you are not cooking, what would you like to eat? 
I’m actually a very easygoing person and my lifestyle is also the same. When I’m free from work, I like to eat simple green garden salads topped with cheese. I’m very interested in leading a healthy life and that’s why it’s important my followers do too.