“My mum would bug me to help her in the kitchen because it was always the last place I’d want to be but I eventually started to enjoy it,” quips Shinuka Chandrasekera the young lady behind ‘Shinukz’.

Shinuka’s first successful endeavour in the kitchen was with Tomato Soup. She feels that Indians make the best Tomato Soup so she would add various ingredients to get just the right flavour and eventually mastered the recipe.  From then on, she realised that when she had free time she’d try out a recipe and see how it turned out.

Her best dish is her Caramel Pudding. “It was an instant hit among my friends and it is my most fast moving dish,” she says with a smile and it is easy to understand why because it is not gooey and soft like most of the Caramel Puddings you’d try out at restaurants but more firm and cheesecake-like, the best part is that it isn’t sickly sweet!

Among the other desserts she makes are her light and fluffy Strawberry Cheesecake but I felt her Chocolate Biscuit Pudding was the better dessert out of the two. She laces her Chocolate Biscuit Pudding with Brandy, which is always a plus but if you’d prefer it without she can accommodate that too. In terms of cakes, she takes orders for Red Velvet cake which is topped with the cream cheese frosting.

Catering for Shinuka is something she does part time as she works full time in advertising. “This is something I do while balancing my work so I have limitations,” she says, so keep in mind that it is best to place your orders at least a day in advance.  Even though Shinuka refers to her favourite celebrity chef Nigella Lawson’s cook books she says she doesn’t  follow the recipes to a T – she prefers to improvise instead.

Desserts are not all Shinuka makes; she also takes orders for Chicken Nasi Goreng, Chicken Biryani, Creamy Prawn Pasta, Chilli and Garlic Macaroni, Mustard Chicken with Mash and Vegetables and Creamy Vegetable Pasta with Potato Wedges and Mushroom.

The Nasi is served with a fried egg, two chicken skewers and a refreshing and light salad. The combination was quite good and most importantly the serving was perfect for one person. I also liked the fact that the rice had a light and not too overpowering flavour of coriander. I also felt Shinuka’s Creamy Prawn Pasta was a decent dish. The prawns were cooked just right and the sauce was light and tasty while the taste of coriander gave an interesting touch to this dish.

Shinuka’s dishes might be the ideal thing to order if you find yourself lazy to cook on a balmy Saturday afternoon.  They come well packed in foil containers and made fresh and ready to eat. “I want to make sure that my customers are getting the most value out of what they are paying for,” so she maintains a pretty competitive price range on her dishes while always making sure it is made fresh.

She can also tackle large orders for parties and prefers that the food is picked up from her residence in Thimbirigasyaya, which is where she operates from.

For more details and updates on what ‘Shinukz’ is up to, log on to her Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/shinukz?fref=ts

By Natasha Fernandopulle

Pics by Kanishke Ganewatte