How do our food experts cook and eat? This week, recipe developer and food blogger, Shadi of @shadi_faleel takes our Q&A.

How do you learn to cook? 
I like to watch, taste and add my own touch to make it my own. Cooking runs in my blood, I guess. My mom and her siblings would always taste and make it better with a twist and I do the same. I guess we have a good palate.

Your first memory of cooking?
Baking attempts during the weekends and being a helping hand for my mom during the month of fasting, I can still remember mom doing the filling and me doing the rest. Something I can’t forget is me making the best mutton curry ever after my mom.

What was your favourite childhood meal? 
It would always be the Sunday special; in the morning my mum would make Beef Kanji or kiribath.

What started your food blog?
People would often call me and ask how to cook a particular dish or what type of menu would be good for a certain type of event etc. These are people who have tried my food and seen the way I present them. So I felt that I wanted to share my way of cooking, presenting and showcasing my talent.

What’s one dish you’ve perfected? 
Biriyani! Whenever I go out to eat with my brother and husband, I am forbidden from ordering biriyani as it does not taste as good as the one I make!

It’s your last day on earth, where are you?
I’m home in Sri Lanka, along with my family, eating my mom’s home-cooked soup and rice menu.

What’s something about being a recipe developer that might surprise others?
The number of times we fail before we get to perfect it.

A recipe you simply cannot seem to get the hang of? 
Any recipe for the first time is daring but for me, with practice comes perfection. But that one silly, hard to get hang of recipe would be poached eggs! 

If food was a love language, what dish would express it best?
Simple, Galle Face Prawn Vada. Having it while walking alongside the wet sands.

What’s the most exotic food you’ve eaten?
When I was a child, I enjoyed a nice meal thinking it was chicken. Unfortunately, I was told later that it was rabbit meat! I still regret it.

Your foolproof recipes on your blog? 
I have a few... the Biriyani recipes, Chicken Tikka skewers, Beef Roast and my curries.

Your favourite recipe that has been passed down to you from family? 
Mom's Beef Roast and thakkadi, that’s rice flour dumplings cooked with tender beef and luscious thick gravy.

Dead or alive, who would be your dream dinner-party guests to cook for? 
It would be none other than Gordon Ramsey, he’s just amazing. The way he conducts himself and his knowledge of the culinary world are right at the top. If I could cook for him it would be a mixture of cuisines created with a twist guaranteed to taste different. Kick it off with Sri Lankan seafood starters then, Sri Lankan Biriyani along with Indian, Pakistani and Middle Eastern dishes which I have perfected in years of cooking, thanks to the lord almighty.

What’s something about being a recipe developer that might surprise others?
The number of times we fail before we get to perfect it.

What are your favourite leftovers to work with? 
Meat, Rice, gravy, and almost anything!

Cook at home or go out to eat?
I love to go out to eat. I’m a major foodie so I love to try different kinds of food.

Your go-to recipe person? 
Mary Berry, I am a diehard fan of her baking.

The most challenging dish you’ve made? 
Wattalampam. It’s one of those challenging desserts to make as a lot depends on the quality of ingredients. And since we make it just a handful of times for special occasions such as Eid, getting it right is a must.