How do our food experts cook and eat? @lankanfoodjournal’s Nuzrath Nazimudeen takes our Q&A!

Your cooking ritual? 
Not a ritual but I love getting my kids involved in the kitchen (regardless of the mess!). It makes my time spent cooking more enjoyable and I want them to learn cooking as a skill. Lockdown was actually so much fun because we were all experimenting stuff together as a family!

Proudest food invention?
Chocolate Biscoff Pudding that’s available for sale at Butter Boutique Colombo and  Sri Lankan Garlic Prawns from The Middle Cut Company, their entire menu was created by me!

Favourite childhood meal?
My late mom’s cooking was always the most comforting for me. The secret ingredient in her cooking was always love, so my favourite childhood meals revolved around nearly everything she cooked for us. In fact, I would do anything to taste her food right now. 

An underrated ingredient? 
Dates! They are an absolute favourite of mine and I would always find a way to use them in place of any refined sugar. It’s packed with iron and gives an instant energy boost. Also, nothing goes to waste in a date palm tree - the leaves, seeds and everything has its own value!

Make a meal with Rs.500.
Warm pol rotti, canned fish with some fresh lunumiris

A food trend you hate?
The so-called “healthy food” that comes in boxes with ingredients that are so hard to even pronounce! You have no idea what’s in them but you just want to blindly follow the trend and eat it simply because it’s labelled healthy.

What’s a dish you can’t seem to master?
Fresh Macaroons!

How did you learn to cook?
My dad actually, he’s the most important figure in my life and he is a major foodie and I knew the best way to impress him was through his appetite! I took a class with Aunty Yvonne Fernando to learn to make his favourite – Sri Lankan Chinese cuisine! 

A meal you’d eat but not cook?
South Indian dishes because I’m the only one in the house who enjoys it and it takes a lot of patience to create the perfect crispy thosai and the rest of the side dishes. 

Your last day on earth, where are you and what are you eating? 
Those who know me will tell you that I will undoubtedly be eating all the cakes at Butter Boutique after a fantastic portion of HBC, while spending the last few hours of the night with my amazing husband!

Easiest meal to impress someone?
Nothing better than a lip-smacking Sri Lankan experience. I would whip up a mean chillie crab with buttered steamed rice or roast paan.

The most exotic food you’ve eaten? 
From our visits to China and Japan. Sea Urchin in a fine dining restaurant in Beijing, China and Oxtail and tongue in Japan!.

A dish you’d love to re-live for the first time?
The Creamy Egg Sandwich from 7/11 Japan and Middle Eastern Shawarma and baklava