“The day started with a very English breakfast meeting at 8 am followed by shockingly hard work on three-inch red stilettos. But I just couldn’t stop thinking about soft, fluffy rotis/chappatis. Back home and two double vodka cranberries later, I decided to have a second go (at roti making).”
From Miss Masala
THE STILETTOS manage a fine balancing act between her high-profile career and her skills in creating a cauldron of delectable possibilities. This 32-year-old seems to walk straight from a Page Three party to her creative fiefdom (read the kitchen). As she strikes a culinary conversation with the camera, the realisation dawns — the lady is unmistakably the glam diva of the kitchen.
Nigella Lawson, did you say? “No, I am Mallika Basu, and I am comfortable in my own skin,” she flashes a smile and puts all comparisons to rest.
Mallika has made a mark for tossing some near-perfect recipes in a matter of time. A popular food blogger since 2006, she has now accumulated her experiences and skills in a book titled Miss Masala: Real Indian Cooking for Busy Living. “My kitchen has the aroma of Indian khana,” and in her words, “andaaz is vital when it comes to desi cooking.”
Cookery expert aside, the girl’s surname hints at an interesting disclosure. Mallika happens to be the eldest grand-daughter of the late Jyoti Basu, the former chief minister of West Bengal. Though she was never politically inclined, when it comes to her passion for food, she allows her genes to share the credit. “Our family chit-chats inevitably revolve around food and both my parents love to occasionally don the chef’s hat. My grandfather, too, never failed to appreciate a good meal,” she says.
As for her own tryst with the handi and the tong, she informs, “Sounds clichéd, but necessity is the mother of invention. I left home to study in England when I was 18. The usual “ready-to-eat meals” survival period continued for sometime and when the take away food too lost its charm, I mustered the courage to step into my English kitchen and recall the nitty gritties of home-made Indian food. Brewing with nostalgia and brimming with youthful enthusiasm, the first few attempts were hard to swallow, but I had often heard it’s all about trial and error until you reach perfection. So I stuck to this old adage and it wasn’t long before words of appreciation from friends started pouring in. And somewhere then, I discovered the fun element in cooking.”
Mallika went on to fill the shoes as a director of a high profile PR firm in London and a few years later, she walked the aisle with a Peruvian fashion photographer. Now the mother of a 16-month-old toddler, her second baby is due soon. For now, the savvy mom is more than happy talking about her maiden book. “It has a collection of 93 recipes from all over India. I started penning down the first chapter during a holiday in Peru, and then, it was all a matter of relying on some time-tested formulas and discovering some new flavours. A couple of years later, my kitchen explorations were all in between the covers,” she reveals.
Published by HarperCollins, the London-based cookery expert underlines Miss Masala’s potentials to stand out in the crowd, rather on the shelf. “It is a no-nonsense kitchen advice fused with irrestible recipes and quirky hilarious tales about my high flying life city life like how to cook a jalfrezi and still head to the bar an hour later without reeking of eau de curry.”
She adds: “The recipes are not left to personal improvisations, or guessworks but they are quantity specific. The point to drive home is that cooking need not be a dull affair or something reserved for the plain Jane. You can have a fast-paced and glamorous lifestyle, and yet your manicured hands can stir fry a dish with ease. The book is especially recommended for those Indians who live abroad and their desi tastebuds have remained intact.”
Incidentally, Mallika had a stint at The Asian Age, New Delhi, in the summer of 1999. “Those were some of the best days of my life and no surprises, my writings revolved around food,” she says with a smile.