Love for food

Kitchen queens Karina Kaleem and Ritica Bhatnagar have chalked out an exciting course of cookery lessons for the island's food lovers featuring a variety of exotic Asian cuisines.

The ladies have created a project called 'Ishkthali' - which means 'a love for food' - aimed at highlighting the multi-cultural tastes in Bahrain.

Karina, 48, from Tubli, said: "Ishkthali's focus is to demystify cooking and dismiss the fallacy that it is tedious and difficult. All our authentic recipes are home-grown, tried and tested and tailored for a modern day lifestyle and kitchen.

"We present culinary experiences in Indian, Thai, Burmese and Asian fusion cuisine. The cookery courses are for both beginners and more confident cooks."

Karina, an Australian national of Indian origin has been living on the island for three years with her husband Anil Nair, 51, a company chief executive officer, and two sons, Karan, 11, and Kyle, 10. She boasts a diverse background being born to a Anglo/Burmese/Italian mother and an Indian father.

She explained that cooking was instilled into her at a very young age on the many sea journeys she enjoyed with her sailor father. She said: "We had nothing to do on the ship but cook. I used to watch and then follow their techniques."

In 1985 she moved to Bahrain as an air hostess and in her spare time continued to develop her cooking talents. She said: "I gradually developed an understanding of a variety of international cuisines as well as studying the origin of ethnic foods, spices and their preparation and presentation."

The family moved to Abu Dhabi and then on to Australia. She said: "The cooking flourished as I was not working and had a lot of time on my hands. Our friends started to become interested and wanted to know more about Burmese food and my dishes."

Ishkthali (it is a combination of two Hindi words - Ishk means love and thali is a platter of food) has been created as a subsidiary of Janabiya-based boutique Ishkbibel which was started by Ritica during her stay in London in 2005. Ritica, 46, also developed an interest in cooking during her travels abroad and while raising her three children Pia, 20, Nishika, 17, and Arshaan, nine. She is married to Gaurav Bhatnagar, 41, a company vice president.

She said: "I left home in India when I was 18 to continue studying in the US where I was exposed to all kinds of cuisine, good and bad. I would not have junk food in the home and began experimenting with healthy options for my family."

During January, Ishkthali will be conducting weekly Chinese cooking classes conducted by friend Kiran Kohli, at Ritica's residence in Janabiya, which will include a cooking demonstration, printed recipes, glossaries, welcome beverages and an early lunch.

Special evenings will be conducted occasionally to include a cooking demonstration followed by dinner. The next evening event is planned for January 22 and will feature a Burmese cooking class from 6pm onwards at Karina's home.

For details, contact 39940280 or 36499448.

But food and fashion are not the only things on the entrepreneurs' agenda. The women have also expanded their business interests into travel with Ishkyatra now offering exotic tours to India.

They are also considering introducing trips to Burma.

Chicken cubes or prawns (shelled and cleaned) 200gms

Stock (prawn or chicken) 20 cups

Oil (peanut or sunflower) 1 tbsp

Mung bean vermicelli 50gm

Mushrooms (diced) 12

Bottleneck gourd (peeled, sliced, seeded) 1 cup or 150gm

Garlic (sliced or minced) 3 cloves

Dried shrimps (soaked and drained) 1 tbsp

Tomatoes (diced) 2

Lime juice (optional) 2 tbsp

Coriander leaves (chopped) 1

White pepper 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

Heat the oil in a saucepan and sautŽ the onion, garlic and dried shrimps. Add stock and bring to boil. Add prawns or chicken and sliced bottleneck gourd. Simmer for about four minutes and add mushrooms, vermicelli, tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Turn off heat. Squeeze a lime over the soup. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.