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SPECIAL crash cookery courses are being staged in the kingdom to ensure pampered expat teenagers and their local friends can cope with life away from home at university.
Living without maids and drivers will be tough enough but having to feed themselves has left many running scared as they prepare for studies abroad.
English bakery and cafe owner Kim Hijris has stepped in to offer them the recipe for survival, promising to whisk the kingdom’s teens into shape with her simple and successful culinary prowess.
She said: “I really enjoy teaching these kids. They are receptive, you can see them having fun and it also helps prepare them for university life. The course is doing so well that I have post-it notes all over the café with requests to join the class!”
Mrs Hijris, who has been running the popular Piece of Cake café for more than 20 years, is teaching youngsters between the ages of 14 and 18 the basics of cooking in her Budaiya premises and demand is so great she is running two groups at a time.
Even GulfWeekly’s own Youth Talk columnist Hemangini Raina, a Year 12 IB student studying at St Christopher’s School, recently admitted: “In a few months, I’ll be able to drive, vote and buy property. But I won’t know how to cook to save my life!”
She is turning 18 and has another year before worrying about university life, but for others the summer holidays will swiftly disappear as September dawns.
Groups of teenagers have been cooking up a storm in the café’s kitchens once-a-week for the past three months, learning a range of skills to use with a wide variety of homely recipes.
The idea of the course originally started 12 years ago when Mrs Hijris’ children wanted to learn a skill set for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a youth awards programme founded in the UK which helps students realise that there’s more to life than sitting on a sofa watching TV.
Mrs Hijris, 56, from Saar, said: “A group of girls from St Christopher’s School, including my daughter, approached me asking if I could help them towards the award.
“I would bring them into the café in the late afternoon when the shop was about to close and then we would have a session of cooking.
“Since then the list of requests for help has grown and now I have two groups coming in once-a-week. I make sure to have four students in each group as I like to give each student all the attention they need.
“Safety is very important in a kitchen so I spend time with each one showing them how to properly cut meat and vegetables amongst other things.”
Each week, the students learn how to cook a savoury dish or bake a tasty dessert. At first they were shown how to bake a vanilla-flavoured Victorian English sponge cake and later they mastered the art of Italy’s famous filling dish, Spaghetti Bolognese.
They even spent one day learning all about eggs and how to mix up a pancake.
Mrs Hijris said: “I taught them how to prepare a range of simple egg dishes such as poached, fried and scrambled. They soon grew in confidence. They might do a curry one day and fish-cakes the next. One of our groups even learned how to make a roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings.
“We try to teach them everything they possibly need to survive away from home. It’s just to start them on the road or if they wish to do a little bit of entertaining. Perhaps they have friends coming over and need to whip up a quick meal? Also, I teach them how to make big batches of food so that they can freeze enough for the next night if they can’t be bothered to cook.
“I also teach tips and tricks on how to substitute items if they cannot find a particular ingredient. It also shows them how to cook on a budget.
“Don’t forget these are basic recipes. The kids can then customise them to how they like. For example, I don’t like spicy food. So when I teach them how to make something spicy I tell them to taste it first and see if they want to add more spice. Or perhaps they want to add more, or different, ingredients.”
At the end of the course, the students have to put their culinary skills to the test, preparing a three-course-menu for invited guests of their choosing. Each student is allowed to bring one guest and then the group must prepare the meal, entertain and then do the washing up afterwards!
Mrs Hijris said: “Mums also get to sample their cooking as whatever the kids prepare they take home.
“Most of the parents phone up and ask what the guys are making in advance because they look forward to it so much.”
Sisters Amy and Katie Bonar, Amal Ahmed and Michael Holland have been reaping the rewards of the courses.
Amy, 18, will be starting university in London soon and wanted to learn how to cook some wholesome fare. She has been doing the course for seven weeks, and said: “I wanted to learn how to cook because I heard horror stories from some friends already at university. I heard some had been burning their food and starving for weeks! A cup of instant noodles is not a meal. Also, you feel the satisfaction when you make your own dishes.”
Her younger sister Katie has taken up the skill for her Duke of Edinburgh endeavours and she has especially loved making profiteroles – cream puffs with a little chocolate on top.
Katie, 15, said: “My favourite part of the course is eating the food. I would advise others to give this a try. It’s a good skill set to have.”
Amal, 17, from Budaiya, hoped to improve her cooking skills and said: “I wanted to learn recipes by heart and to know what specific flavours to include in my dishes. I really like cooking. In Ramadan I cook something different every day for my family and it’s really fun.
“I will be going to university in London soon and wanted to make sure I had a few good recipes on hand that were quick and easy to make. I loved Kim’s spaghetti in particular.
“I think kids bound for university should learn how to cook otherwise they will have to rely on living on unhealthy snacks.”
Michael, 15, from Saar, also took the course for the award scheme and was a little wary at first, but ended up loving the lessons. He said: “It’s such a good experience. I learned a lot of stuff about cooking such as baking a cake and how best to cook different meats. My favourite was learning how to make the profiteroles. I could eat them as quickly as I could make them!”
On graduation day, the group made bruschetta, guacamole, Mexican Chilli Con Carne and those famous cream puffs.
Schoolboy guest at the feast, Dominic Ashall, 15, who had also graduated from the course, said he ‘really enjoyed’ the meal.
The cooking class is priced at BD10 per session to cover the cost of ingredients. For details of the course, call 175696055.
