Mixing flavours

FOODIE

Artist Farhad Hussain is at complete ease in front of the hob.

Why is it that whenever the man of the house is in the kitchen, the lady must follow too? (The husband will certainly not return the compliment!) Or perhaps it was the presence of a journalist in her kitchen that had led Jasmine Hussain to potter solicitously around her artist-husband Farhad, asking whether more onions needed chopping, pointing out that the flame was too high and so on.

She does say that Farhad doesn't need assistance. "It is he who chops and cooks when we have guests over." Indeed, Farhad hadn't needed much cajoling when asked to cook for this column. His mother, who joins the merry party in the kitchen, too bears witness to Farhad's reputation as a cook.

"When I visited Santiniketan for the first time I was amazed to see a poster on the door outside saying, 'For good food contact Farhad Hussain'. I mean, he had never entered the kitchen at home."

To be fair, the artist, who's on a high with his recent exhibition at Delhi's Vadehra Art Gallery, seems very comfortable before the hob. He talks little, smiles even less (as is his wont), as he checks the seasoning, with the air of someone who's just getting on with a job, and one that he's quite familiar with.

"I can cook an entire meal in an hour," he says, as he expertly flips the fried fish on the pan, without it sticking to the pan "" not an easy task, any Bengali housewife will tell you. Farhad's culinary skills, however, don't range far geographically and he cooks fish or mutton the traditional Bengali or Mughlai way.

"Cooking is something I started doing in college. Not just friends, but also seniors like Mani-da (K G Subrahmanyam) came over to eat in my room."

Surprisingly, Farhad is entirely self-taught and also does not rely on any recipe book for his cooking. Indeed, he seems to bring to cooking something of the flair and studied spontaneity of art , using flavours and condiments the way he would colours on the canvas. So "" or so he says when I ask, just as he puts the pan over the flame "" he has no idea what he's cooking.

But every once in a while, he bends down to smell the fish or the mutton in the pan and then opens the cupboard conveniently located over the fire to take out a jar, and add some kala jeera or some garam masala. Cooking, obviously, is something Farhad Hussain likes doing.

FAVOURITE RECIPES

FISH CURRY WITH BLACK CUMIN

500 gm pomfret fish, cut into large slices
2 large onions, cut finely
3 green chillies, cut finely
2 tsp black cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric
3 tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
1tsp salt
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp mustard oil

Coat the fish in turmeric and salt and set aside for 15 minutes. Heat oil in a frying pan, and light-fry the fish. Fry onions in the same oil until transparent. Add green chillies and black cumin seeds, and fry some more.

Add tomatoes; lower the flame and cook until tender. Add the fish, and cook, gently turning pieces so the sauce coats both sides. Add the garam masala. When it's done, add salt to taste.

MUTTON REZALA

500 gm mutton
3 large onions
2 bay leaves
3 tsp ginger-garlic paste
3 tsp cashewnut paste
3 tbsp oil
4/5 green cardamoms
2 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste

(This is a short-cut, says Farhad, not the elaborate process that can take more than an hour.) Cook the mutton in a pressure cooker. Pour oil in a pan and heat. When it's hot, put in the bay leaves and green cardamoms and fry for a minute. Fry the onions next.

Add the ginger-garlic paste and continue frying, stirring to check that it doesn't stick. Add the red chilli powder, and after a minute, the mutton, along with the stock. Continue cooking on a low flame, adding the cashew paste. Cover the pan and allow to simmer until most of the stock evaporates.