Making food fun for everyone

FOODIE

When Vibha Bahl, MD, Fun Foods, cooks, family and friends know that a treat is in store.

Vibha Bahl, MD, Fun Foods, the company that makes all those little jars full of mayo and dressings, not to mention condiments used by everyone from Subway to Pizza Hut, has not told us what she is cooking. But as we enter her Gurgaon home, everything is ready and waiting "" on the dining table is some cheerily laid out crockery with the legend "home cooked dinner"; in the kitchen the mince is being sauted and the living room is alive with activity "" Bahl's fierce-looking dogs, Lalaji and companion, have picked up the scents of cooking and visitors.

"When mom cooks we all know that a treat is in order," announces son Varun, who is chipping in "" this is a family where everyone has an opinion on how food should taste, look and smell "" even though it is not a Sunday, the day when he officially dons the chef's hat. The Bahls announce that a Shepherd's Pie is being assembled, a family favourite. (The other one, crab curry, is such a hit that relatives are called in by rotation for regular samplings!) There are also two salads, a bread basket (including khubuz, the Arabic bread, with grated cheese and pizza seasoning, which is grilled till it is crisp like a papad) and a light, hung curd-blended-with-mangoes dessert to balance out the heavier mince. "I like everything to be balanced," points out Vibha. The other thing she does will gladden any working woman's "" or man's "" heart: assemble dishes with minimum effort. ("I don't think I will ever be able to roll out chapatis again.") Here is cooking as a stress-buster, imaginatively put together recipes (she never asks for one, always recreates flavours), using off-the-shelf condiments. But then, that's only to be expected.

I ask Vibha to give me six essentials that a kitchen should stock to be able to turn out an imaginative meal in a jiffy. The list is simple: (1) ketchup, (2) chilli sauce, (3) butter, (4) bread, (5) garlic-chilli sauce, (6) chocolate topping "" and the possibilities are endless. Put the bread in a blender, saute it in butter with milk for a quick white sauce. Crushed biscuits with chocolate syrup for dessert, crispy fried potatoes in garlic sauce for appetiser and even a fish curry done with the same paste, ketchup and a dash of mustard "" Vibha is brimming with ideas. She follows this up with a quick demo when she learns the photographer is vegetarian "" the shepherd's pie is instantly transformed into a "corn pie""" she fishes out a can of sweet corn. The photographer is happy, Vibha is not "" "Corn and potatoes are both starchy," she says, before son Varun pipes in, "But for all her fancy cooking, do you know what her favourite is?" A slice of pizza and a chilled Coke. Oh, and a Hindi movie.

Favourite Recipe

Shepherd's Pie
1 kg mince
1 onion, finely chopped
2-3 pods of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp BBQ sauce
1 tbsp chilli-garlic spread
A few drops of Maggi seasoning sauce
Salt to taste
For the crust
800 gm potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed
1 onion, chopped and fried till brown
100 gm cheese, grated
50 gm butter

Saute the mince with the onion-garlic for 30 minutes. When it is absolutely dry, add the sauces. Add salt and a little water and pressure cook (two to three whistles) till soft. For the crust, add the cheese, onions and butter to the potatoes. If you want a low-cal version, add milk slowly to the potatoes and cook till creamy. Take a Borosil dish and put the mince in this. Top it with the potatoes and glaze with a little butter. Grill for 30 minutes. Serve with garlic bread. You can also top the pie with some crispy, fried bacon "" just like Varun prefers it.