Foodie: It's all improvisation

Educationist Gayatri Singh serves up khao suey with a twist.

Sitting in Gayatri Singh’s plush apartment in Gurgaon, we enjoy not just the breathtaking view but also the sunlight that streams generously into the living room. I look around to admire Singh’s brilliant collection of artwork. “They’re mostly young, unknown artists,” she says. Hot cups of ginger tea arrive, even as Singh begins talking about her field of work — children’s education.

Her company, Q2A Media, is a learning-based content provider working in the education space since 2000. Its customers include big names such as Scholastic, Disney Learning, Pearson and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, to name just a few. They adapt Q2A’s expertise in developing learning and education products for children. “We look at content specifically for children in the kindergarten age group,” she says.

We are in her spacious kitchen and she simply rolls her eyes, dramatically, when I enquire about her four-year-old son. “Uday,” she sighs, “is a very fussy eater and my younger son, all of nine months, is at a stage where he eats anything and everything.”

Like most young mothers, Singh starts sharing harrowing tales about toddler eating habits, while I take a closer look at what she is going to prepare for me. “I love khao suey,” says Singh, who is also requesting her domestic help to assist her in preparing the assorted garnishings she needs. The best part of khao suey, a popular Burmese dish, is the garnishing that accompanies the main dish. In Singh’s kitchen, too, I find bowls of fried onions, fried garlic roundels, boiled egg, lime juice and red chilli flakes, among other tasty edibles.

Singh’s khao suey, however, has been tweaked. While the familiar recipe uses gram flour, Singh altered it while cooking for friends in London. She ended up using only chicken curry instead of boiling and mashing lentils and adding them to the chicken. The laborious process in Singh’s recipe was again tweaked for our visit as she made a quick chicken curry in coconut milk and then proceeded with the original recipe.

“This is a quick and easy way, and very tasty too,” she says.

Singh admits to stepping into the kitchen only once in a while. Her work schedule is hectic, with some of her work all set to hit the market. She says,“I want the price point to appeal to a larger section of parents from across the economic strata of society.”

Like her work, her dish looks appealing. Just one bite, with a generous sprinkling of garnishing, confirms that it’s yummy too.