KLF: Book launch and live cooking demonstration

KARACHI: To launch her new book, Food Prints: An Epicurean Voyage Through Pakistan: Overview of Pakistani Cuisine, Shanaz Ramzi held a live cooking demonstration at the Karachi Literature Festival.

“It’s a reference book about communities settled in Pakistan and their cuisine, the recipes were an after thought,” explained Ramzi.

Held in front of an appreciative audience at the sea front restaurant, Ramzi walked the audience through making two dishes, Shahi Tukray and Borani Banjan.

Being a two-time nominee for the UNESCO Gender in Journalism Award, head of PR at the Hum Network and a freelance journalist since 1994, it took Ramzi seven years to finish writing the book.

“You have to make time for things, one never has enough time,” remarked Ramzi.

As in her book, Ramzi provided the audience with some background history on the dishes she was preparing. “Shahi Tukray was a Mughal treat. It literally translates into royal pieces, and as everyone knows, the Mughals were food lovers, so their dishes were all very rich and flavorful,” she commented.

“Pakistani cuisine has evolved and includes dishes from the Indus civilization to Mughal dishes and everything in between. Bohrani Banjan is an Afghani dish adopted by the Baloch.”

Both dishes were quick and easy to make as Ramzi narrated, step-by-step, what she was doing.

This was Ramzi’s first time cooking in front of a live audience so silly questions from her friends in the audience gave the demonstration a light hearted feel, and set Ramzi at ease.

Amidst laughter and light hearted banter the cooking proceeded with minor mishaps like burnt toast and a flaming napkin. The napkin was tossed straight off the deck into the surrounding water by one of the quick thinking chefs assisting Ramzi.

While cooking Ramzi commented “we [Pakistanis] add our own flavor and touch to dishes from other cuisines, making them almost indigenous to Pakistan”.

Multi tasking, Ramzi answered questions from the audience while also preparing the two dishes simultaneously. She tossed out helpful kitchen tips to the audience who ate up her words almost as eagerly as when they sampled the food later.

“If you notice, there are no spices in this dish. Red chilies weren’t apart of our cuisine till after the Mughals,” she explained. Information like this is what sets Shanaz Ramzi’s book apart from others of its kind; it provides research and facts about the dishes and their history alongside their recipes.

The final dishes were sampled by the eager audience members who were wowed by the Banjan Bohrani, a dish with a tomato and eggplant mixture lying on a bed of yogurt.

The other dish, Shahi Tukray, “a classic” in the Ramzi’s opinion, was also well received.

“It is a bit soggy, but good nonetheless,” commented a gentleman from the audience.