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Photos: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Like A HouseWife Abida Rasheed at The Ashok’s Durbar restaurant

Chatting with Abida Rasheed is more of listening, like to an aunt in your family known for laying the best spread for guests.

That she is at a five-star hotel, donning the chef’s hat, whipping up a food festival, no way stops her from being herself.

“More than a chef, I like to call myself a housewife who just loves to feed as many guests. I can connect to people better that way,” a bubbly Abida tells you. Her business card suitably mentions her other business only – that of a popular garment shop owner in Kozhikode.

In New Delhi to host Moplah Food Festival at The Ashok’s Indian speciality restaurant, Durbar, this is her second trip in two months to the Capital to host a food fest.

“Many chefs would visit my Calicut house to learn Moplah cuisine, some even from France, South Korea, etc. I don’t charge them anything, I love to teach it to the interested,” she says.

One such visit by a chef from The Park here led to a call from the Group to host a food festival last month. “And then this one happened,” she adds, referring to the four-day festival at Durbar, that ended this past Sunday.

Not that she is not loving it. “It is nice,” she says with a shy smile. “Particularly because I tell them that I will do it my way.”

This includes the food quantity primarily.

“I tell them that I will cook the same quantity that I do for my home guests. I don’t mind repeating the process as many times. That way, I have some control over its taste,” she states.

Though that is time consuming she doesn’t mind it. “North Kerala is known for hosting people. Food and clothing come first, then the rest of the needs. Our women spend the whole day in kitchen. Even a poor household will have meat on the table. So I am used to long hours preparing food,” she explains, laughing.

True to this, the spread at The Ashok was elaborate. Moplah chemeen biryani, Moplah meen biryani, traditional stuffed chicken, meen nira chatu, meen pori chatu, kozhi nira chatu, koyi ada, erachi pathiri, paripu vada…, the list was endless. The accompaniments for the curries included fluffy appams and flaky paranthas, with chutneys, green and red, with coconut as their base. Then there were Moplah special desserts like chakara chor, made of molasses.

“Try some please,” she coaxed. Lifting the lid of each dish, she gave an introduction, “This stuffed chicken is for special occasions, like a son-in-law visiting.”

As the camera flashes on her, Abida says, “During the last food fest, I covered my head for photographs fearing our community, which is increasingly becoming extremist in view. My husband saw them, he told me, ‘You never did purdah. Why should you do now?’ So I have stopped it.”

Abida’s parting line is in a true blue housewife style that you are used to: “You didn’t eat at all. Next time, do come home for a good meal.”

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