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Recipe for success

She exudes confidence. Whipping up a dish is a piece of cake for her. However, what strikes you as amazing is the way she transfers the sweaty kitchen into a comfort zone.

Says Jaygee John: “I love cooking, especially baking. There’s something about the blending of ingredients and the fusion of smells that make it therapeutic for me. Cooking, for many, is a place where they slave over a hot stove. For me, it’s a place to relax.”

And that is what Jaygee tries to put across in her programme on Rosebowl, ‘Jaygee’s Cookbook.’

“It’s a cookery show that features easy-to-make dishes,” says Jaygee about her show, which features mostly European cuisine.

“I love European dishes and my husband enjoys Italian dishes, so it’s fine. Besides, most cookery shows feature ways to prepare Indian dishes; I wanted to be different.”

And so it is recipes such as Fairy Cakes, Chocolate Fondue and Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies that she highlights on the show. She also demonstrates ways to concoct cocktails and mocktails. Jaygee has a message at the end of each show.

“Lots of homework goes into each show. It’s not just a pretty face showing the way around the kitchen. For instance, if I feature an oat-based recipe, I ensure that I highlight its benefits and other interesting tit-bits.”

Jaygee says she tries to ensure that her show features healthy recipes. In fact, except for cakes, she tries to avoid using white flour. “Also I use olive oil in most of my dishes.”

According to Jaygee, baking is her forte. Born and brought up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Jaygee, an interior designer by training but a homemaker at the moment, did her education at a British Prep School in Jeddah. She says an extra-curricular club at the Prep School, called Monday Club, helped instil the love of baking in her.

“You ask me to bake a dish right now and I will. For me, it’s no big deal. In fact I find it extremely amusing when people who make dum biriyanis or a full course ‘nadan’ meal, say that they find baking a laborious task.”

‘Jayjee’s Cookbook’ is aired on Rosebowl every Tuesday night at 8.30 p.m. A repeat telecast of the show is screened on Thursday at 12 noon and Sunday at 5.30 p.m.

Liza George

Art of substitution

Are the ingredients used for European dishes available here?

“I’m the queen of substitution. Cooking, to me, is the knack of bringing ingredients together. For instance, you don’t get cream cheese here, so I make my own cream cheese. You don’t get chocolate chips here, so I put a bar of chocolate through a food processor. If you know the chemistry of cooking, it shouldn’t be too difficult to whip up the dish you fancy regardless of the ingredients you do or do not get,” says Jaygee.

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