"Everyone in my family likes to eat and cook,” award-winning author, food photographer and culinary instructor Niloufer Mavalvala told Eos during her recent visit to Karachi from Canada, where she is now based.

Niloufer started taking cooking classes while in sixth grade at the Mama Parsi Girls Secondary School in Karachi and was known for her baked delights, particularly brownies and cakes. One reason for her excellence in the kitchen, claims Niloufer, was her father Dr Jamshed Hormuzshaw Wania, who she lost very early in life.

“He used to say that everybody has to eat, so they should eat tasty food,” she said, smiling at the memory. “He also thought that the best test for any chef was to ask them to make scrambled eggs.”

That’s her inspiration behind the simple yet delicious Parsi food that she is known for cooking. “My dishes are well-balanced — they may be spicy but they are not hot, and they are never oily,” she proclaimed. “We Parsis also use sweet like salt to balance the flavours. More often than not, we add a pinch of sugar to enhance the sweetness of vegetables. Just like that, whenever we add vinegar in a recipe, we will add jaggery to balance the flavour,” she explained.

A Parsi twist on the chicken biryani for the upcoming Navroz comes from a renowned chef whose cookbooks have won multiple international awards and accolades

A Parsi twist........

© Dawn (Magazines)