in the kitchen with Nisha Parmar

What ingredient makes any dish better?

Chilli oil. Not the infused stuff, the proper crispy chilli oil you find in a jar in Asian supermarkets with some texture and crunch. It’s so versatile. You can use it at breakfast – on eggs – or on noodles, or pasta. You can even drizzle it on yogurt and use it as a dip. It’s really good on rice and chicken too, anything that needs a lift. I love it with ramen, or to perk up a boring soup. Even something as simple as a plain dahl can be lifted with a drizzle of chilli oil. It’s pure magic.

What’s your favourite comfort food?

It always has to be pasta for me. It’s that squidgy texture I find so comforting. I’m particularly partial to a baked pasta – a mac ‘n’ cheese say, or a cannelloni or a lasagne, straight from the oven. The first thing I ever cooked for my family was a lasagne when I was eight years old. My mum didn’t know how to cook pasta so I had to teach myself. She once made me a pasta curry and served it with chapattis, and I cried! I realised if I wanted to eat pasta I had to learn to cook it myself.

What’s your number one cooking hack?

Ready made pastes – I call them flavour bombs. Belazu harissa, Thai pastes, gochujang, I’m always drawn to Asian flavours. They save so much time and they’re so easy. You can use them to make sauces or glazes or marinades and they bring so much flavour to your cooking.

Eating in or eating out?

Oh, that’s a hard one – it’s like being asked to choose your favourite child! So much of my working life involves being in restaurants and eating out – it’s very social which I love – but I’d say eating in because that means cooking for my family. It’s where I can relax and just be myself.

What’s your food related guilty pleasure?

Do you know, I love a bowl of Coco Pops! What I really enjoy is a ‘cereal cocktail’. That’s where you get a big bowl and mix your cereals up together – Cheerios, Crunchy Nut cornflakes, Coco Pops, whatever you fancy. It’s great. Sometimes when I come back from cooking for clients, the last thing I want to do is start cooking again for myself. That’s when I reach for the cereal boxes.

If you could only eat one type of cuisine for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Well, I’m going to keep it very broad and say Asian food. That means I can have Indian, Thai, Malaysian and Japanese cuisine – and I don’t have to choose! For me, it’s not all about the chilli spices. I find the aromatics much more important, the curry leaves, the cardamom, the lemongrass, the star anise. I’d much rather have a milder curry with interesting flavours than one that’s just screaming hot with chilli. Controversial, I know.

Tell us about your ultimate dinner party guests?

I think I’d invite the Spice Girls – yes, all of them! I feel like I know them all, growing up with them in the 90s, and they’re all so different. I know Victoria doesn’t eat much so maybe her husband David could join us, too. I have a chef friend who has cooked for Victoria and tells me she mainly eats steamed fish and steamed vegetables – no carbs, no sauces. But I think David is more adventurous in his food tastes. And with all the Spice Girls, I’d have such a laugh.

What would you serve them?

I’d do some of my signature dishes. We’d start with my famous chilli paneer dumplings – they’re stuffed with cheese and vegetables and flavoured with black vinegar, it’s a sort of variation on cheese and chutney. For main course, I’d make a butter chicken sphere. That’s a big croquette of potato and chicken encased in a crunchy exterior and served with a butter chicken sauce. It has a real ‘wow’ factor, and everybody always loves it. To finish, well that would depend on the season. I always ask if people prefer chocolate or fruity desserts, but for the Spice Girls I think I would go for fruity. So that’s my coconut and lime leaf panna cotta with a lovely little bit of wobble. I’d serve it with passion fruit and mango, sesame honeycomb and toasted marshmallows. If mangoes aren’t in season, I would go for blueberries or papaya instead.

What’s not allowed in your kitchen?

Offal is off the menu for me. I’m just not a fan. Kidney, liver, heart, brain – no. I’ve tried it and it’s just not for me. I find the flavours too intense. I know everyone says that chicken livers are so good for you, and I’ve really tried to like them. As a chef, you have to try everything – I’ve even eaten insects – but offal? I’m afraid I’ll have to pass

What food tastes like home?

My mum’s thali. It’s always so comforting, it is just like a hug. It’s a traditional Gujurati thali so there will be chapattis, vegetable curry, dahl and rice, and it would be served with all the accompaniments – kachumber salad, a dollop of Greek yogurt, some pickles and sliced mango. These are my mum’s signature recipes, and they make me feel calm and loved. When I’m busy, my mum still sends me food and it instantly transports me back; I’m seven years old again! I’m teaching my boys how to make chapattis just like she taught me because I don’t want it to be a dying art. It’s part of my DNA.

Nisha has created three delicious dishes with Magimix that are perfect for entertaining alfresco this summer. You’ll love her Asparagus & Artichoke on Whipped Feta with Zhoug, Vietnamese chicken with Asian slaw, and Courgette Falafels that you can find on her Instagram here.