Sheeba

Queen Culinaire

Food, food, food. That’s what it’s all about for food stylist, chef, author and educator, Sheeba de Souza

The table is laid

Text & Photographs: Farzana Contractor

It’s quite amazing the sway cooking has on the young and just married. Sheeba de Souza was no different. The adage that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach is an eternal one. I heard my grandmother say it, then my mother, and despite feminism and all that, every woman says it and laughs!

Except Sheeba knew the man she married – Gavin, a good 10 years before they did marry. She was just 16 and it was love at first sight for them. Gavin was already a foodie by then, what with his mum, being a super cook. The de Souza family are associated with PN Writer Relocation, the reputed logistics group since 1947. As well as, the awesome resort we knew until recently as Hilton Shilim, but is now, Dharana Shilim. They are the promoters, read owners, of this heavenly piece on earth which is now a holistic, clinical wellness retreat with 100 villas.

Strangely, Sheeba’s culinary beginning was quite a non-starter. She never knew the ABC of cooking. In what she describes as the Golden Year of her life – a student in London, doing her Masters in Business at the University of Westminster, where she shared a room with others. When it was her turn to cook, she was, in her own words, a disaster! “Honestly, it was so bad. Worse, coming from a daughter whose mother was an excellent cook!” laughs Sheeba.

But then marriage happened and two kids came along and everything changed. “Look, I was already in a complex state, pun intended. What with everyone around me cooking so well, I had to get going. So, I armed myself with cookery books of every hue and simply started to cook. By myself, in my own kitchen. And guess what, I discovered it was so much fun. And beyond fun, it was rewarding. I was challenged by Nicolai, who was then about three years old and a very fussy eater. I had to cook, healthy, tasty and good-looking food for him. Then when Emma came along, my cooking momentum just picked up. I was cooking from all kinds of cuisines!”

And thus, it went on for Sheeba until she decided she was definitely in love with all things food. Cooking for friends and family was the ultimate. She now had to hone her skills.

One last Thai chilli...	And the stir-fried spicy Prawns are served!	Indispensable rice and curry

Unable to leave her little children for too long, she took on a short three-month course at the Leith Cooking School in London and returned a more confident and happy cook. Says Sheeba, “That really was a turning point, helped me immensely.”

But, it is never enough, learning never stops. Sheeba enrolled in a nine-month online course, learning all the basics; technique of grilling, frying, roasting, marinating, even cutting and chopping the correct way. “This course was intense and did call for a lot of patience,” she states.

Chef Nooror, of Blue Elephant in Bangkok, who I like very much and who has cooked an umpteen number of times at the UpperCrust Show, is a good family friend of the de Souzas. Thanks to her influence, Sheeba became an expert at Thai cooking. Which is why we decided she would cook Thai food for me. Well, Sheeba is a regular at the Blue Elephant Cookery School and goes there every year to refresh her culinary prowess. Sheeba can’t hold back her joy, she shares, “The best is, I come back with a suitcase full of ingredients that Nooror helps me buy. She takes me to all the little markets. I simply love my trips to Bangkok.” And she indulges in eating out over there, too. Pla Rad Prik – Bangkok Fish – being her favourite. “Deep-fried and crispy, with red and fresh Thai herbs, it is to die for. I also like the way they do the Pad Thai there, with tamarind sauce and stir-fried in garlic with lots of bean sprouts… yum, it’s got the umami-ness all figured out!”

Sheeba does travel a lot. Be it East or West, it’s always about food; restaurants, markets, meeting chefs. Brussels is where a lot of the action is. Her sister-in-law, Karen lives there, and being a foodie and one who aspires to open her own restaurant someday, has all the knowledge of the city. “I simply love being in Brussels. Karen did stints with Michelin-starred chefs and is a good cook. She knows all the places to eat at. Pâttisserie there is unbelievable and I just have to eat the Chicken in Apple Sauce, at least once on each trip.”

Back home in her well-appointed apartment in Bandra, Sheeba is happiest in her kitchen. “Gavin loves food but he loves having friends over even more. And my passion is to cook well and serve well. So I experiment and try to make new dishes each time. It could be Italian, Asian, Indian – the works. Very organically, my mind will go to laying out a table which has balanced fare; carbs, proteins, fibre. I work by instinct. And almost always I will have four or five different kinds of salads. I see that our friends really like that.”

Time to Lambada	The cute bar all stocked up	What's your coffee?	Sheeba's is warm and relaxing!

But it’s not all work and no play. Sheeba does get out of the kitchen. Works out at the gym five days of the week. Accompanies her children, now 14 and 12, to school at the American School of Bombay, supervising their activities. Nicolai is obsesssed with football and Emma, the piano, which she plays like a dream. So does Sheeba, and I actually made her do so for me, after the sumptous lunch we had, of which you can see the pictures alongside.

With co-author Luke Coutinho, Sheeba has already published a book, Root, Leaf, Fire: ‘Wellness on a Plate’, so now comes her next goal. She wants to teach interested, young people to cook. To this end she has been working on her own online platform where basic, intermediate and advance skills will be taught. By early next year, The Styled Plate will have arrived on your television screens.

“It is my big wish to bring to aspiring young home chefs this platform, quite simply because I know how difficult it is to find time to actually go physically for classes to learn cooking. Especially if you have little children. I really do wish to glean from all I have learnt, and share the knowledge. Quick, easy, healthy, delicious recipes,” says the woman who once did a short stint at her father’s film school, Digital Academy, which taught students all about scripting, filming, editing, sound, cinematography, pre and post production. 
“It was a good learning but my heart lay elsewhere. When you love something, you put in your 100%. For me it is cooking. I have put in great effort in that, countless number of hours, and am truly happy.”

Sheeba de Souza is genuinely in love with the culinary arts, almost as much as she is with her husband, without whose support she says she would not have achieved any of it. “We are a close-knit family and my strongest pillar is Gavin; he is kind, generous, hard-working and the best of all – a big foodie who appreciates my cooking!”

Now, who could find fault with any of that! Go girl, go.

Chilli Lime Pineapple Salad Recipe	Stir-fried Spicy Prawns Recipe	Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce Recipe