REFT TODAY IN THE HUNT OF HOME CHEFS ON WOMEN’S DAY-2021, PART-1: BY KHATIBAH REHMAT. 

Now all women has a special day for themselves to celebrate and i.e. March, 8th. Here is a story of a girl named Asra Nawaz, who is a single mother of a girl child and runs a dynamic online group of girls on a social networking website as Fearless and Flawless. Everytime, she gives a different opportunity to the ladies to participate online and showcase their talents. Asra has a vision for all women to stand on their foots. So, on this Women’s Day, 2021 she conducted a food competition where several ladies participated and gave their level best to show their cooking talents along with their recipes and pictures. Being a food journalist, Asra chose me as a judge for the event. Though, I am a very keen observer but, it was not that easy to give the judgement in the air. So, keeping all given guidelines into my mind, I passed on my final views. I had to choose some amongst all, so selected top THREE and top FIVE runner-ups. Their names are as follows:

1) Sumaira Saif, presented Murgh
Musallam and stood first in the row.

1) Atima Mitra, prepared Mutton Makhani and gave a tough competition to her co-participant Sumaira, which resulted into a tie between both.

2) Tarannum Narvi made a Ground Rice Kheer and stood second.

TOP FIVE RUNNER-UPS ARE:

1) Amreen Bushra prepared Idli Sambhar and Chatni.

2) Saima Fareedi prepared Falafel Wraps with Hummus.

3) Wasmi Mehdi prepared Homemade Pizza from the Scratch.

4) Surabhi Khurana prepared healthy Oats Idli.

5) Tulika Khattar prepared authentic Singhi Food.

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So, in this story I am going to speak about a mother of two and young entrepreneur of a company who is a pampered wife of her super cool husband. She was born and brought up in Aligarh and did her MBA in International Business from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and got married in Allahabad, immediately after completion of her course so, worked as a housewife for quite a long time.

She is none other than our second runner-up Saima Fareedi who prepared Falafel Wrap with Hummus. Presently, she is an overseas educational consultant by profession who helps and mentor students who are interested in studying abroad. The name of her company is EDU GLOBE TECH who has tie-ups with over 500 international universities of Sweden, US, UK, Canada, Australia, etc.

Saima never thought of stopping herself even being a mother of two kids and managing her husband and in-laws, at this point of time and situation normally, women give up just after getting married. Instead of all that melodrama, she has chosen to walk with pride, carrying her passion and managed to grab several big and small achievements in her life. Here are those which the world must know:

1) Awarded as one of  ‘Most Aspiring Young Professionals of India- 2021’ falling in the category of 1000 most aspiring females of the country by BIZTYCOON.

2) First runner up in Ms Fearless and Flawless Contest held online.

3) This cooking contest added another feather to her cap by getting the second runner up award.

4) Awarded for her Leadership skills by Iron Lady Community in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Saima believes that she is cooking not because it is a liability being a woman rather, is passionate about trying new recipes and serving them to her kids and husband. Her son is a great foodie and is very fond of outside food but, she always wants to give him something healthy and home made so, that revolutionised her cooking and polished her skills gradually. For the ‘Falafel Wraps with Hummus’, which is her signature dish is actually one of the favourites of her kids which she tried in Dubai for the first time.

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Here is the recipe of her all time favourite FALAFEL WRAP with Hummus is as follows:

INGREDIENTS FOR FALAFEL WRAPS:

1 1/2 cup boiled chickpeas (kabuli chana)

• 2 teaspoon cumin powder

• 5 tortillas or white flour rotis

• 1 cup lettuce

• 2 tablespoon garlic mayonnaise

• 2 cloves garlic

• 3 tablespoon parsley

• Black pepper as required

• 1 1/2 red onion

• 2 tablespoon refined oil

• Salt as required

STEP 1:

Prepare the chickpea paste for falafel.

In a grinder, add boiled chickpeas, chopped garlic, chopped parsley, cumin powder, salt and pepper as per your taste. Grind the mixture well to form a coarse paste. Now, make small equal sized balls from this paste and keep aside for a while.

STEP 2:

Fry the falafel balls.

Place a pan over medium flame and add 2 tablespoons of oil in it. Once the oil is hot, and add the raw falafel balls in it and fry these until they turn crunchy and brown on both sides. Now, onto the rotis, place the lettuce leaves, sliced onions and chopped avocados. Once done, place the fried falafel over this and then top this up with garlic mayonnaise.

Carefully roll up the stuffed tortilla or rotis. Repeat the same steps with rest of the tortillas.

STEP 3:

Serve with a dip and enjoy with Hummus!

That was about our second runner-up Saima, hope you all have enjoyed reading about her hardcore dedication. It’s time to wait for another contestant. Till then keep reading REFT Today.

INTERVIEWED: Saima Fareedi.
INTERVIEW TAKEN BY: Khatibah Rehmat
Senior Journalist and Writer.
PICTURE COURTESY: Saima Fareedi.