In his hands rice turns to amber, and lambspare ribs become sacred artifacts. An expert in oriental cuisine, photographer, blogger, and author of a recipe book, Stalik Khankishiev began cooking out of hunger. It was dangerous to eat in the cafeteria of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, where he studied. Now, thirty years later, he teaches others the "bad" habit of eating tasty and healthy.
Fake meat
We are in Stalik's country house in the Moscow region (hemoved to Russia from Uzbekistan a few years ago). The owner sits in a robe on the sofa in the center of the living room. "You have to try this," he says, holding out a saucer of homemade baklava. "And be sure to wash it down with wine." It's incredibly delicious, honey drips down your fingers.
Hankishiyev's steak shish kebab from pork
–Lick it, it's okay.People who don't eat with their hands and don't lick their fingers are robbing themselves. You touch food and you can already imagine what it's like (strokes peanuts and dried apricots in a bowl with her fingertips). It's a whole palette of sensations. – And what are you feeling now? Embarrassed. For Stalik, food is a delicate, intimate thing. – Eating together is like kissing. We only share a meal with the closest people, right? There is a Spanish proverb: «A bowl of soup served on time is more important in the family than love». If you want to quarrel with a man, start nagging him when he's hungry. – Remember your first vivid gastronomic sensation?– My first word after "mama" was "meat". So you can imagine my tastes. Very simple and unoriginal. And I don't believe anyone who says they don't like meat. – There are some. – No! I recently came up with fake meat. It's a paste made from walnuts, specially prepared onions, and cherry plum pastille. I published the recipe. And some ideological vegetarian wrote to me: «Thank you! It's almost like meat!» It turns out he actually liked the taste, he suffered without it. – But they say meat is bad for you, full of cholesterol … – Don't eat that, don't eat that … (waves his hand dismissively). Humanity invented diets relatively recently. And, mind you, this mental illness is peculiar only to humans. Look, the dog (a big good-natured St. Bernard is dozing on the floor) is happy, content, he has eaten his fill. If an animal is thin, it is unhealthy. Without meat, humanity would have no achievements. Agricultural technologies that have appeared over the last 60-70 years have allowed humanity to be fed bad products - tasteless, harmful. And what is my task? To defend the bastion! Tasty food still exists, follow me, I will show you.
