Is this the most authentic dish in Dubai?

Is this the most authentic dish in Dubai?

Amina Al Hashmi doesn't like being called the Emirates' first 'patron chef'. This is the title given to her by Dubai's chef community for being the first female chef to open a restaurant in the UAE.

She says that such a title alienates her from her guests. Amina is a mother of four children and prefers healthy and simple food which she serves at her restaurant Mutts and Trees. In a city that is crazy about showy, flamboyant and decorative dishes, Al-Hashmi wants her guests to feel at home in her restaurants.

But Amina loves a challenge and although she shys away from the word 'role model', she is proud of her achievements and the fact that she is a role model for women in the UAE.

In a country where women still need a male priest's permission to marry and where it is customary for a woman to seek men's permission to work, it may seem strange that women run about 48 percent of businesses, small and large, across the country.

In fact, the country is liberal in many ways and the UAE has better working conditions for women than other patriarchal countries in the Middle East, and with free education for all UAE citizens and more women graduating from universities, many women want to run their own businesses and be their own bosses.

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Amina also runs cooking classes for women in her kitchen and finds great comfort in teaching people how to improve eating and cooking. She currently has 25 new chefs learning to cook and is happy to see their progress.

Not only does she encourage them to become professionals, but she also helps women and men who want to learn how to improve cooking at home and develop healthy eating habits.

Amina herself used to picky eaters as a child and never considered herself a foodie. But at the age of 22, her sister-in-law taught her baking. Al-Hashmi eventually started making her own recipes at home and would also invite her family and friends. Being a natural entrepreneur, he started putting his dishes on Instagram where his creativity and previous experience as a social media researcher at a public think tank came in handy.

She soon grew a social following and ran the business alone from home for two years, preparing, baking and delivering her baked goods while taking care of her family. Along with business, he also enrolled in a pastry chef training course at the International Center for Culinary Arts in Dubai.

"I loved it all," she says, "but I used to get tired and it was not easy to keep up with everything." But my husband had a good idea and I trusted him.

Yusuf Al-Rostamani encouraged his wife to open his own restaurant and hired a team of 30 people to help him and finally in 2016 he opened his restaurant on the trendy and popular coastal road City Walk.

From the very beginning, Amina set out to make it a success with all her passion and drive. He started serving the food that he liked during his travels to different countries of the world. Risottos, curries, piellas, all made with fresh local ingredients.

He handled the new business with great patience and took up the art of cooking as a new medium of self-expression and began to enjoy it. She believes that one should never cook in a hurry. The day we cooked together, he told me, 'You have to have time to taste the food and see it take shape.'

As his enthusiasm grew and his customers started coming back, Al Hashemi also brought traditional Emirati cuisine to his menu. Apart from the purely traditional breakfasts of Balalit (an omelette topped with sweet soy sauce) and Oozi (a meat and rice dish served in a pastry pouch), they started experimenting with their menu and adding Emirati 'tadaka' to their daily meals, resulting in a distinct fusion food. Take his Tareed Lasanye, in which Al-Hashmi transforms the meat quorma into a traditional Emirati lamb stew and replaces the pasta sheets with the local soft ragag bread.

She soon grew a social following and ran the business alone from home for two years, preparing, baking and delivering her baked goods while taking care of her family. Along with business, he also enrolled in a pastry chef training course at the International Center for Culinary Arts in Dubai.

"I loved it all," she says, "but I used to get tired and it was not easy to keep up with everything." But my husband had a good idea and I trusted him.

Yusuf Al-Rostamani encouraged his wife to open his own restaurant and hired a team of 30 people to help him and finally in 2016 he opened his restaurant on the trendy and popular coastal road City Walk.

From the very beginning, Amina set out to make it a success with all her passion and drive. He started serving the food that he liked during his travels to different countries of the world. Risottos, curries, piellas, all made with fresh local ingredients.

He handled the new business with great patience and took up the art of cooking as a new medium of self-expression and began to enjoy it. She believes that one should never cook in a hurry. The day we cooked together, he told me, 'You have to have time to taste the food and see it take shape.'

As his enthusiasm grew and his customers started coming back, Al Hashemi also brought traditional Emirati cuisine to his menu. Apart from the purely traditional breakfasts of Balalit (an omelette topped with sweet soy sauce) and Oozi (a meat and rice dish served in a pastry pouch), they started experimenting with their menu and adding Emirati 'tadaka' to their daily meals, resulting in a distinct fusion food.