Entertaining at home and creating menus inspired by her travels throughout Asia are an important part of Sri Owen's personal and professional life. Catey Hillier joined her for dinner. Photographs by David Loftus.
Food imaginatively and lovingly prepared, eaten in good company, warms the soul with something more than mere calories, declared the American writer Marjorie Rawlings.
Guests who have dined with revered food writer Sri Owen would doubtless agree. Her informal dinner parties are legendary affairs. And, as one would expect for someone with over 20 years' experience of writing cookery books, these gatherings are a showcase for her exquisite and diverse Asian cooking.
The mood of Sri's dinner parties is sincere rather than showy, and always extremely relaxed. "As a child growing up in Sumatra my appreciation of good food and convivial good manners came about because our household would eat together," explains Sri. "Sitting cross-legged on straw mats we would gossip about the day's news. To this day, I still love good food and good company. It's why I love dinner parties."
Sri's career was in fact launched around the dinner table. "When Roger, my husband and I came to the UK, I cooked Indonesian dishes for his university friends at least once a week. One guest was a literary agent and he suggested I write a book. He secured my first book deal and is now my agent." That was in 1976. Sri's The Home Book Of Indonesian Cooking was a trailblazer, and was out of print within a couple of years. "You can't imagine how difficult it was then to find Asian ingredients in the UK," reflects Sri.
Even when she ran a delicatessen below her flat in Wimbledon, southwest London in the mid-1980s, Sri made time for dinner parties. "Besides preparing food for the shop, I also supplied Harrods with several Indonesian dishes - the spicy paste sambal goreng, mini spring rolls, and my marinade for satay and barbecues. Roger and I were always amused that it cost as much as a bottle of whisky.
"I ran the deli for three years. It was really hard work. I didn't even have time to read," explains the woman who describes herself as a "bookworm", has a BA in English Literature and whose special interest is Jane Austen. "I had itchy feet and wanted to travel. Moreover, I had to sell up because of my health - I have diabetes. So I don't eat desserts and I don't cook desserts - I'm just a main-course cook."
True to form, when she held a pan-Asian dinner to thank the hosts of her trip to Australia earlier this year, including general manager of the Adelaide Hilton, George van Holst, and his wife Paddy, now on holiday in Europe, Sri prepared three courses and a friend made the ice cream pudding.
On the menu was smoked salmon sushi, a clear Vietnamese beef soup with rice sticks and lemon grass, and a main course of Sumatran-style duck with green chillies, served with a dish of seven different vegetables cooked Korean style. The complex dessert - honeycomb, caramel and bitter chocolate ice cream slice - for which each ice cream layer is churned separately, was prepared by food writer and close friend, Silvija Davidson. The recipe is from Sydney chef Christine Mansfield's book, Paramount Desserts. "As I say, I only do main courses," laughs Sri, portioning out the ice cream slice. "I always delegate desserts."
It was Sri's visit to Australia that inspired her latest venture - a "word of mouth" business called Food Adventurers, set up to "to explore the world's emergent cuisines by way of occasional dinners." After meeting eight celebrated chefs, from Neil Perry of Sydney's Rockpool restaurant to Cheong Liew of the Grange Restaurant at the Hilton International, Adelaide, Sri became fascinated by fusion food. "After initially concentrating on Indonesian cooking, and then furthering my knowledge of other Asian cuisines, fusion cooking is a really exciting concept," says Sri. "I have lots of questions about this style of cooking: what is it and how does it work?"
At the first Food Adventurers dinner, with Silvija's help, Sri recreated a selection of the dishes that had inspired her in Australia. Silvija's husband, wine expert David Natt, selected Australian wines to accompany each course.
"I consider myself a creative professional cook because I'm continually experimenting, whether it be with Western or Oriental food," explains Sri. "And whether I'm researching a book or not, I try to travel to Asia at least once a year to collect ideas and recipes. "I work on each recipe until I believe it's right. That's why people say my food tastes good." Having tried recipes from Sri's most recent publication, Classic Asian Cookbook, which features dishes from 14 Asian countries, I can vouch for that.
She continues: "It takes quite an experienced cook to realise which ingredients go well together. For example, strawberries and cream are beautiful, but mango and cream doesn't work. You can make mango into a sorbet, but as an ice cream, it's a bit dodgy."
Sri spoons out the Sumatran-style duck stew, accompanied by a creamy lime green sauce, which actually starts life as a marinade, and includes green chillies, macadamia nuts, ginger, fresh galangal, tamarind water, kaffir lime leaves and coconut milk. "This is a variation of a traditional Sumatran duck stew. I find cooking the duck this way suits Western tastes perfectly, because you get a tender duck which is not overcooked. It's served less chilli-hot than it would be in Indonesia." As she serves she reveals a trip to California is imminent. "The highlight will be an introduction to Alice Walters, so I'll be visiting Chez Panisse," she says gleefully. "Fusion cooking is on my agenda, too."
Her US itinerary is packed, and as if that's not enough to keep this extraordinary lady busy, she lets slip that she'll be running a three-day cookery course before she sets off. "Did I tell you about my professional Asian cooking classes? Marks & Spencer food selectors and development chefs have booked up."
As Sri finishes stir-frying the Korean-style vegetables, her day's work in the kitchen is almost done - and it's clear that she is already planning her next menu.
"I can feel a Californian Food Adventurers dinner party coming on when I return, can't you? Come on everybody, tonight's dinner is now served."
Sri Owen's latest book'Classic Asian Cookbook' is published by Dorling Kindersley, £16.99. For more information on Sri Owen's professional Asian cookery courses and Food Adventurers, write to Sri Owen at 96 High Street Mews,Wimbledon, London SW19 7RG