Abu Dhabi International Book Fair: guest chefs share their healthy-cooking secrets

Leading chefs from around the world will be at this year's Show Kitchen.

Chocolate avocado pudding with fresh berries. Courtesy Ebba Guðný Guðmundsdóttir

The Abu Dhabi International Book Fair welcomed leading chefs from around the globe during the first weekend of the event. Eleven chefs from nine countries are sharing their secrets during 31 cookery sessions in this year’s Show Kitchen.

The Icelandic chef Ebba Guðny Guðmundsdóttir and Lebanese chef Khaldoun Ghrayzi opened the fair on Thursday, welcomed by an eager – and hungry – crowd. This year, healthy cooking is a popular topic in the show kitchen.

Guðmundsdóttir, who shared healthy recipes from Iceland, says: “My main aim is to cook simple and very pure food from good-quality, mostly organic ingredients – no additives, no bad transfats, no white sugar.”

Ghrayzi, who made two types of pumpkin kibbeh and mafroukeh during his first session, agreed. He urged parents to start teaching kids how to cook and eat healthily from a young age.

“It’s very important to learn to make healthy food,” says Ghrayzi. “Too much oil, too much fat, too much bread, flour, sugar – it just leads to disease and obesity.”

The Indian food blogger and chef Ritu Chaturvedi, who will share healthy Indian recipes on Tuesday – at 11.30am for kids and 8.30pm for adults – says: “Every kid must know how to cook food and learn this skill with their studies. Meal planning should be part of the curriculum. Parents should teach kids from an early age that freshly cooked food is always better than processed food.”

While it’s a smart step in the right direction, many mums and home cooks still believe healthy cooking takes too much time.

Guðmundsdóttir says: “I think that most people think it is far more complicated than it is. But you can have a much better quality of life when eating a healthy diet – more vegetables and greens and less sugar.

“It’s clever to raise children from the start on a good diet since old habits die hard.”

She says it all starts by simply choosing fresh, quality ingredients at the market.

“It is very difficult to make bad food when you have good-quality ingredients to work with,” she says.

• There are four more days of cookery classes at the book fair’s Show Kitchen. For a schedule of remaining sessions, visit www.adbookfair.com/en/programme/show-kitchen

Healthy eating doesn’t mean eliminating all things sweet. Try this healthy dessert from Ebba Guðny Guðmundsdóttir.

Avocado chocolate pudding with fresh berries

Ingredients:

1 large ripe avocado (or 2 small ones)

1 banana (optional, see chef’s note)

3 to 4 tbsp organic cold-pressed coconut oil (see chef’s note)

3 tbsp organic maple syrup, Agave syrup or raw honey

3 to 4 tbsp organic cacao powder

½ tsp vanilla powder (optional)

Water, organic coconut water or almond milk to thin it out if needed

Fresh seasonal berries or passion fruit, for topping

Method:

Purée all the ingredients, except for the berries and passion fruit. Spoon into serving bowls. Top with fresh seasonal berries or passion fruit. You can also put the mixture into the refrigerator and serve cold.

Chef's notes: If the coconut oil is too stiff, put the jar in hot water (no warmer than 40°C) until it becomes runny or very soft.

If you don’t like bananas, skip this ingredient and add 1 tbsp more of a sweetener such as organic maple syrup or agave syrup.