London | When King Charles III is formally crowned Britain's monarch at a grand ceremony on Saturday, Indian-origin chef Manju Malhi will be among the chosen few British Empire Medal (BEM) recipients seated at Westminster Abbey in London.
She is among the last batch to be awarded a BEM by Charles' mother, late Queen Elizabeth II, for services to the community in London during the COVID-19 response. The medal recognised her work offering remote cookery classes to the old age charity Open Age during lockdown and got her the coveted Abbey invite to a gathering of an estimated 2,000 guests made up of community champions, charity representatives, world leaders and royalty.
“When I realised it is actually happening, I felt like gosh – who am I to be at one of the most historic moments in global history, sitting in the Abbey watching the ceremony take place for real,” shares Malhi.
“I'm quite nervous because normally I just cook and throw on some clothes and an apron. But this is almost like a wedding but more important than that. I think I have everything ready; I have to do a checklist like I do with my ingredients,” she said.
Malhi has chosen British Indian fashion designer Geeta Handa to create an Indo-Western outfit that reflects her heritage and resonates with the regal theme of the day. The result is a bespoke design, tailored from pure Indian broderie cotton to a vibrant royal blue tone and styled as a kameez over trousers.
“As a British Indian fashion designer my vintage inspired outfits are all about creating a global style statement through conscious fashion and we loved making BEM recipient Manju Malhi look the part for the day in her coronation outfit as she actively supports our sustainable ethics and giving back to the community,” said Handa.
“We've also kept in mind the Union Jack – the flag of the United Kingdom colours and added elements of the 1940s, the era King Charles was born, to its sleek shape and frill double collar. The broderie fabric gives it an effortless sophisticated day dress look,” she said.
The look will be completed with a fascinator and fancy shoes, with more comfortable walking shoes handy in a little handbag, reveals an excited Malhi during an interview in her kitchen just days before in south-west London.
“I hope I do the nation proud and everybody who knows me,” she said.
The British-born chef, in her early 50s, is also a prolific food writer behind popular recipe books on Anglo-Indian cuisine such as 'Everyday Healthy Indian' and most recently 'The Seasoned Foodie'. She grew up in London learning about Indian food from her mother – an immigrant from Mumbai who worked as a nurse in the UK's National Health Service (NHS).
“She used to make a lot of simple dishes using British ingredients and Indian spices, like Tadka Beans – or baked beans with a little bit of cumin, or she would show us how to make a crumble using mangoes instead of apples. So, all those inspiring tips have come from my mum,” she reflects.
“My foot is very much in two countries, India and England. I always go back to India for inspiration and ideas as to what I could try out. It's almost like crossover, so I take British cuisine to India and Indian cuisine to the UK,” said the author of ‘Brit Spice', which is reflective of that crossover.
On her charity work that got her on the Buckingham Palace guest list, Malhi explains that it all came about at a time when chef work suffered a setback during the pandemic and charities like Open Age and C-Change West London expressed an interest in her offer of cooking lessons. Something that she was involved with pre-pandemic as well took on a wider virtual element to get people cooking healthy meals with fresh herbs and spices.
“At a time when we were all feeling low and worried about older members in our community, we had Zoom classes for the tech savvy and also a ‘conference call cooking' option for the others,” she recalls.
It was this out-of-the-box thinking and initiative that won her the BEM and an invite to one of the most iconic moments in global history.