Curry queen s homemade offerings hit the spot during pandemic
Curry queen Aqeelah Duru s homemade offerings hit the right spot during pandemic I am an optimist and want to see the good in others
Growing up, Aqeelah Duru
hardly set foot in her mother’s kitchen, but today the 64-year
old is spreading good karma with her signature homemade curry dishes.
She has been in the food industry for 33 years, and her culinary prowess was recently featured in the Woolworths
Taste magazine along with with other Nelson Mandela
Bay chefs and eateries.
Duru said it was an honour and privilege to be featured in the Taste magazine and was grateful to Port Elizabeth-born chef Khanya Mzongwana, who is a contributing food editor to the magazine.
Her journey of cooking took off close to 50 years ago.
“I matriculated when I was 16 years old,” she said.
“I went into nursing and I cried every day.
“I stayed at the nurses’ home at Livingstone Hospital,
and my father said he could not stand me crying every day.
“I had to look for a job, and I ended up at Imperial Cold
Storage in Markman Township.
“And that is where it all started.
“I had to cut my long nails and fasten my hair.”
She went on to work at the
Mentone When Clothing it closed down, Factory. Duru decided to go into the food industry on a full-time basis.
“Working on this basis, it gives me the opportunity to
collaborate with other chefs,” she said.
“The camaraderie is quite special.
“When the chefs have functions, they refer the client to
me for the Halaal menu.” Duru was invited to run the
canteen on the AFDA Campus last year, which her children
welcomed as a way of her slowing down.
And then the lockdown regulations hit.
She said her daughter, Lee, had given her the push she needed when the lockdown got to her.
“She grabbed me by the hand and said you’re not the mother I know because you
are never down.
“You ’ re always the brightest Smartie in the box.
“And this thing [lockdown] hit me. Mentally, it hit me.
“Lee also came up with the name Good Karma Kitchen.”
Lee said the name was relat
able, especially with everything
people “I thought were going that everyone through. needed “There some was good not deep karma. thought going into it.
“The name was decided upon on a whim.
“When the government eased the lockdown regulations for food delivery, I said to her let us do something that will set you apart.
“So, let us streamline it and when people crave curry, they think Good Karma curry.” Lee said the focus was affordability, convenience, flavour and comfort.
Duru said her kitchen at the AFDA Campus was now called the Good Karma Kitchen.
“Sheer willpower keeps me going,” she said.
“I am an optimist and want to see the good in others.
“When you are passionate about something, it is a pleasure to do the work.”