Naveed's Culinary Club: Cooking with a sprinkle of comedy

When it comes to the comedy scene in Dhaka, it wouldn't be too far off a stretch to call Naveed's Comedy Club (NCC) the home of comedy. For quite a while, the rather small venue at Gulshan 2 has played host to a ton of standup comedy nights. 

2023 started off in a similar fashion for NCC with regular shows in the first month of the year. However, Monday night saw something unique as NCC turned into 'Naveed's Culinary Club' for a few hours. Naveed Mahbub brought in star chef Tommy Miah for a first-of-its-kind cooking show.

It wasn't a comedy show per se. There were no 10-minute Naveed Mahbub special sets or any other comedian cracking jokes on stage. Rather, it was a show about the art of cooking by Tommy Miah, with Naveed at his side, cracking a few one liners and getting the crowd to giggle.

Naveed met Tommy in New York a while back. They decided on this collaboration over lunch, the result of which was Monday night's show. Tommy cooked two rather simple but delicious dishes. It, however, was not just for the cameras; the 40 people in the audience got a taste of the two cuisines that were once feasted upon by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Yes, you read that right. It took Tommy more than a decade of knocking on the door, but he did have the privilege to cook a fish cake and a 'Bangladeshi cuisine-esque' Chicken Tikka for Her Majesty. He demonstrated live how to cook the two dishes.

The show was being recorded with a live audience. There were two sets. One in English (Chicken Tikka) the other in Bangla (Fish Cake).

"We wanted to do something different. Firstly, we wanted it to be a cooking show; with a live audience. Secondly, Tommy Miah is going to be accompanied by an assistant who's a comedian. So there's comedy and entertainment going on simultaneously. There's entertainment, there's engagement with the audience prompting live reactions. So it's pretty much like an info-tainment. The 'user experience or audience experience', if I may call it,  is a bit different in this show," said Naveed.

"The set was shot in English because it allows us to introduce Bangladeshi cuisines to international audiences," he added.
 

Fish Cake and Chicken Tikka

Both the dishes were pretty simple to cook, neither dish took more than ten minutes. 

For the fish cake, Tommy used tuna in oil, lime juice, potatoes, Kashmiri chilli powder – a paprika like spices, green chilli, coriander, garam masala and breadcrumbs to form a mixture pattie – which later was shallow fried. 

Naveed was tasked with oiling up the pan, and it was then when Naveed asked Tommy whether the tuna had been pre-sauteed; an observation that surprised both Tommy and the audience. 

One spectator said out loud, "Naveed seems to know what he is doing!", to which Naveed wittily replied, "You may assume that I'm a good cook but I'm just 'oiling' him (Tommy) up."

Cooking the Chicken Tikka was not too difficult either. The boneless chicken cubes were marinated on the spot with a blend of seasonings which included a mixture of chilli powder, plain yoghurt, mustard oil amongst other ingredients. 

The audience's collective cheered when they heard the sound of the chicken sizzle as the aroma permeated the room. 

The chicken was succulent, leaving minds to wonder how juicier it would've been with the advised 24-hours marination period. Tommy served it with chutney which took the flavour to a whole new level.