I have a confession to make: in all my many hours in kitchens in different countries, I have never used a microwave oven. The reason is that once a dish goes in, you lose control. Invisible microwaves will zap the contents quickly without human intervention. I have a problem with this kind of convenience cooking as I like to stir and taste as I go along, aiming for the right flavour and consistency.

But this does not mean I am averse to technology: our Magimix blender is a constant assistant, chopping and mixing reliably. A coffee grinder is used more to grind spices than for its original purpose. And I follow developments in kitchen equipment to see the latest object of desire.

So I was amused and delighted to learn that an experimental robot chef had made its tentative appearance. This consists of a long arm with a number of mechanical ‘hands’ that can reach pre-positioned containers of ingredients. A large number of recipes have been fed into the robot’s memory, and working through sensors, it can follow a programmed sequence to produce a dish.

A robot chef might become competent, but will it ever rise to the heights of gastronomic greatness?

It’s early days, and a lot of development work will be needed to perfect it, but I have little doubt it will one day appear in many kitchens around the world. I can see the attraction: you can obtain a consistency difficult to achieve by human chefs, and a robot will not demand overtime or sick leave. However, what will be lost is the flair and feel a good cook brings to the kitchen. He can adjust the flavour and know if one ingredient is too dominant. A robot chef might become competent, but I doubt it will ever rise to the heights of gastronomic greatness.

While I do like to keep up with what’s happening in experimental labs as much as I do about foodie trends, I still enjoy cooking traditional dishes. Last night, there were nine people for dinner at our home in Sri Lanka, and I thought we would serve biryani. Given the poor quality of local meat, I have cooked the iconic rice dish with chicken here before, but for a change, I thought we’d make fish biryani. Our housekeeper and cook, Nandi, is very talented in the kitchen, and picks up new dishes very quickly. The Sri Lankan version, called buryani, is drier than ours, but she has learned to make it in the Indian-Pakistani style.

In the morning, a large seer fish (‘surmai’ in Pakistan) had arrived, weighing around eight kilos, and we used a quarter of this, together with three-quarters of a kilo of basmati rice. When I checked the fish curry that was to go into the biryani, I found its flavour intense, with lots of chopped curry leaves working their magic. The pieces of fish were thick and well covered with the gravy. A generous pinch of saffron was infused in half a cup of warm milk on the side.

Once the rice was almost done, a couple of spoons of ghee first went into a large pot; this was followed by half the rice, and then the curry was gently spooned in to avoid breaking up the fish. The remainder of the rice then went on top. The pot was shut and a weight placed on the lid, before the rice went on the lowest possible heat, and allowed to cook gently for around 10 minutes until the rice was done. When the guests were seated, the saffron infusion was poured on top, and the layers of rice and curry were mixed, taking care to keep the pieces of fish intact. The biryani was then transferred to a large serving dish, and garnished with shredded green coriander leaves. Served with a cucumber and yoghurt raita, this was a dish fit for the gods.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, February 14th, 2016