MUHAMMAD Aniq Zulfadhly Mohd Hatta, better known as Aniq, is making waves on social media with his “bachelor” style simple cooking recipes.
The 26-year-old’s non-complicated techniques using easily available ingredients has inspired students, single people and those who are new to cooking to tune in to his videos.
Aniq started posting his cooking videos in August 2017 while pursuing a Culinary Arts degree, and soon became a popular local cooking influencer.
“My first video was Shish Taouk (Lebanese cuisine),” recalled Aniq, who delights others by cooking rich, indulgent and tasty home-cooked comfort food with an easy-to-follow guide, especially for beginners.
Through his Instagram Page @aniqclone, Aniq shows his skills in beautifully shot videos.
“Maybe it’s the way I cook and present it in a ‘bujang’ (bachelor) style, which is simple for others to understand and follow,” said Aniq, who has more than 65,000 followers.
“Besides, it is not just sharing cooking videos, I also share information about new ingredients, teach the proper way to use kitchen tools and present tips, tricks and hacks for beginners,” added the Shah Alam-born home chef.
“During the movement control order (MCO), I received a lot of feedback from my followers, requesting simple recipes, especially for beginners and students. Cooking is the only option for many, during the MCO. It is almost inevitable and it was a key to survival (at the time).
Inspired by cartoons
Ironically, Aniq’s curiosity about the culinary arts began when he watched a Chinese cartoon cooking show when he was just ten years old.
“Although it was just a cartoon, it sparked my interest in cooking,” he said.
“The cartoon show is about a boy who wanted to learn about cooking. The boy goes on a journey to learn about cuisines and enters a cooking competition with professional chefs to improve and become a better chef.”
“In one of the episodes, the boy served the judges one of the most unique dishes he had ever created, which he called ‘Golden Egg Fried Rice’, which we call Nasi Goreng Pattaya. But the dish was cooked in the Chinese style.
“I realised that there were many ways to make fried rice. Since then, I began to search and explore more about rice recipes. My first rice dish was Nasi Minyak and literally, I cooked rice with oil.”
Explaining the details of the cooking disaster, Aniq said he stirred a cup of rice with oil in a hot pan.
“What a splendid idea!” quipped Aniq, reminiscing about his first attempt to cook. He made many errors at first, but those experiences did not demotivate him.
“In fact, it drove me to learn more until I became good at cooking,” said Aniq, who admires Chef Wan and Chef Gordon Ramsay.
Grandmother’s recipe reinvented?
Aniq, who was inspired by his grandmother’s cooking, usually adds his own touch to old recipes and cuisines from other countries like Korean, Thai and Indonesian cuisine.
“My grandmother always reminds me to add value to other people, like the saying goes, sharing is caring.”
Think outside the box
Through his cooking, Aniq wants others to think outside the box and be creative with ingredients that are accessible to them.
“I always think outside the box,” said Aniq, whose cooking videos are perfect for those with a limited budget.
“Just explore and learn more about other cooking styles or cuisines and don’t just learn about one type of cuisine. Most importantly, don’t ever give up when you have failed in your attempt to make new recipes because that’s normal.
“Just start again and avoid the same mistake until you get it right,” said Aniq, who is currently a manager at a restaurant. In future, he hopes to venture into a cooking-related business.
