--- Watch The Cook Up weeknights on SBS Food (Ch.33) at 7.00pm, with guest host Nornie Bero leading the action during NAIDOC Week. Look for Karla Grant in the episode airing Wednesday 10 July. Stream episodes at. ---
The presenter and executive producer of leads a busy life. In the span of a few days, Karla Grant is shooting in Hawaii, Sydney and Melbourne. But when she’s at home, the Walkley-award winning journalist still makes time to cook and eat with her family.
A pescatarian, she stopped eating meat almost three decades ago when living in London. “The mad cow disease was happening at that time, so I just chose not to eat any more meat, and that was 27 years ago. I haven't eaten any red meat since, and I feel so much better for it,” she reveals, adding that she sometimes prepares chicken for others.
Her meals tend to revolve around fish, seafood and vegetables. “I love salmon and barramundi; they're my favourite fish. And I do love prawns and lobster as well. At Christmas time, we live on prawns. During the summertime, I’ll have those just by themselves or with salad,” she says.
On a weeknight, she might throw salmon and vegetables in the air fryer, an appliance that gets a good workout in her household. She also orders takeaway occasionally to lighten the load when needed.
She lives with her son John, and often has her other son Dylan, and daughter Lowanna, over for dinner.
“Dylan might ring me up in the morning and ask me what I'm cooking and then he'll come over,” she says. Her coconut salmon is always a hit, and so is her , which she makes on The Cook Up with guest host Nornie Bero.
Nornie Bero and Karla Grant on The Cook Up. Credit: Jiwon Kim
She got the recipe from a family that she met during a trip to Israel with an Indigenous delegation. It’s made with white fish (any type is fine), red capsicum, crushed tomatoes, coriander, paprika, turmeric, garlic and chilli. “I'm not really someone who likes a lot of spicy food usually, but I do enjoy making it quite spicy because for my sons, the spicier the better. I serve it with rice. It’s really beautiful and warming, especially for winter,” she says.
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Spicy Moroccan fish
Sunday night is a time when the family loves gathering, often including nieces and nephews. “It's just a great time where we sit down, catch up, have a laugh and tell stories. It’s a ritual for us to have that time together every week where we sit down and talk about what's going on in our lives and in the world. It’s my favourite time of the week,” she says.
“My sons and my daughter love food. They love to eat, and they really appreciate my cooking, even though I'm not necessarily the best cook."
And it’s a ritual that is not going anywhere. “It's something that we’ll always be doing because I love cooking for my family and they appreciate my meals,” she concludes.
Living Black airs Monday's 8.30pm on NITV, with episodes also streaming at SBS On Demand.
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