Dad Cooks Special Meals for Everyone

By Esha Mahajan

Kondratiev feeds her daughter, Naila, while her son, Ajani, plays in the background. Photo: Esha Mahajan.

Richard Rajkumar assembles ingredients for dinner he plans to cook for his girlfriend, Dasha Kondratiev, and their two kids, Ajani and Naila. It’s about two hours till dinner time, and he has a menu of five dishes. The kitchen in their Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn, apartment is hot and bright with the sunlight through the window, and Rajkumar’s knee-length dreadlocked hair is piled high on his head, wrapped in cut up black pantyhose.

Kondratiev, who has pale white skin and long blonde hair, works five days a week, from 9 a.m. till 6 p.m., as an assistant designer at a footwear company. During the day, Rajkumar stays at home with the kids and cooks three fresh meals using local and organic ingredients. Once Kondratiev returns, he heads to work at the Caribbean restaurant in Church Avenue, Rama’s Roti Shop, which his parents own. His mother and sister cook at the restaurant, and he supervises them.

Rajkumar’s dinner before he heads to his parent’s restaurant, where he supervises in the kitchen. Photo: Esha Mahajan.

Despite their busy schedule, healthy living a priority for the family. The children don’t yet attend school — Naila, 2, is too young, and Ajani will join this year — so they have not yet been exposed to the eating habits of most children their age. But they’re aware of the kind of food they eat at home. Ajani, who will turn five in July, talks about GMO ingredients, and even protested against GMOs in Union Square. “If my kids do ask me for something they see another kid eat on the street, all I have to say is GMO,” says Kondratiev. “I say things like ‘Do you want to put poison in your body?’”

Kondratiev’s meals tend to be different from the family’s: She eats fish but no other meat, and recently learned that she has a stomach ulcer, which makes it difficult for her to digest dairy and spicy food. She also avoids gluten since her throat itches when she eats it, even though she has not been diagnosed with Celiac disease. The only dairy she eats is a special vanilla banana coconut kefir yogurt her sister sends her from Atlanta, Georgia.

Kondratiev’s dinner of salmon, potatoes, rice, guacamole, and green beans. Photo: Esha Mahajan.

On Richard’s menu are roasted potatoes, sautéed green beans, carrot fried rice, guacamole, chicken stew for himself and the children, and roasted salmon for Kondratiev. He works quickly and cooks the meal within an hour, cleaning the kitchen as he works. He leaves the guacamole next to the window so it remains cool, and leaves one avocado pit in the bowl to prevent browning. He also rinses the raw fish and chicken with lemon juice to kill any bacteria.

Though their everyday meals are elaborate, eating is quick and chaotic. Rajkumar serves himself some steamed rice and chicken, and eats standing up before he heads to work. Kondratiev feeds Naila as her son plays around the living room. This day they even had visitors. Their friend, a single mother with 15-month-old twins, was supposed to travel to Florida but the flight was cancelled. Since she had already emptied out her refrigerator, there was no food at home. “On the weekends we have to eat dinner as a family since we only get those two days together,” says Kondratiev. On weekdays she eats dinner with her children, except for rare occasions when she cleans the apartment while they eat.

Kondratiev serves both children identical plates of rice, beans, potatoes, guacamole, and chicken. She breaks the larger pieces of chicken with her fork. Photo: Esha Mahajan.

Leftovers usually go in the freezer so Kondratiev can take them to the Cortelyou greenmarket for composting. The days she doesn’t make it in time, she goes to her best friend’s house, whose neighbor also composts.

Despite their focus on health, the children, at least, have dessert everyday: organic ice cream, cookies, brownies, or even a piece of fruit. Kondratiev halves one brownie from a pack she brought on her way home for her children to share, and plates it with a piece of fruit, while she has a vanilla muffin — free of dairy, soy, nut, and gluten — that her friend brought.

See Richard Rajkumar’s recipes here.

Esha Mahajan