Ummi Abdulla, cooking is an art. Many of her recipes have won prizes or special mentions in Femina and Eve's Weekly. Her talent was honed by a practical training course in cookery at the Madras Institute of Catering Technology. She takes cookery classes for ladies' clubs and women's organisations. She is familiar with Sri Lankan cookery having lived briefly off and on with Sinhalese families. She contributes regularly to Malayalam women's magazines. Coming from Kerala, she resides in Chennai and is married to a senior publishing consultant.