Home Chefs Of Mumbai – Part 1- Introduction

Lockdown means stay at home, be with self and introspect, and do the unlimited household chores.. Lockdown is also an learning experience for me. It has taught me many things.  There have been many obstacles that has kept me on edge. But food has never be a problem at all. It has been available from day one itself. I am not talking about restaurant/hotel foods, not even street food that we love so much but it is about home cooked food. Ingredients were available almost everywhere, some of the shops had even changed their business. The kiosk that sold newspapers or fresh flowers were now selling vegetables. It is demand and supply mantra.

 Many people, specially home chefs, have devoted their time in cooking meals and sending it across the city to many families. During this pandemic, with no helpers at home and the family member always hungry, home chefs have been a God-sent angels, their food, cooked with care, hygiene and love is reaching every home.

 

I am so happy to start this series on 'Home Chefs of Mumbai'.   I have been thinking about this for a long time, we have so many talented home chefs in our city of Mumbai and still when we want to order food, we only select a few whom we know personally. Of course friends are always dear and we trust them the most, but I want to dig into the jewels of Mumbai city, the most talented home chefs, whose food is “Must Have, I don't Wish To Miss This” that kind of attitude. And I will be featuring them, their food stories, their recipe and some details with most honesty and sincerely, I promise…..

 

During my growing up days, I remember, there were always visitors in my house and food was plenty, mainly fried stuff to entertain the guests. Nobody cared about health issues, or the food they could eat or what they should avoid. Everybody cleaned off the plates, relishing good  meals and the food was always tasty (or so because everybody enjoyed it) nobody really cared about jotting down the recipes and reproducing the same....a verbal information was shared and people cooked to their own preferences of taste. 

 

Since food was always very tasty in my house (tasty meant spicy till the eyes and nose leaked) which I still enjoy  But my first eureka moment ( the taste is still fresh in my memory) was when I was in Hong Kong about a century ago. I was having a sleepless night and I was restless. It was 5am and everybody was fast asleep. I quietly woke up, changed into decent clothes and decided to go for a morning walk. I walked down the streets and hopped into a bus to enjoy the ride..Dawn was slowly creeping in. I alighted the bus at the last stop and there was a big crowd, a small distance away. 

That was a street food hawker selling a rice congee that was the most tastiest breakfast I had ever tasted in my life and its taste linger till now. It was a simple bowl of broth garnished with thinly sliced pieces of chicken, pork, fried eggs, spring onions and chiilie sauce. That was the day, I developed my taste for Chinese food....

 

I am no home chef, but I have great passion for food and I appreciate people who spend time in their kitchen cooking for their family and friends. From the little  knowledge that I have about food, I happily share my recipes to the last detail if they enjoy my food.

 

Like I always say, the taste is not in the list of ingredients that you use, it’s the thought process and the interest that goes into the food to give it a real flavour, being in good mood is the best ingredient for churning out a memorable food. Rest is the normal recipe that you can easily get on social media or on u-tube.

 

But yes, recipe is also important. I will share a simple recipe that I cooked for me last week

 

Hara Bhindi Aloo (In english you can call it Okra Potatoes in green Masala) It is cooked regularly in every Sindhi Home. (In Sindhi, this dish is called Sayal Bhindi patata in saoo masalo)

 

Main taste in the gravy.

 

1.     Grind green masala with 4-5pods of garlic, small bunch of coriander leaves, small bunch of fenugreek leaves, lots of green chilies, 1tsp of turmeric powder, 1tsp of coriander powder.

2.     In a pan, use one tbsp of oil/ghee, fry the masala that you had prepared in step i.

3.     Add 2 chopped tomatoes, cover and keep on low flame for 5 minutes

4.     Mash the tomatoes in the mixture, add 250 gms of Okra and 2 medium sized sliced potatoes

5.     Add salt, mix it well add 1cup of water

6.     Cover and cook till potatoes are tender.

7.     Serve with rice or chappatis.

if you don't like Okra, you can substitute it with cottage cheese or even with fish.

My journey with Home Chef is about to begin.....watch out for my next post......

Food Trail In Mahableshwar

The heat in Mumbai had become unbearable during the month of May, going to a hill station seemed a better idea. My friends and I decided to go out of Mumbai for a long weekend.

Early Friday morning, we took a road trip, 275 kilometers away from Mumbai to Mahabaleshwar. It was six hours drive. We wanted to have typical Maharastrian food during this trip. On friend’s recommendation, we stopped at Kailash on Pune-Mumbai express way. This restaurant served only platter (thali), special and normal Thali the only difference being that in choice of vegetables.

The food at Kailash was disappointing, it didn’t taste that authentic Maharastrian meal. We were expecting usual, peanut based veggie and a spicy meal but the food was quite bland. There was no sweet dish.

During our stay, dieting was of least importance and eating was our full time pass time. Whereever we walked down the path, the streets were filled with hawkers and who could resist that? Munching on everything was so enjoyable

 There is different kind of charm at hill stations in India. Colorful and fresh fruits line the market streets. Munching on berries and fruits while walking down the streets is a fun…every stall we pass, we are tempted to buy and eat, sometimes even without washing the fruit….it tastes so good….During our walk to market street, we stopped to eat at every stall

We got tempted to eat black Jamun

Roasted corn coated with salt, red pepper and lime

Raspberry and assorted berries

The next day we went sightseeing, but food was always on our mind. The air smelts of fruits and roasted corn. Mango cucumber carrot salad looked so tempting

Carrot n cucumber

Strawberries and white apples

Carrots and strawberries...

You would think that munching all day would be enough. But no, we still were hungry and visited few restaurants to have proper meals too.

We were staying in a private bungalow on the outskirts of the city and we were lucky to be surrounded by good restaurants. We visited Baghicha twice for breakfast.  It had quite a spacious dining hall with colorful nursery occupying one corner of the restaurant.  The walls were decorated with large pin ups of all the film stars and celebrity who had dined in this restaurant. The food is freshly prepared, the order took long time to come, but it was worth the wait. The potato parathas were cooked to perfection, steaming hot, it melted at the first bite and spicy too. We went back for breakfast the next day too and ordered the same breakfast of potato parathas, pohas, sabudhana khichidi, upma and corn cutlets. Tea would pair beautifully with this  breakfast but sadly, they don’t serve tea or coffee, there were soft drinks and fruity milk shakes.

My friends were keen on having Maharastrian food. It was raining heavily and it was so misty that we could not see anything beyond few meters. It was decided that two of them would go and bring food for all of us. But when they stopped by Hirkani, there were hot bakhadi roti and food that looked so appetizing.  They called us to come to the restaurant to enjoy the freshly cooked food. I am glad we went because I really enjoyed the lunch. Although the restaurant serves Thali  to majority of its clients, we decided to order a la carte. It was the most enjoyable meal I had.  We ordered corn vegetables, potato bhaji, brinjals, puri and ussal, all vegetarian meal, so delicious that I didn’t miss non-veg.

Someone suggested that Jaffar at Panchandi  famous for its Briyanis, so we decided to go for lunch the next day. The décor was good, it was surrounded with beautiful landscape. It was crowded too and we had to wait for about fifteen minutes to get a seat. The restaurant serves mainly Biryani, I was surprised to learn that there was no pillaf. However, the biryani was quite disappointing. In veg biryani there were hardly any veggies. Food was bland and we were served a glass of fresh green chilies. Two of my friends reported sick after the meals. I would have preferred a way side dhabba that serves better food.

On our return back to Mumbai, we stopped by Shri Dutta, famous for his Batatawadas at Pen.

 Everybody who passes by this road of Raighad district has to stop by Dutta for battawadas. Friend said I must try it and we relished it on our way back home…..

Hoppipolla comes to Mumbai

In 80’s College canteen was the place where youngster used to hang out. In between lectures, youngsters slipped into canteen to enjoy the fun times over cup of tea, sometimes sitting long hours on those wooden benches, it was a good place to while away the time, where  new friends were made, food was shared and days passed well in laughter and games. But things have changed. Presently, Mumbai is full of such hangout, dotted in different parts of the city and Hoppipolla is the new addition for youngsters to laze around over glass of beer.

Hoppipolla that literally means ‘hopping in the puddles’ is inspired from the song by Icelandic band Sigor Ros from their 2005 album. And that is the idea adopted by this restaurant that makes its debut appearance in Mumbai after its success in Bangalore and Pune.

Although the restaurant has some strict rules, it is a fun place where young and old can shed off their age difference and engage in fun activities over pastas, pizzas and drinks.The prices are affordable ranging from as low as Rs90 for peanut bhel to Rs295 for a hard drink.

The restaurant is separated into two sections: AC and non-AC.

Sit anywhere, the ambience is vibrant. The high ceiling interior has props like air planes, there is a huge bar and an open kitchen, one of the walls is decorated with trophy cups, the winners hold the trophy and enjoy one minute of fame by posing for a picture after having won some game or competition. A quiet Video corner had indoor board games and comic too to bring alive the child in them. I saw one set of youngster enjoying the game of Taboo and Jenga over the cups of Sangrias.

Non-AC area is in the open, surrounded by trees, birdhouses decorate one of the walls that have surprise elements behind the tiny door.

All tables have black granite top on which people can doodle with colored chalk, while they wait for their order to arrive.

There was a great variety that restaurant had to offer

Must try their drink watermelon with basil.

I loved the presentations. A special mention to Crispy pizzas with meat balls which was a delight. Finger foods were served in colorful crockery of bright vibrant colors, blues, orange, red, etc. that can attract even a person who is high on alcohol.

I was disappointed with seafood dishes like Fish and chips, shrimps and fish fingers. They were too salty. I was drooling at the first glance of Fish and Chips, the presentation was tempting but I immediately looked for large spittoon after the first bite. It was pretty terrible.

Unfortunately, there are no hot beverages like tea and coffee nor are there any desserts, the restaurant believes in the pleasure of hard drinks, the games like gulping down endless glasses of beer in seconds is the new pastime for youngsters.

Although they have board games comics and books to keep the youngsters occupied at the restaurant, I am not sure if this concept is going to last for long. Youngster might stay in the restaurant for example, maybe 5-6 hours at a stretch, engrossed in group activities or other board games but they may not continuously eat or drink…that means that although there is crowd of youngsters having fun, restaurant sales may not shoot up because tables may not be vacant for new customers to walk in, and that is the bad news for restaurant looking for business.

However, this is a great place to be for fun afternoon to enjoy the game or two over drinks, or to enjoy loud music at the bar till late nights. There is a big screen at one end of the room, which may come alive on Karaoke nights or on those days when there is live telecast of football or cricket match.

I heard many youngsters say that they would love to hang out at this Hoppipola… It did appeal to them…

Book Launch ‘A Chef In Every Home’ by Kunal Kapur.

‘A Chef In Every Home’  - a complete family cookbook was launched this week by celebrity Chef Kunal Kapur

Published by Random House India, Kunal Kapur’s book explores an extensive variety of cultural delicacies.

“Inspiration to write this book has been from Masterchef” says Kunal Kapur, who has been an integral part of all three seasons of TV show Masterchef India till date. During his tour of selecting the contestants for the show, he discovered that there is chef in every home and that it does not matter who you are, you do not need to be a chef to cook.

“This cookbook is for all those who are compassionate about cooking.” He adds

At the glittering ceremony at ‘The Leela’ in Mumbai, the book was revealed by panel of esteemed foodies like Ms. Rushina Munshaw Ghidyal, Mr Mayank Shekhar and Mr Aman Sehrawat.

This was followed by live demonstration of two recipes from the book.

Tomato bruschetta, the recipe appears on page 69

Prawns Moilee, the recipe appears of page99

The book has interesting recipes from around the world with impressive photographs that pulls you to the kitchen to try out the recipes.

All the recipes have a brief description of the dish, followed by ingredients that are easily available and a step-by-step method that can be understood even by a novice.

It is a must-have-book for adding it to the kitchen book shelf.