Home Chefs Of Mumbai – Part 33 - Sonali and Sandhya Vyas

When you migrate overseas, what you miss the most is the food you are used to eating...your own city food...and also your mom home cooked food.

  In India, we love spicy and Masaledar food and find the food of our adopted country different. We find it bland, if there is zero Mirchi. We don’t appreciate noodles for lunch everyday, eating food cooked in Olive oil instead of desi ghee. It is all about getting used to it. 

 Children who never helped in the kitchen back home, will make endless calls to their parents, asking for traditional recipes. When their parents go visiting them, they will send long list of Indian food delicacies to get for them...which will include spices, papads, theplas and even paan. Parent on their trip are busy in the kitchen cooking Desi food for their kin, leaving less time to exploring foreign lands.

 The taste of India is what they miss the most and parents know it

 Home chef Sandhya and Sonali Vyas make yummiest savouries that people miss the most 

Sandhya and Sonali Vyas (of One For All fame) are the mother-daughter duo behind the brand. 

Sandhya has been running kitchen since 25years. She started as a tiffin service catering to various households and office going people. Steadily she saw the menu expanding as people started asking for more. “My passion and everyone's acceptance and love for my food are the triggers that motivate me and keep me going.” Says Sandhya.

Sonali loved baking and was always interested in trying out baking treats during various occasions. “Over time I realised this is something I want to grow and dive deep into it. Little did I know back then that my hobby will become my profession.” Says Sonali

Having been born and brought up in Mumbai like every Mumbaikar, the mother-daughter duo have a soft corner for street food and and the varied range of cuisines at restaurants. 

“It would be injustice to name just one item or one place. We are in awe for the specialities of every food joint as each has its own uniqueness, it could be Amar Pav bhaji or mithibai Wada pav or Ramu Dosa or WTC pasta or Elco chat to yautcha or hakkasan or suzettte  and the list goes on.”

They specialise in Theplas and are happy to reach them out to people to ease their work and at the same time not miss out on home food. Their Theplas are super thin and not to oily. They can be frozen and stored for upto 3 months without any change in taste. All that needs to be done is heat on gas or microwave it for few seconds before you can have them. For confectionaries, its their range of eggless brownies range that are freshly baked at all times.

‘Our brand name also defines our passion to cater to everyone and vision to be One ForAll. It gives us immense happiness to have a range of Savouries and Confectionaries that appeal to every palate.” They confirm 

They still have the clear memory of the food they had loved when they travelled to Delhi. “This would be either 2006 or 2007 when we on our encounter Delhi by road and we came across this dhaba that we stopped by for breakfast. The paratha platter served there was incredibly delicious! Since then to now we haven't come across a dish like that!”

Sonali  Vyas is happy to share the recipe of  Eggless ChocoChip Cookies.

1. Beat 1/4cup unsalted butter and ¼ cup sugar in a bowl till pale and light. 

2. Sieve ¾ cup All purpose flour plus1/2tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt. 

3. Add 1/2tsp Vanilla essence. 

4. Mix well with spatula. 

5. Add 1/4cup chocochips. 

6. Mix it well. 

7. Form small balls out of dough. 

8. Line the baking tray with butter paper. 

9. Pre heat oven at 180°C and bake for 15 mins . 

10. Cool the cookies. 

11. They are ready to eat. 

Call, Whats app,  dm 9870053098, 9920243098 

Follow their Instagram handle @Oneforall_mumbai 

Cookies For Snack

Ever thought of giving your loved ones cookies ring? Unibic gave me one to make a bond with me

When we talk of biscuits and cookies in India, the brands that come to our mind are old timers like Britannia and Parle G. in foreign brands more common are Oreo, but recently I chanced upon cookies that were crunchy, crispy and tasty, I turned the packet around to see the brand, I found an Australian brand ‘Unibic.’

I was attending the launch of this product in Mumbai. There was a small game played with the audience. Each person was blind folded and given a cookie to taste. The person had to bite and guess the ingredients from its taste. Not many were successful. Although the taste is delicious, the taste of any particular ingredient is not over powering.

The best that I liked was ‘Scotch Finger shortbread’. It reminded me of the taste of ‘Shrew Berry’, the type that I normally pick up from the famous Kayani Bakery during my visits to Poona.

I brought the cookies home for my family to taste. My 3years old nephew and his 62years old granddad sat down, side-by-side, to relish these crunchy bites of Unibic cookies. It seems like this will soon make its entry into their home.

And why not?

There is an apt description on the packet itself that says

“Born in Scotland and loved world over, shortbread is a type of cookie that crumbles delightfully with every single bite. The butter melts magically; leaving an aftertaste you wouldn’t give up for anything. Except, for any set of these delicious shortbreads.”

What more can I say after this description?

Unibic was incorporated in India in August 2004, the company started operations in March 2005 importing two cookie brands Anzac oatmeal and chocolate chips from Unibic, Australia. By late 2005, its manufacturing unit India was producing cookies at costs that were as much as 40% lower than procuring them from Australia.

I almost drooled when they mentioned the fragrance that follows the trail leading to Haskur road in Bangalore, where these cookies are baked. They are a bit costlier as compared to cookies made by other Indian brands but cheaper than foreign brands.

Apart from its current portfolio of ginger nuts, cashew butter, choco chips, Anzac oatmeal cookies, Unibic India is now getting into healthy products like sugar free and digestive oatmeal cookies as well.

Cookies are a bonding snacks, can be enjoyed at any hour of the day and even to kill boredom.

A great snack to go with a cup of coffee or it can be mixed in layers with custard, fruits and nut to incorporate it into delicious dessert.

Cookies for Diwali

Every festival brings home the cascade of memories, flip, flip, flip, they run like a virtual movie strip, unfolding the dormant anecdotes, so very vivid and real, that it fastens to the psyche like a fresh Meta tag. 

Every festival I miss my mom.

During Diwali festival, mom would be super-active. Two weeks before the actual festival, there would be spring-cleaning. The house would vibrate with sweet fragrance of freshness.

“The house should be spick-and-span during Diwali,” mom would say, “Goddess Laxmi only walks into clean homes”

Diwali, a festival of joy and splendor, brightness and happiness, it would brighten up my home. Every detail would somehow fall into place, like splashes of colours of different shades, making it a picture perfect.

On Dhanteras day, mom would go to the gold market to buy some gold ornaments/coins from her savings. 

“This is the day of investment for the future. It is a good habit” mom would say, “Some percentage of our saving should be invested in gold. We never know when we might need it”

Mom had this habit of hoarding things, I was to discover many years later that it added its worth during the period my sisters were of marriageable age.

During Diwali, Mom would dedicate her entire morning to making sugary candies of different shapes and sizes. The whole kitchen would be transformed into mayhem of colours and sweet fragrances. I would make numerous trips to kitchen, each time offering my help to taste her food, slyly sweeping off the crumbs of the sticky sweet morsels off the plate and sliding under the bed to relish the sweetness in peace.

Cookies were my mom’s favorites. She would make dough and take it to the bakery, at the corner of the lane, to bake it. (We had no oven at home). The number was not less. It would run into 100’s and it was distributed evenly to all my aunts and their families.

Today all those memories come rushing back when I enter the kitchen to make the cookies.

I followed my mom’s recipe and am quite pleased with the results.

Nankatai

Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups refined flour

1 cup gram flour

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup ghee

1 tablespoon pistachio, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon almonds, thinly sliced

Method

1. Preheat an oven at 200 degrees.
2. Mix together refined flour, gram flour, sugar and ghee to make dough. Set aside for 1 hour
3. Make small round patties and press few sliced pistachios and almonds on the top.
4. Bake it for 20 minutes
5. Store it in air-tight containers

Quite A Treat At Icing On Top

Frankly speaking, I do like pastry, cakes, cookies, but cannot eat too much. Just one spoonful is enough, more than one is a cardinal sin. Therefore when Icing on the Top offered me some of their delicious goodies, I visited their site to see what they have on offer.

On their webpage, I did what anybody else would do….drool!

When their gourmet hamper arrived with miniature range of pops, shots and desserts, I needed somebody to share these goodies with me.. Why should I sin alone?  I selected the day, when I would have visitors at home. Their goodies arrived right on time, when I had guests from Curacao.

Happily I removed box by box of goodies to try from the gourmet hamper they sent.

G screamed when she saw Red Velvet cake. Creamy spongy, it just melted in the mouth and disappeared from the box in a blink.

“Hey! That’s good!” she exclaimed, “didn’t know they make such stuff in India.” She squealed in high decibels.

One by one, I opened the box, starting with handcrafted miniature cookies. There were Lemon, Cinnamon, Chocolate chips and Oaty Caramel Crunch.

One particular type that delighted G and was reminded of her granny was cinnamon cookie. “Nankatai, Nankatia”, she exclaimed with joy as she popped one by one into her mouth, “This is really good. She took a bunch of the cookies and put in her friend, P’s mouth too.

Now P was also getting interested. “What else do you have?” He asked So we tasted - those small tiny ball cookies.

They liked cinnamon cookies the most, Oaty Caramel Crunch tasted like breakfast oats, crunchy and sweet, perfect to go with the morning cup of coffee. However they didn’t like lemon cookies, it was too powdery.

Next was the cake pops that looked like big lollypops.  A creamy Orea in the center with sponge on the outside was good; one bite was enough to flood the mouth with chocolate.

There were three shot glass desserts: Chocolate, Hazelnuts and Blueberry.

“If you like sweet and sour, Blueberry is the best, but for me, I liked the nutty taste of Hazelnuts.” Said G as she tasted spoonful from each glass.

However the best of all was the Chocolate Mudpie, extremely delicious, spongy and soft. I saved it in the fridge and it was fresh even after four days.

I would sincerely recommend this to one who has a sweet tooth. 

They have special goodies for vegetarians that have exotic flavors – passion fruit with basil seed, raspberry with star anise, saffron with pistachio to name just the few.

It is perfect for weight conscious people too, because it satisfies the craving of sweet and because it is miniature, it limits your intake, thus ensures minimum calorie intake.

Established in 2009, Icing On Top is a culmination of one girl’s passion for baking. Trained in the pastry kitchen at JW Mariott as well as at Indigo Deli (Palladium) and Indigo (Colaba), Ayushi Shah (The Owner) quotes a love for food as the driving point behind her success. A strong vegetarian upbringing shines through in the completely eggless menu offered, is a rarity in itself.

Drool more on ‘Icing On Top’ or at their Facebook Page.