Home Chefs Of Mumbai – Part 6 Ananya Banerjee

Meetings are always about people and our association with them. People who say that they have got used to sitting at home and don’t really miss going out, don’t believe them. Even if we have grown roots beneath the sands during this lockdown, we are still anxiously waiting to uproot our stance once this pandemic ends. Everybody wants to go out for different reasons, some for music and dance, some for food, some for ambience of the restaurants, the service, the view and some for just sitting by the seaside, watching the waves roar while they munch on eight varieties of olives.

 

We also miss those street hawkers selling that ‘Cutting Chai’, those Batawadas sandwiched between Pav and spicy, fried green chilies, those kabab grills at roadside food trucks and the aroma of roasted meat down the Khao Galli. We also miss those regular potlucks and pop-ups where we met our friends. And we miss our friends who organised such meetings, specially those who love food like we do.

Ananya Banerjee is one such friend, the most glamorous home chef, she is also food stylist, cooking consultant and an expert food advisor. 

 

 

She is into many things but few things that she loves doing are curating menus for restaurants and exploring unexplored cuisines from all across the country and around the world. During this pandemic, she has been hosting Instalive talk show for FBAI,    where there is lots of knowledge sharing and food stories of chefs and home chefs around the globe. You can catch her live on Tuesdays and Fridays at 11am, or watch IGTV at leisure.

 

She specialises in Bengali Cuisine. As a Bengali born and brought up in West Bengal, she considers herself as an ambassador of the Bengali cuisine and the many unexplored cuisines from the Eastern part of India. She has created many recipe videos of the east India cuisines for her Youtube channel Chef Ananya Banerjee so you can always check and try it out at home.

 

 She grew up surrounded by food which she thinks its part of being born in a Bengali household. She still clearly remember her mother and grandmother cooking traditional Bengali food at their ancestral home using heirloom crockeries.

 

“I am pretty sure that the first taste of good food I had was at home and made by my grandmother however I think I was too small to remember exactly when. Traditional food has always played an important role in my life and it still continues to define who I am.  I think as a passionate chef I have many memorable moments whenever I step in the kitchen to cook something because I love exploring with food all the time.” She admits when asked about her food memories. 

 

She is happy to share her favourite, flavoursome vegetarian Bhapa Alu

 

 

1.     Par boil 250 gms baby potatoes and skin them

2.     Heat oil in a pan, add the ½ tsp Panch Phoron powder(blended 5spice powder).

3.     Add 2 dry Red chilies and stir the till they splutter

4.     Add boiled baby Potatoes and mix well. Keep aside.

5.     Take ½ tsp Mustard paste, 1 tbsp Curd, 1tbsp grated Coconut, finely chopped Green Chillies and ½ tsp Turmeric powder in a bowl,

6.     Mix it well.

7.     Gently mix the potatoes in the prepared paste.

8.     Add the salt to taste and lime juice, mix well.

9.     Heat the banana leaves to make it pliable. Add the potato mixture in the middle close from all sides, secure it with a wooden toothpick.

10.  Place it in a steamer and steam for 6-7 minutes or Microwave it for 3-4 minute

 

 

She has many favourite recipes/dishes. Both local and global. She has even started doing a special menu service on one of the week days every month where she makes selected authentic dishes in her kitchen and delivers it with utmost care and precautionary measures. This month (September 2020) is all about ‘Local and Global’ dishes.

 

To order popular Bengali and global dishes cooked in the most authentic way in her well sanitised kitchen, you can choose your pick from the menus she shares on her social channel, call the number and pre-book it and it will delivered to your doorstep safely following all the precautionary guidelines.

 

You can follow her on her Instahandle at thesareechef

Restaurant Review –Bohemian Brew, Bistro and Tea Room

Bohemian Brew, (where all kinds of tea are brewed) is a perfect hangout for people who love food, continental or global cuisine, that pairs perfectly with tea. It is modern age bistro and tea room that serves global selection of handpicked, single origin exotic tea.

First thing that attracts you to this newly launched restaurant at Khar is the ambience.

The restaurant is divided into four sections. The outdoor place behind the long bamboo partition has perfect seating for Sheesha and snacks and that leads to a smaller party room where a smaller group can be accommodated enjoying the Sheesha experience.

The indoors have artistic dining tables, beautiful lampshades, with state of art and curios decorating the walls. Two  steps up is the open kitchen and ten steps down leads to a cozy room with low furniture, bean bags, board games and book shelf. (a room where kids can play/read while the family enjoys the dinner upstairs). There are many plug points near the low furniture where one can chill out alone too, with food, tea, laptop and spend many hours without disturbance.

The drama started in the tea kettle as soon as we were seated. Jasmine tea arrived with a beautiful display of scented flowers, a bulb consisting of a bundle of dried tea leaves and flowers, that began to expand and unfurl in process leaving a sweetly floral infusion.

With mood set to enjoy the dinner, the first course of salads arrived.

Sweet and spicy watermelon slice topped with creamy mascarpone and feta cheese. There was a delightful thai flavors of vodka and watermelon juice infused with fennel and crunchy pine nuts

A special tea leaf salad that had Burmese fermented tea leaves salad with fried garlic peanuts, roasted chana dhal, sesame seeds, cherry tomatoes and lettuce.

This was followed by appetisers, one veg and other non-veg.

Spicy cheesy Kaboos had sautéed vegetables with cheese stuffed between two flatbreads and lightly grilled and this was served with a spicy Peri Peri sauce and rocket leaves. The peri peri sauce was excellent.

I ordered Chermoula Prawns- marination of coriander, parsley green chillies, garlic, and lemon and cooked to the perfection. This was served along with homemade sauce which was garlic hinted and side salad.

While we enjoyed the meals, my eyes roved all around the room. The interiors are tastefully done with every detail in its place. Every table is painted with intricately designed doodles. The tables separated by wooden designer mesh partition giving the privacy of dining experience to every diner. Beautiful decorative lamp shades all over the walls and ceiling, gives you the feeling as if you have entered an arabic zone.

It was nice talking to Rahul Desai, Nevil Kotak and Nitesh Raheja, the three partners, who are the co-owners of this beautiful restaurant. Being experienced chefs, their talent reflects into the food. Rahul Desai offered me a second cup of tea. He brought few bottles of tea leaves to choose from. I took in the deep breath to inhale their fragrance. I settled for deep red Hibiscus tea, although I had loved the vanilla flavored tea too, but then I cannot have all.

There is great variety of tea to choose from that range from normal black and green tea of different flavors, to Oolong tea like fugian, milk, gingseng or white like darjeeling, silver needle, assam hand-rolled or infusion like chamorine, peppermint, hibiscus, vanilla. There are other variety like rose, milk, blueberry. They also have traditional Indian teas like adrak-pudina chai, masala chai, cardomom chai. Adrak-pudina-lemon grass chai.

So we continue with the main course. Didn’t want to have Pizza or Rissotto, or sandwiches or burgers, wanted to order something light. I ordered grilled chicken with three peppercorn velonte served on the bed of mash potatoes and mixed grilled vegetables. I loved it

My friend ordered Cottage cheese, steak served with a side ratatatouille provencale and garnished with basil pasto and pine nuts. She didn’t like it much, she felt it was too cheesy and too heavy for her taste.

However, it was a good experience of dining at this restaurant. We promised to visit again with friends and sit for longer hours to enjoy more variety of dishes. The restaurant is fairly priced with about Rs700 per head, which is good enough if the management allows you to sit as long as you wish while sipping tea over board games and inhaling different flavored hookah like a chimney. Choice is yours......

I was there on an invite this time, but I would love to visit again

Address;

Shop 1, Mahesh Apartment, TPS III Road 5, Off SV Road, Khar, Mumbai

Cooking Afternoon With 50Young.

50young is the group of people above the age of 50 years. Initiated by Anita Gurnani, Anand Gurnani and Kamal Raheja, the group has grown within one year to more than thousand members, all from different sect of society, all with common goal- to enjoy the life to its fullest as they pass through rocky path of seniority. Many of its members are talented lot, who meet regularly and inspire each other with their success stories. Their focus topics include beauty, fashion, art, culture, money, finance, health, wellness, technology, travel, etc, Workshops and forum are held regularly, you may see them in groups, enjoying a walk down the sea shore, savouring street food by the beach, or encouraging each other in some or the other workshop.

The most popular workshop that they enjoy the most is indoor creative activities like dancing,cooking, gift wrapping, decoupage, pottery, etc. Last week I had the privilege to attend their cooking workshop ‘Dessert in the Jar’ by  Rashmi Ahuja and ‘low Calorie Buggers’ by Sheela Sagar.

Sheela Sagar and Rashmi Ahuja are sisters who have passion for cooking. Sheela Sagar is the costume designer by proffession having won the ITA awards 2008 for best costume for ‘Jai Shri Krishna’ and ITA awards 2007 for best costume for ‘Dharti Ka Veer Yodha Pritviraj Chauvan’. “I wanted to teach cooking when I was young but life took over and my interest was kept on back burner” says Sheela.

Now at the most relaxed age of 50 plus, Sheela and her sister Rashmi have joined hands in pursuing their culinary passion and have started their cooking workshops for 50 young group. Mrs Anita Gurnani is the most gracious hostess, who allows the use of her private home in Bandra to full-house, jam-packed cooking workshops.

Rashmi Ahuja demonstrated the preparation of Eggless Tiramasu in a jar. Eggless blueberry mousse in a jar and Eggless Pineapple cheese cake in a jar

Sharing the recipe of the dessert with kind permission from Rashmi Ahuja

Eggless Pineapple Cheese Cake In a Jar

Ingredients

8-10 digestive biscuits (powdered)

2tsp melted butter

50 grms hung yogurd

50gms condensed milk

50gms cream cheese

50gms whipped cream

few drops of lemon yellow color

few drops of pinapple essence

1cup chopped pinapples (tin)

1packet pinapple jelly

Mint leaves for decorations

Method

Set jelly as instructed

Crush biscuits. Add melted butter, put this mixture at the base of the jar. Press lightly and keep in fridge for 5 minutes

In a bowl, blend together yogurd, condensed milk and cream cheese to a smooth texture. Fold in whipped cream. Keep in fridge for 10 minutes. Remove and put this cream mixture in the piping bag

Assembel the dessert in the jar. On the top of the biscuit mixture, put layer of pinapple pieces. Pipe out the cream mixture. Decorate with jelly and mint leaves.

Sheela Sagar demonstrated the preparation of ‘low calorie Veggie burger’ and ‘Cole Slaw Salad’.

Sharing the recipe of Salad with kind permission from Sheela Sagar.

Cole Slaw Salad

Ingredients

2tbsp hung curd

2tbsp eggles diet mayonaise

1cup grated carrot

1cup shredded cabbage

4-5 finely chopped salad leaves

½ tsp black pepper

pinch of salt

Method

Mix all the above ingredients.

The workshop was a great success. Besides learning a new skill, there is interaction between members over tea and the food.

And then the tasting of the food. For just Rs200, it was quite a feast!!

A perfect afternoon full of smiles…..