Home Chefs Of Mumbai – Part 5 Lipaa Ritesh Shah

Memories!! 

You may think that you have a good memory, but actually you remember only what is important to you. Unimportant memories fade away with time, superimposed by new experiences that we collect each day.

 But there are certain memories that never fade away, especially food memories. You will always remember that first tingling sensation felt while tasting something sensational. That really spicy dish that had raised the body temperature,  cheeks flush,  lips plump. Or that certain brand of Chocolate from a menu d’amour. But can food really have an aphrodisiac effect on us?

 

Whatever the reason, food that matter, memory clings for a life time.

 

 Home Chef Lipaa Ritesh Shah  (of Food Fiesta fame) remembers the rich flavours of a sweet dish that was prepared by her Grandmom. She was just 12 years old but fondly remembers her grandmom’s traditional Sindhi winter delicacy Khoya made of dates, dry fruits and coriander seeds.

 

She vividly remembers her lunch on a boathouse at Dal lake in Srinagar five years ago..  “I had two lovely Kashmiri dishes. One was baigan(eggplant) in kattha tomato and tamarind gravy and another was Lotus stem in mint curd gravy. Both so different but simply delicious. The Lotus stem was so so crisp and white as snow” she reminisces.

 

Lipaa specialise in Sauces, Pickles, Sindhi cuisine and Kutchhi cuisine.

 

Lipaa started cooking at the age of 12 inspired by her Sindhi Mom and grandmom, and by age18, she was cooking food for kitty parties. Early marriage landed her in a Katchhi home with Mom-in-law equally talented, who taught her Katchhi cuisine as well. Once the children were grown up, she started to write cook book for her daughter, it got published and sold 700 copies in first year itself. In the same year, (in 2015), she got her first smart phone. That opened Pandora box for her.

 

In 2016, she made Choonda (Sweet Mango pickle) for the first time, making 4 times the required quantity. She gifted the excess to her family and friends. They loved it and placed order for more. Out of excitement, she mentioned it on Social media. And Boom!! She was flooded with orders. She got connected to a lot of people from the food industry.

 

She is happy to share her recipe for Schezwan Sticks

 

 

1.     Mix 1 cup of finely chopped Carrots, Cabbage, Spring Onions, Capsicum

2.     Add 1tsp Ginger Garlic paste, 1 tsp Soya Sauce, 3/4 tsp Agnomoto(optional)

3.     Add 4tbsp Corn flour, ¼ cup bread crumbs, pinch of red food colour

4.     Add Schezwan Sauce (Food Fiesta product for best results) .

5.     The mixture should form a soft dough. If required add 1-2 tbsp of corn flour.

6.     Divide into 20 equal portions.

7.     Roll each portion into small finger size sticks.

8.     Deep fry till golden brown.

9.     Serve with chilly sauce and garnish using spring onion greens

Lipaa Shah was awarded Home Chef and Baker's award 2020 for the contribution to India's Home chef & Baking Industry in the category of 2-5years

 

 

Over the years, Food Fiesta has grown and evolved. Now she sells about 75 different products.  Recently, due to the pandemic, she has also ventured into weekly menus.

 

You can follow her on her FaceBook page Food Fiesta

 

Orders can be placed on her Watsapp number 9324195125.

 

Follow her on Instagram handle foodfiestabylipaa

Home Chefs Of Mumbai – Part 4 Kanchan Ahuja

If you really want to make friends, go to their house when they invite you and eat with them. People who will share their food with you, will also give you their heart. Food is the safest conversation one can have, it is easy to relate, its creates good vibrations and you make no enemies there. If you enjoyed the food and conversation, then you may viist them again, otherwise the next meeting might be at Bistro café, but friendship will remain the same.

 Because, food is not about kitchen efficiency, its not even about what you learnt from cook books. Food is about home chefs, about pride, and about passion

 

 

If you have met Kanchan Ahuja, you might have felt the warmth that envelops her, and the glow when she talks about food, her travel stories, her experiences about tasting of foods around the world and her efforts in bringing back the food stories alive in her cooking skills. She keeps herself busy with her cooking demos on breads, desserts, cakes and also takes orders for the same.

 

She talks passionately about her visit to Seattle when she visited her friend, Manpreet;  “I really loved that toasted and buttered sourdough bread with a spat of pine nut butter topped with grilled peaches in rosemary and finished with a sprinkling of the most luscious goats cheese and honey. The taste still lingers in my mouth. “

 

Her passion for food reflects on her son Sannat Ahuja, who has taken the food on to yet another level.

 

Sannat is extremely passionate about getting Sindhi Cuisine on the Indian food platform and as the demand increased, they started Sindhful that reads –From Sindh and around-with food that also included North Indian and neighbouring Chinese. This was followed by JUSS by Sindhful,  a cosy sit-in vegetarian restaurant specialising in first ever Sindhi Thali and other Sindhi delicacies. The interest in SindhiCuisine grew and that led to Sadak Chaap, specialising  in soya based vegetarian and vegan tikka, called mock meat, ( that seems and tastes like chicken but is pure vegetarian.)

 

Sannat has catered to many celebrity weddings like Ranveer Deepika's lake Como Sindhi wedding pheras, Ambani's at Jio garden, Krishna Kapoor's 13th day meal, etc.

 

Kanchan shares her authentic Sindhi Cuisine called Bhee Aloo ji Sabji (Lotus Stems With Potatoes)

 

 

1.     Clean and peel 250 gms Lotus stems (bhee), nicely removing all the mud that covers it externally and inside the grooves.

2.     Slice it into 1 inch pieces

3.     Pressure cook Bhee (lotus stems) for 2 whistles. Remove and keep it aside.

4.     In a Pressure cooker heat 2tbsp oil, add 1tbsp Cumin seeds , 2 Green Chillies, ¼ tsp Asafoetida (Hing,) 4/5 Curry leaves and 2 tomatoes and cook till soft

5.     Add 2 peeled and chopped Potatoes

6.     Add chopped small bunch of Chukka (Green Sorrel leaves)

7.     Add boiled Lotus stems (from point3)

8.     Stir fry, adding  2tsp Coriander powder, 1tsp Red chilli powder, ½ tsp Turmeric, 1 inch (finely chopped) Ginger. Salt to taste.

9.     Cook till oil leaves the sides of the cooker

10.  Add 2 chopped Brinjal,

11.  Add a glass of water.

12.  Check seasoning and pressure cook for 2 whistles

13.  Serve hot with phulkas

 

People have begun to relish Sindhi Cuisine because it is rich in taste and flavours, and is infused with aromatic spices.

 

You can view few of her video recipes on her Instagram posts at kanchandahuja

 

You can order for cakes, desserts and bread at Kanchan’s Watsapp no 98700 26261

 

To order from Juss or Sindhful or Sadak Chaap Call 98209 49394