Home Chefs Of Mumbai – Part 18 – Manaswee Sahoo

Vegetarians go through lot of torture when they go travelling abroad, unless they are carrying their own tiffin of home-cooked food, or vegetarian soup packets that can be boiled in an electric kettle in the hotel room. Although much has changed over the years and you do find exotic salads or stir fries, but the safest vegetarian meal you may get is french fries or a block of cheese.  You learn to explain your dilemma in multiple languages, stressing the fact that you need food that contains no fish, no egg, no bacon, no meat, no chicken, just vegetables cooked in pure seed/vegetable oils. You explain that vegetables colonise your taste buds and are careful not to attract attention of meat eaters.

Luckily, if you are travelling in India, you have no such complications, there is vast variety of vegetarian cuisine available all over India, even in the remote places. Lentils, vegetables, milk products, innovation is plenty and cooking methods differ from region to region, the masalas, the sauces, the stew, you don’t have to question the chef. Only in India, you can safely enjoy pure veg diet.

Manaswee Sahoo makes some interesting vegetarian bakes, such that you will not miss non-veg at all

Manaswee Sahoo loves baking tea cakes and brownies along with breads. 

Her most loved baked dish would be New York style Baked Cheesecake with Mixed Berry Compote. She prefers her bakes to be moderately sweet. She is also planning to develop a Healthy treats menu which would use alternate flours, no refined sugar etc. All her baked treats do not contain any preservatives or artificial ingredients. She  feels it’s important to use best quality ingredients to ensure the end product is of good quality. 

Until 2019, she was working as a Management Consultant in Financial services sector. She always found baking as a way to reduce her stress, even though throughout her childhood she has been a foodie and was always fond of experimenting with new cuisine. She was never a person to help her mother in the kitchen. She learnt to cook only after she had to live in a shared apartment during her MBA days since she didn’t have a cook at home. After starting her corporate career, she used to bake for her family, friends and colleagues on any of the festive occasion following recipes from baking books and food blogs. Post her wedding, she moved to Mumbai and ever since she has been experimenting more in the kitchen cooking and baking. 

She started her blog “Meraki Delights” in July 2018 to share her kitchen experiences with the world. In 2019, she got an opportunity to turn her dream into reality by enrolling into Diploma in Baking and Pastry and life has taken a complete turn post completion of the course. She got a chance to work with her Mentors at SEP until the pandemic set it’s foot in the country. 

She has recently started taking orders from her home bakery “Meraki Delights Patisserie”. 

She has good knowledge about different cuisines from having travelled widely.

“My father was a banker and had a transferable job. As I result I had the opportunity of exploring food of different states. During our stay at different places  we interacted with people of different cultural backgrounds and got to share their traditional food items. This is how I got to eat food from Garhwali cuisine, Bengali Cuisine, Rajasthani cuisine apart from Odia food (I belong Odisha). I really feel my food style is immensely inspired by my exposure to different cuisines found in India. Maybe, for this reason everyone in my family and friends prefer me ordering food for everyone when we are dining out.”

She still craves for Ghevar, that her father used to get specially for her.

“Even though now I am a pastry chef, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I eat sweets very rarely and selectively. I have stayed on northern part of India most of my childhood. I clearly remember during the Shravan month, my father used to buy  Ghevar only for me as it’s availability is restricted to that month only during our stay in Rishikesh, Dehradun and New Delhi. Even though ghevar is plentily available in Rajasthan, but other states it’s not found easily. It’s the only thing which I haven’t eaten in the past 3 years ever since I moved to Mumbai after my wedding.”

She is happy to share her recipe of Quick Mushroom Broccoli Filo Pie

1. Thaw the frozen 12 Spring roll Sheets for at least 20-30minutes. 

2. Once they are at room temperature, separate the sheets from one another and keep them covered with a damp kitchen towel. 

3. In a pan, add 2 tbsp butter and let it heat. 

4. Ensure that the butter doesn’t burn.  

5. Add 1tbsp minced garlic and sauté till the raw smell goes away. 

6. Add 200gms finely chopped Mushroom and 200gms Broccoli and sauté in high heat. 

7. Season it with Salt and 1tsp Black Pepper.  

8. Once the veggies are cooked, add the f1tsp all purpose flour and sauté well. 

9. Add 2tbsp milk and stir continuously to form smooth sauce without any lumps. 

10. Add the 1tsp mixed herbs, 1tsp tandoori mayonnaise (optional) and 2tbps of processed cheese. 

11. Mix until the cheese melts. 

12. Take off the heat and let the mushroom and broccoli filling cool down to room temperature. 

13. While the filling is cooling, pre heat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius.  

14. Cut the Springroll sheet into 4 squares equally. 

15. Grease the muffin tray or moulds lightly with oil or melted butter.  

16. For the pie, arrange the cut Spring roll Sheets one on the top of other diagonally  up till 4 layers by brushing the top side with little oil. 

17. This implies each pie will have 4 layers of small Spring roll sheets placed diagonally. 

18. Add this layered Spring roll Sheets in each of the muffin mould. 

19. Add 1 tbsp of mushroom and broccoli filling and top it with some grated cheese. 

20. Bake the Creamy Mushroom & Broccoli Filo Pie at 180 degrees Celsius for 12-15 mins until it crisps and the cheese melts. 

21. Once baked, serve it with your favourite dips or sauce. 

22. You may eat it alone as well.

She is  currently doing her research and recipe trials for diet foods

Contact her on Instagram, 

Or on her watsapp  9540362224.  

She also has a virtual storefront on ChefBuddy app which is clickable link wherein anyone can order themselves online. 

Home Chefs Of Mumbai- Part 17- Rashmi Ahuja

Back in 70s and before that, most of the people hardly ever went out to a restaurant unless there was an occasion to celebrate. They enjoyed home-cooked food and were happy eating traditional food cooked by their elders at home. They did enjoy food at their friend’s house, (who belonged to another community), but they hardly ever played with ingredients in their own kitchen. Food lovers would pluck out a recipe from magazines and try out a leaf or two, but it was not a regular thing to do. Recipes were passed down within the family members, many of them remained undocumented and were considered as signature cuisine of that community. They never used any measurements, everything was ‘andaaz sey’, pinch of this and a fist of that. They did not taste the food while cooking (because it was first offered to Gods) but could understand the taste by its fragrance. A stew with no salt had different aroma, with less spices, meant it was bland. It was all about experience, they knew the taste of every ingredient and understood the resulting taste. Vegetarian people could cook the tastiest non-vegetarian food because of their experiences of knowing the techniques of cooking.

It was unimaginable for anyone to eat raw beef or raw fish. And then, there came the sophistication at the top end of the food market. Things like Sushi, Rissotto, Cappucino tingled the taste buds. Travelling became easier, people got exposed to strange foods. They shopped for rare ingredients and brought back home. Interest grew, cook-books flooded the market and traditional cooking took a back seat. The new version of food was available, most of them junk version of the real food. 

Indians became adventurous.

But there are still some families,  who have clung to their own traditional cuisine and are discovering the value of home-cooked food, and have realised that our family ate  food that was not only nutritious but also had a scientific reasons for healthy living.

There are some families where three generation of joint family still live in harmony, and all enjoy the food cooked by elders specially like at Rashmi Ahuja’s home.

Rashmi Ahuja was always a home-maker till she entered food reality show at ‘Sanjeev Kapoor ke Kitchen Khiladi’ on Sony TV and was announced as ‘Chef Rashmi Ahuja’ and then she got second chance in life as a participant of ‘India’s Digital Chef’ where she was the finalist. That was the day, at the age of 58 years, she got  her wings to fly. Rashmi believes that cooking is about creating something delicious for someone else. She nourishes the dream of writing a book some day.

Rashmi Ahuja specialises in Vegetarian Sindhi Cuisine and also in Indo-Chinese cuisine. She works only on pre-orders and the rates are fixed according to the availability of the ingredients. A set menu is fixed for Sundays that includes snacks, main course and dessert. Her service spans across western suburbs from Lokhanwalla (Andheri West) to Bandra.

She fondly remembers the taste of Aloo Paratha she had many years ago on her way to Vashnudevi Mata Temple.

“I don't know whether it was the cold season or was it the  taste of that particular Dhaba- that the crispness of Paratha still lingers -and mind you, it was not on a Tava, the half done paratha are roasted in kadai with Amul Butter then flipped on both side till light brown and is served hot with curds, little sugar is added in, it is accompanied by Papad and Achar. That taste I can never bring  it at my home and I still crave for it. “

She also talks about her MIL (now no more) who would prepare ‘Malai Ki Sabji’

“We all used to collect Malai (the cream) from the surface of the milk and make ghee (which we do it no more, because we now use Tetra milk packets). Some times my MIL would make  Malai Ki Sabji instead of preparing ghee. She would take one spoonful of oil.  In a thick bottom pan, sauté 2 or 3 chopped onion for few minutes, add chopped green chilies, chopped ginger, two chopped tomato, salt, turmeric powder, coriander powder, red Chilli powder and lots of coriander leaves. She would then add one big bowl of Malai, keep the kadai on tava, cover it for 5 mins and the delicious ‘Malai Ki Sabji’ was ready to eat with hot hot Sindhi Phulkas.”

She is happy to share her signature dishes Smokey Veg Galouti Kababs

1. In a heavy bottom pan, add 1tbsp of oil or butter. 

2. Add 1tsp Shahi Jeera and 1tbsp ginger, crushed green chilies. 

3. Add 50gms French beans, 50gms carrots, 50gms peas, 50gms capsicum, 50gms cabbage, 50gms Cauliflower. 

4. Add salt, 1tsp red chillies, 1tsp Garam masala, 1/2tsp jeera powder. 

5. Mix well. 

6. Cook till vegetables are tender. 

7. Add 100gms boiled and mashed potatoes. 

8. Add 4/5 tbsp roasted besan,  2tbsp crushed Kasuri Methi and 1tbsp Coriander leaves. 

9. Remove it in a big bowl. 

10. Make a well in the center. 

11. Keep a smaller bowl in the center.  

12. Put hot charcoal and pour oil. 

13. Cover the bigger bowl, so that smoke is trapped inside. 

14. Keep it for 10 minutes. 

15. Remove the smaller bowl of charcoal. 

16. Mix it well. 

17. Shape into round Tikkis. Shallow fry.

Rashmi Ahuja hopes to train youth who can succeed to follow cooking as a career.

You can follow her You Tube channel at RashmiAhuja

Follow her on Facebook

Follow her Instagram handle at rashmikitchenkhazana.rkk

She cooks on request (pre-order only)

Home Chefs Of Mumbai – Part16 – Kalpana Talpade

Kitchen Garden thrives under care of the people who have green thumb. The plants dance on their palms and can even sing for them on gloomy days. How easy it is for them to just borrow few Basil leaves off the stems and use it in their Pesto sauce or as a topping on a baked dish. Its nice to see their garden bloom with Cherry Tomatoes, Micro greens, Chillie Pepper grow side by side with Lemon grass, Mint, Bay leaves . When she throws off few of Coriander/Fenugreek seeds, soon will see those nutritious leaves, a carrot or spring onions or even a Radish, such joy it is to see fresh veggies cooked and served during  daily meals.  

Talented home chef  will just pluck off the Maghai leaves, crush with Rose petals and Fennel seeds  and prepare Paan Shots and serve for easy digestion after dinner, she is the one who can fold the Colocasia leaves to prepare Aloo wadi, or wrap it around Bombay Duck to prepare Bombil Pathwad. Or wrap it around Prawns and call it Kolambi Pathwad. 

Miracles happen everyday.! A new joy each day! 

Such is the luxury of delicious meal, warmth and love at the pop-up with Home Chef Kalpana Talpade. 

Kalpana Talpade cooks, shoots, edits and uploads her food video regularly and has popularised her cuisine through her U-tube channel called Kalpana’s Kitchen, which was initially started by uploading authentic community food for her daughter who craved for home-cooked food when she went for higher studies to Netherlands. Four years ago, when she participated in Master’s Chef as a contestant, people recognised her from her u-tube videos.

Kalpana Talpade specialises in Pathare Prabhu’s cuisine. She belongs to a small Maharashtrian community called Pathare Prabhus, who were among the initial settlers of Mumbai. Their cuisine is different from others in the state.  The main ingredient in their food is the secret Sambar Masala that is shared within the family. There are no restaurants in Mumbai that serves this cuisine, therefore you have to be invited to her house to experience that. However, she did train two chefs some time ago, so that restaurant could have it on their menu for two weeks.

She regularly hosts Pop-up at her home with a capacity for 12 persons. 

The menu that you are likely to enjoy is mind blowing. It is Authentic Pathare Prabhu cuisine and you are likely to get transported to another world  (as far as 13th Century) where earlier settlers enjoyed their meal.

 

It begins with a Sanskrit prayer loosely translated as "May this food be a blessing for all of us "  you are served Welcome drink Kokum Sherbat: This drink is prepared from fresh Kokum fruit.  

This is followed by Starters  of Cauliflower che Bhanavle. Baked dish with shrimps or prawns, An authentic dish which is shared by Lufthansa Airlines in their Indian Cookbook on flight. 

And you settle down to enjoy the meal, the food appears on your table one by one with Main dishes : 

1. Chimbori che Khadkhadle Crabs cooked in spicy garlic gravy. 

2. Rawas / Bangda / Pomfret Fry Subject to availability of fish. The fish is fried with minimum spices.

 3. Tomato chi Sheer with fresh prawns. This is a tomatoes & coconut based dish, yummy and light. Chef’s favourite! 

4. Bombil/Prawns Methkut Fresh bombil/prawns cooked in pickle masala. An all time favourite with the previous guests. 

5. Bhujane (Ghol fish) An authentic everyday fish curry prepared in every pathare prabhu household. 

6. Smoked Javla Kismur A typical Maharashtrian recipe of dried shrimps. 

7. Phulkas 

8. Varan, bhaat and Toop. Tur Dal, Ambe Mor Rice and homemade ghee. 

9. Koshimbir - Khoman Kakdi Fresh salad prepared with crushed peanuts. 

10. Spicy Green Chutney 

11. Chunda prepared with jaggery.  

Still hungry? there is more. Yes Desserts  to follow 

12. Pathare Prabhu Sweet dish 

13. Kharwas : Milk Pudding . And finally

14. Paan Shots Home grown Maghai paan crushed with rose petals, fennel seeds, cloves, etc. to help you digest your meal.

You can chat while you eat and learn about the history of early settlers of 13th century. They seem to have travelled from one location to another, trying to protect their tradition and rituals. They moved from Rajasthan, going to Gujarat, then Maharashtra and finally settled in Mumbai.

Kalpana Talpade shares the food memory that she clearly remembers the time she visited Jejuri, a holy place near Pune.

“I am a city girl and had not visited any villages before marriage.  Soon after we got married, we had to go to Jejuri, a holy place near Pune.  My experience of sitting on the floor to have lunch was fun.  And to add to it, they served puran poli, which I had never tasted anywhere else before.  They were perfect!  The chutneys served were also tasty.  I did get the recipes from them later on.” She said

She is happy to share her recipe of Kelyachi Poli.

This is the sweet dish prepared during Shravani Somvar. It is sweet rotis made with banana stuffing, hence known as Kelyachi Poli.  

1. Pressure cook 3ripe Rajeli bananas. 

2. Mash the cooked bananas. 

3. In a pan, take 3tbsp Ghee, 2cups Sugar and mashed Bananas. 

4. Keep them on fire and keep stirring the mix. 

5. When the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan, put off the fire. 

6. It takes 20 to 25 minutes to get the brown colored Halwa. 

7. Do not cook the mixture for too long or else it will be difficult to roll. 

8. Make dough with water and 3cups of Maida. 

9. Divide it into 12 portions. 

10. Form a cup of the dough (like we make of Modaks). 

11. Place the banana Halwa into it.  

12. Seal it. 

13. Roll it lightly to 6 inch diameter, using flour to powder it. 

14. Pick the Poli with rolling pin and place it gently on hot plate to roast. 

15. Apply ghee on both sides and roast Keylachi Poli.

The good news is that Kalpana Talpade's book "Kalpana's Kitchen is soon to be launched, in which she has tried to cover 99% of her Pathare Prabhu recipes, some of them more than 100 years old, that was passed down to her by her mom and her grand mom. This book will be linked by QR code, so people can go on you tube and watch the recipes for more clarity. She has been sharing her recipes since 2011. watch out for her edition!  

Like I said before, there is no restaurant in Mumbai that serves Pathare Prabhu Cuisine, but to enjoy the meal, you have to be invited to her house.

However, you can watch her recipes on her You tube Channel. 

Hop on to - Kalpana’s Kitchen

You can contact her by sending her a private message on her instagram.

Follow her Instagram handle at Kalpanatalpade

Home Chefs Of Mumbai – Part 15- Binal Valand

In good old days, whenever the food was served, the first thing we did was to join our hands in gratitude to ‘Annadhata’ the Goddess of food and thank in our prayers for giving us our daily meals.

Today, what do we do?? We immediately scramble for our cameras.

Whether the food is delicious or bland, it is important that it should be clickable. If it is curry, we capture the right shade of reddish maroon ingredients swimming with glow of oil clinging the sides. If it is salad, then it is the artistically arranged, a balanced combination of colours carefully aligned, if it is a dessert, then we are excited by some drama of molecular gastronomy on the narrow neck of the glass, the props are rightly placed, we search for proper lighting, sometimes, might even want to take it to the balcony to drop a natural look, like a gift from the skies.

Hungry family members don’t understand this passion of a food photographers, they just want you to eat as soon as it is served. Granny is amused to see you bend down to click that rustic vessel (which seems quite ordinary to her) and that dhal and bhakri roti (what is so unusual about it?) She laughs at your foolishness and nags you to hurry up because the food is getting cold. And when you finally settle down to eat, you patiently explain to her about the latest trends of sharing the photographs on social media, and about how the lost traditional recipes are making a come back. She feels happy when you start to curse hamburgers and pizzas, french fries and sausages, and start appreciating her food that is cooked with love and care. You, then continue to follow your own passion because good food photographs really capture the banquet in their most artistic way.

If you have seen the photography-inclined, Home Chef Binal Valand, you are likely to drool.

Binal Valand is an artistic person and there is elegancy in everything that she does. She started off her career as a flight attendant on Lufthansa airways, got interested in food photography and food styling, liked the food that was behind her lens, fell in love with exotic spread, then learnt to bake the sourdough bread/desserts and finally, now a home chef, Wow!   

While growing up, she had never stepped into her home kitchen although her mom is an excellent Indian cook who cooks everything ‘Aandas sey’ the indian way of cooking. Her love affair with food started when, as a flight attendant, she started travelling internationally, she discovered new cultures, collected lot of food stories from the strangers she met on her flights, specially when she had lay-over for some days in strange places, she would go exploring the city on her own. 

She specially remembers the moment , when she was held back at the Paris airport (there is sometimes long wait for attendant to get discounted seats and have to wait at the airport) 

“The sad part is that we are always on wait-list, so I had to change two airports to get the flight that leaves,, I was almost in tears when I finally got a flight. But while I was waiting at the airport, I came across this beautiful ‘Laduree Champs Elysees’, very unique this shop that represents the ‘French Art de Vivre’. Till then. I had only heard of Macarons, never tasted one, This beautiful shop was kind of beckoning me, It was a french luxury bakery. I ordered a ‘Pistachio Macaron’ and a ‘Caramel Macaron’. I clearly remember, it was something I fell in love at the first bite. It was an exclusive experience, that I can say, that was the day I fell in love with French Cuisine.”

As a Home Chef, she specialises in cakes and French desserts that are rich in flavour, have rustic look and are not laden with too much cream and butter. She has got interested in Sourdough Bread. She understands the science and technique behind it, and the sheer joy of seeing it rise in the oven. During this lock-down she has perfected the skill of baking Sourdough bread so much so, that now she is confident of her product and is proud to add it to her menu.

It doesn’t end just there. (remember, she is multi-talented) She has been conducting online workshops on photography and food styling, and has clients from across the seas, as far as Europe and Middle East.  She keeps them engrossed with her tips and tricks of food photography and her experiences on food styling. As a food stylist, she pays special attention to the minute details of the products shown in the ad-videos.

She is happy to share her recipe of Butter Milk Biscuits

1. Cut 140 gms of butter into small cubes, and stick in the freezer till it rock hard. 

2. Chill 1/2 cup butter milk. 

3. Mix 2 cups all purpose flour, 1tsp baking powder, 1tsp castor sugar, 1/4tsp baking soad and 1/2tsp salt. 

4. In a food processor, add the all dry ingredients and chopped cold butter. (step 1+step 3). 

5. Pulse it a few times, till the mixture resembles bread crumbs and the butter is chopped in pea-size. 

6. Add the chilled buttermilk,(of step2) don’t add all at once, reserve a little and add only if needed. 

7. Your mixture will now look a little wet and a lot dry, flour still in dry form. 

8. Bring the mixture on a floured surface, and gently comb till it all comes together, 

9. DO NOT KNEAD  the dough. 

10. Get help from a bench scraper if need be to form a square from the dough. 

11. Touch it as less as possible. 

12. Cut the dough in half, that leaves you two equal parts. 

13. Mount one part on another and roll in a square again, very lightly. 

14. Cut the dough in one inch squares and Lay on a baking tray lined with baking paper. 

15. Stick the tray in the freezer and wait for 20 minutes 

16. Now this is where you can pre-heat your oven to 200 C or 400 F. 

17. Brush the tops with mixture of 1tsp Butter and 2tsp whole milk. 

18. Bake the square for 20-25 mins, or till you see a light golden top.

Binal Valand was awarded Home Chef and Baker's award 2020 for the contribution to India's Home chef & Baking Industry in the category of 1-2 years

Follow her Instagram handle at binal_valand

Watch her Food Styling Videos at

  Light Bulb Motion Pictures.

Home Chefs Of Mumbai – Part14- Shilpa Seth Bhambri

Our parents and grandparent hardly ever went on diet, they ate everything, Ghee, Mithai, Malai, Samosas, Bhajiyas, Briyanis, Badam Puris, Kulfis. Kheer and celebrated every festival with a rich variety of food. No fuss, no guilt nor shame in choice of food, no restrictive food rules. And yet they were quite healthy, their skin glowing with happiness of life lived well.

Now these diet fad! So what is the difference?

It’s the sedentary lifestyle we live today. We have 24 hours live-in helper at home. All the bills are paid online, we get home deliveries at the dwindling of the thumb, and we always use lift to go upstairs. We tire easily because we have lay-back attitude, we are always on phone, checking endless messages and forwarding the silly ones, crouched on couch like a potato, ordering junk-food, watching endless TV serials AND we give big head ache to our parents, with continuous jargon of words like ‘can’t eat this’ ‘don’t want that’ ‘I am watching my diet’, ‘this is too fattening.’ and the endless ramble of the latest trends.

Poor parents, they love us too much, so they tolerate all our NaatakBaazi

But luckily, we have home-chefs, who care for our health and create healthy cakes/Ice-creams that everybody can eat guilt free. Bindass!

Shilpa Seth Bhambri is the home chef who understands it all.

Shilpa Seth Bhambri is baker and trained chef practicing her expertise over 28 years. She has mastered the craft of baking and cake decorating by learning from some of the best International and local culinary artists. She is founder of  ‘The Cakeline,’ a customised cakerie with extension to all things sweet. The recipes have been curated and developed with lot of research by her. She has added a healthy range of confections and desserts that are endorsed by her own philosophy of nutritionally enhanced eating. She also works as a culinary advisor to ‘Baskin Robbins India’ and has created a line of products in their range. (Remember the Icecream cake at Baskinrobbins?..Her creation!) She also works as a food photographer, stylist and recipe developer.

She specialises in cakes and desserts with a focus on egg-free, low calorie products. During lockdown2020, she is personally baking a limited range to offer all a safe and risk free menu, taking utmost care to prepare  clean and hygienic bakes.

She is always fascinated by her Mom’s style of cooking ‘Andaaz Sey’-the Indian way of weighing by sight method of cooking. Her Mom is a pure vegetarian, cleans meat/seafood with tongs but cooks wonderful dishes for the family. Her Mom’s hearty wholesome cooking forms the base and her large part of her food memories that include Doodhwalla Mutton, Pishori Cholle with Aloo Puri, being her classic favourites till now.

The best eureka food memories are from the corridors and kitchens of the Taj Mahal hotel, Mumbai.

“When I trained in its banquets and kitchens, I tasted some of the best culinary creations made by its senior chefs. From Pate de Fois, to Caviar on Blinis, hand churned Ice creams, Devils on Horseback, Baklava to the finest chocolate creations, Duck l'orange, Peking Duck with pancakes. Always encouraged by my mentor to taste what was cooked and served. My fine sensory palate was formulated in these initial years of my culinary school training.”

She is happy to share the recipe of Ragi Banana Cake 

(This is one of her oldest signature recipes which is “Maida free, Sugar free, Egg free”. She has replaced refined sugar with Jaggery and made this delicious ‘anytime healthy tea-cake’.

1. Sift both flours (100gms Ragi/Nachni flour) and (100gms whole wheat flour) with ½ tsp baking powder, 1 ½ tsp baking soda and pinch of salt. 

2. In the warm/melted 100gms butter, add 150gms Jaggery powder. 

3. Mix well with a spatula. This will help the jaggery to dissolve. 

4. Add 150gms whisked yoghurt and 120gms banana pulp(about 2 ½ bananas). 

5. Mix well. 

6. Mix the sifted flours into the butter mixture (of step 2).

7. Add 1tsp Cinnamon powder and 1tsp Vanilla extract. 

8. Do not over mix. 

9. Pour batter into a greased and lined 7x7inch tin. 

10. Bake at 170 degrees Celsius for about 35-45 minutes. 

11. Cool cake completely before cutting into slices to serve.

Shilpa Seth Bhambri was awarded Home Chef and Baker's award 2020 for the contribution to India's Home chef & Baking Industry in the category of 10 years+

Other than that she is also an avid food photographer and food stylist. Her new venture curates an expression of all her learning in the food world that is passionately expressed in the series of food tales in the form of mini video stories featuring home chefs, foodies and passionate cooks. You can view them all on her U-tube Channel at foodtaleswithShilpa.

 

 You can order her signature items on preorder; DM or call at 9930987989

Follow her at Instagram at Shilpasethbhambri

Home Chefs Of Mumbai - Part 13 – Shanti Petiwala

Sometimes food can be boring if we have to eat the same thing day-in, day-out. Everybody likes change and being creative in the kitchen is the best adventure one can have. You don’t need any talent to think out of box, you just need imagination and courage to try something new.

Have you tried sea food with pork? Or served mince Karela inside the pasta shell and coat it with sour cream? The idea might repel you. Imaginations can turn wild. Sometimes they just stay in our mind, refuse to emerge, but sometimes, you pick up your courage and try something weird.

The creativity sets in.

You start playing with ingredients, whipping them, curdling them, tossing them and the result is strange tasting sauces and dips. Sometimes experiments fail, but a successful one becomes your signature dish. Only you know the trick. You start using un-usual appliances and utensils for cooking, bake a soup with a loaf of bread in an egg shell, prepare spicy utappam in a waffle maker, or make seafood pies in muffin cones. The ideas are endless, some silly, some weird. But you are excused if you are able to conceptualise at least one original recipe of your own.

Creativity is having fun with intelligence.

And I love food creations of Shanti Petiwala.

Shanti Petiwala wears many hats. She is writer, editor, home cook, culinary blogger. Riot of Flavours is her canvas, and she celebrates food in all its glory. Food is very personal to her, so every dish that she cooks is made as though she would eat it all by herself.

On a regular basis, she shuttles between Mumbai and Dubai, writer and editor for business magazine in Dubai and home chef in Mumbai. The lockdown has kept her rooted inside her home and she is having the best of the time, planning, prepping and delivering meals since past two months.

Shanti specialises in home cooked Bohri food, Chitrapur Saraswat food and many of her own creative dishes.

Tomato Saar and Bhindi Bhaji, are the earliest memories of good food she remembers that was prepared by her mom, and continues to be her favourite.

She talks about many ‘first time’ memories of food

“The first time I had a real Italian pizza was in Verona. It was a mushroom pizza and it ruined all pizzas for me thereafter, after that no other pizza I had ever came close.”

She fondly remembers Surnoli, a sweet Indian pancake, known to be Saraswat Brahmin dish, it has puffy textures with holes and is traditionally eaten for breakfast “I vividly remember where I was and how amazed I was the first time I ate this Konkani sweet Dosa preparation way back in 2000.”

Being creative in kitchen, she loves to experiment with different ingredients. In one of her experiments, she used eggplant and Labneh (a smooth creamy yoghurt with no whey) and baked this amazing dish.

Shanti is happy to share her recipe of Roasted Eggplant with Labneh and Pistachio

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

2. Cut the 1 large eggplant into two halves, lengthwise.

3. Score them with a knife and rub some salt into them and keep aside.

4. In the meanwhile, in a pan, put in 1 tbsp oil.

5. Add 2 clove garlic (minced) and 1 onion (minced).

6. Mix it well.

7. Once the eggplant releases some water, wash it and pat it dry.

8. Marinate in a little oil and salt (adjust according to taste).

9. Put it into the oven for 20 minutes or till just done but it holds its shape.

10. Scoop out some of the meat from the middle (take care to not tear the skin at the bottom).

11. Cut up the pulp and mix it with the onion-garlic mixture.

12. Stuff the whole mixture back into the eggplant.

13. Put it back into the warm oven. Grill it.

14. Whip 1cup labneh well. Spoon gently over the grilled eggplant.

15. Sprinkle 2tbsp of slivered pistachios and 3tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.

She announces her menu every week and deliver over the weekends.

You can follow her on @riotofflavours for new menu updates Call on her WhatsApp no 9152292940 

Follow her on her Instagram handle @riotofflavours

 

Home Chefs Of Mumbai - Part12 - Faiziya Soomar

British have really confused everybody by calling every Indian dish ‘Curry’. 

Curry is for adventure because every body has their own own style of cooking with their choice of spices, their selection of vegetables/meat. Its kind of stew, a medley of flavors, rich in taste. 

Curry is for craving. When we are tired of simple meals of Dhal, Chawal, Khichdi, Poha and Bread and we really want to pamper ourself with some rich ingredients like Nuts and Cream, Herbs and Spices, those magical kind of calories does the trick.

Curry is for sharing with our loved one, because it cannot be cooked in small quantities (or rather it should not), it is fun to sit on a large dinning table or even squat on the floor in a circle, and dig out a spoonful for each from the pool.

Curry is for caring, it has feel-good factor, we all know that it is a big part of our diet, it makes us smarter, heathier, happier, sexier.

Prawn curry of Faiziya Soomar is too delicious to miss.

Faiziya Soomar (of Cutchi Memom Table fame) is the pioneer home-chef, first of the kind, when home delivery was not so common. She was born and raised in Bangalore and migrated to Mumbai after marriage. She has been cooking and baking passionately since the last 29 years. She is a very private person, and prefers to let her food do the talking. 

And talking it does, to the food loving Mumbaikars, with its authentic taste and flavours, Meals and Mithais, Mutton Kababs and kheema Samosas, Shahi Tukda and  Sheer Khorma.

She specialises in Cutchi Memom Food.  Her ancestors were from Kutch, Bhuj, Gujarat. As a young girl, she watched her aunt take cooking and baking classes and secretly hoped to teach someday. Her mom is an excellent cook, and fiercely guards her recipes. She was inspired by her mom to cook and got confident in her cooking skills

“So somewhere in between, I started taking orders, on the insistence of neighbours and friends, and there has been no looking back.”

Her greatest memories are of childhood when she spent her weekends at her grandparent’s home, creating chaos with her other cousins. Meal times were always special. Since she was the oldest grandchild, she held a special place in her grandparents hearts, 

“Every time my nani asked me what I want to have on Saturday, I would say "Chicken Biryani". I loved her Chicken Biryani and Mutton Khichda the most. It was delicious to say the least. Over the years I'd forgotten how much I loved these dishes, and it's always what my children and husband want to eat, that holds priority. One day, recently, my dad told me,"Faizi, every time Chicken Biryani is made at home, we miss you.”  It brought tears to my eyes, as I had forgotten, what my preferences were!” she relates, feeling nostalgic 

Mutton khichda is another delicacy, that was finger licking good in her Nanis house. Her Nani would serve it in huge bowls, topped with flavourful oil, removed from the korma, before the dals and wheat, were mixed into the gravy. Then load it with birista, and served with lime.

“It was the best khichda, I've ever eaten.” She continues.

 In mumbai, she is a part of Baker’s Club, where she meets all other bakers once a month. They share their recipes and guide each other with tips and tricks and are always selflessly helping each other.  This has changed her a lot and she has overcome her shyness 

“Its only after I joined The Baker's Club Of India, that I came out of my shell, and interacted with a lot of talented people, which also boosted my confidence in myself.”

Faiziya is happy to share her recipe of Prawns Curry

1. Mix 3 large Tomatoes with 2 tbsp Garlic-Ginger paste, 2 tbsp coarsely ground Kashmiri Chilli Powder, 2 tbsp Coriander Powder, 

2. Grind to a fine paste. 

3. In a vessel, add a tbsp of oil. 

4. Add 4-5 Curry Leaves and 1tbsp of Mustard Seeds, and let it splutter.

5. Add the ground masalas, (prepared in step 2). 

6. Bhuno for at least half an hour, on slow flame. 

7. Add 2 cups of thick coconut milk. 

8. Add 3-4 pieces of kokum. 

9. Let it boil. 

10. Add prawns, cook for a minute. 

11. Take off the flame. 

12. Serve hot with steamed rice or Neer dosas. 

Faiziya Soomar was awarded Home Chef and Baker's award 2020 for the contribution to India's Home chef & Baking Industry in the category of 5-8 years

You can call or message/watsapp her on 9820398922. 

Alternatively you can also place an order on Instagram at TheCutchiMemomTable