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Rajma chawal from Dr Snack

Sunday lunch

Let me tell you what I had for lunch last Sunday. No, it was not the murgir jhol bhaat or mangshor jhol bhaat, or even the mutton dhansak, that you would expect me to write about.

I had rajma chawal. This reminded me of my young friend, food writer and blogger, Vernika Awal of Delectable Reveries. Rajma chawal and pohe pictures are the pride of her Instagram page. I am more a rajma roti person as that is what I have grown up eating. I find the conventional rajma chawal combination a bit drab. Well, not in this case. It turned out to be a very complete and lip smacking meal along with the sirkewali peyaz, onion & ginger salad.

This rajma chawal was from Dr Snack. A lockdown child home chef venture. Started by Disha Doctor on 28th June with Nitika Khanna and Juhi Sharma then joining her. Friends and neighbours in Mumbai’s suburb of Deonar, who decided to give an outlet to their love for cooking through this. They want to offer food that requires attention and effort to cook and which are not easy to make everyday. A reflection of their near obsessiveness when it came to cooking, they told me. They do not believe in shortcuts!

Assorted Dr Snack patti samosa

I saw this meticulousness in cooking reflected in their food. I am not a fan of khandvis and yet had a number of the rather petite and juicy ones that they had sent. There were frozen patti samosas which were magical. I popped them in to the air fryer with no added oil and loved the end texture and the fillings of the cheese and pea ones in particular. Both the dals were very well flavoured and seasoned and yet home-like and not heavy at all. There were some nice Nutella waffle crisps too which K and I had while we shared a coffee post lunch. I learnt that a fair bit of time had gone into their perfecting the texture of these and getting the temperature right.

The Dr Snack menu 

I took a quick cat nap after the rajma chawl while K worked. I woke up after that as did Baby Loaf. I fed him and then sat down to write, for I wanted to tell you about some of the other lovely meals that we had this weekend. If you follow my feed then you will know that we are fostering a 2 month old kitten whom I have named Nimki. The two kitties keep us busy and which explains why I am still working on this post on Tuesday!

Little Nimki

Saturday lunch 

Lunch on Saturday was a home chef affair too. In this case, aspiring ones. The food on offer was a mix of Parsi and Rajasthani food. The Parsi fare was by Dalzeen Jeejeboy and the Rajasthani by her husband Aniruddh. “He is the better cook,” she said. They got married a couple of years back at Samodh near Jaipur. A place I had gone to earlier this year on a work assignment. Small world!

Parsi and Rajasthani home cooked food by Dalzeen and Anirudh

The food they sent evoked visions of the food you would see in someone’s office dabba. Lovingly sent from home. Very Lunch Box-like, if you have seen the movie. From the Parsi side, there was Russian (so called because it has cheese in it some) chicken cutlets. Very wickedly tasty. Different from what you get from caterers in terms of being less deep  fried. This was the sort you would expect someone’s grandmom to make. We had the leftover cutlet in a grilled sandwich for breakfast the next morning and that was a mind-blowing combo.

Dalzeen had sent Parsi masala ni dar chawal  too. The dal that you get in dhansak but sans the meat. This was a rather full-flavoured and spicy one which made it distinct from the others that I have tasted, but then the dhansak that comes out of every Parsi kitchen is unique. K pointed out that it was different from a caterer’s in the sense that one could make out fragments of the vegetables put in it while they would be blended fully in a caterer’s and restaurants one. She loved it and had the leftovers the next day. I enjoyed it, though the chilli quotient was high for me.

The Rajasthani fare of besan stuffed green peppers, alu peyaz zabzi (potato and onion slow cooked in spices), roti and kheer by Anirudh were truly delightful and lived up to the top billing that he had got from his better half/

“The home chefs have rocked it during the lockdown,” said K after the meal. “We have had such excellent meals from them.”

It has been four months since we have been in lockdown in Mumbai and I see the lockdown staying for a while I am afraid. People are now trying to see how to make the best to out of it and I see this happening in food too.

The start of the lockdown was a period of shock. Hardly any ‘outside food’ was available. It was not trusted either as people took refuge in the safety of their homes. It was if we under siege. There was a mad scramble to prepare food in our own homes back then. There was sense of stress around this, but a sense of accomplishment and joy too.

Eventually the fatigue got to people and this was accentuated with house help not being allowed in. People were tired, looked for a break and were once again willing to order in food. That is when a few neighbourhood restaurants began to open and people gave them business based on trust and relationships built over years.

As time passed, the need for food from outside then moved from survival to self actualisation in terms of the Maslow’s construct. People begun to get bored as the lockdown continued. The new normal as it is called.

Food was one of the few things that could offer a break from the norm. That is when the home chefs came in and offered some respite. A few of the home chefs did this to keep themselves occupied in this bleak period, others looked for ways to keep their families running with jobs and businesses closing. Many started their home chef endeavours post the lockdown. Most that I have tried have offered such fabulous food.

The home chefs began to get their place in the sun thanks to the lockdown, unlike earlier when the lack of the trappings that came with food in a restaurant in terms of ambiance, service, comfort, glitz etc and location held home chefs back. Now their food reaches our tables thanks to delivery apps and we have got a chance to experience how wonderful it is.

It is not just home chefs anymore. Restaurant and hotel owners have stood up to be counted and are finding new ways of working. Realising the delivery is the way ahead for now, some restaurants such as those in the Impressario chain have even begun to create their own delivery networks. Just as neighbourhood restaurants once did, before delivery apps came in.

Sunday dinner

Soul Company’s Bombay in a dish: the Maria Goretti set

Dinner on Sunday night was a result of an  interesting initiative where the folks behind the newly formed Soul Company, who curate lifestyle experiences, have tied up with popular and talented chefs to create pop up menus that are delivered home. They launched in Mumbai this week through a collection whose them was ‘Bombay In a Dish.’ I was given an option to taste some of their dishes and I went for two of the set meals.

The first was was an East Indian platter from music TV DJ and actor turned LCB trained food TV chef and cookbook author and a lovely person overall, Maria Goretti. She is East Indian. The community which is considered to be one of the original settlers of Mumbai. From her kitchen came an East Indian bottled masala based chicken curry. A delicious one which smacked of ‘Bombay’ as it reminded me of a Parsi chicken curry (K concurred) or even a Malvani kombdi rassa at heart. To go with it was the deep fried, festive east Indian/ Goan festive bread fugias and gavar foogath (beans stir fried with grated coconut, garlic, onion and chillies and again quite Parsi/ Marathi) and a non alcoholic version of Baba Rum cake.

Maria could be called a home chef in a sense as she operates from home. While her technical training is in in confectionery and baking, this menu was based on what she has grown up around and learnt at home from her mum and family elders.

Soul Company’s Bombay in a dish: the Gresham Fernandes set

It is not all just about home chefs or independent entrepreneurs now though. Luxury hotels are coming back in the game, marquee restaurants too. With their food coming to our doorsteps in a model that is new for them, but life must go on as they say.

The other set that I tried from Soul Companu was a reflection of this. This came from chef Gresham Fernandes of Salt Water Cafe, one of our favourite restaurants in the city and the food that came home lived up to our high expectations as we love what chef Gresham has done at the restaurant.

The Soul Company folks sent mini-videos from each chef explaining the food, which was a lovely touch. I learnt that Gresham’s first job was at a Chinese cart in Mumbai. ‘To earn extra money when I was 14 to buy a BMX bike to ride up Bandra’s Zig Zag Road,’ as he later told me. This explained the ‘Chinese’ theme to his plate.

There were pan rolls which had a very Goan/ East Indian exterior while the melodious tenderloin filling inside could have been that in the dim sum of Tim Ho Wan and Din Tai Fung, the celebrated dim sum chains of the far east. There was egg fried rice which, unlike what one gets in most Indian Chinese restaurants, did not leave one with a bloated feeling. Then there were slices of 8 hour smoked pork. This was so tender and silken that it would be one of the most exquisite things that I have eaten in the lockdown. Gresham said in the video that he had learnt the technique of smoking pork from his grandmother.

His food was an example of the brilliance that the superior technical skills and expertise that separates a master professional chef from a talented home chef can lead to.

Monday lunch

Kuai Kitchen Mumbai

Our ordering-in story spilled on to Monday as well. We had water issues and had to order in lunch. Tried a place new to me (friends later told me that they have tried their food before and are fans it seems). This is called Kauai Kitchen Mumbai. Our neighbour Erika had first told us about it and I ordered from there when its name flashed on Swiggy, where it was described as ‘from the creators of Royal China.’ A nice Chinese lunch seemed like a good idea that day as I had Indian fare coming out of my ears by then!

We called in for the salt and pepper prawns and chicken burnt garlic rice. The food was quite tasty. The rice had a fair bit of flavour to it unlike what one comes across locally otherwise. The prawns were large. Not chewy. Very balanced in flavours. The lunch was just what I wanted and I guess we had lucked out. As it often happens with food from local Chinese restaurants (as against what we cook at home or in the Salt Water Cafe Chinese meal), it left one with a bit of a heavy feeling but nothing that a nap couldn’t fix. K made herself scrambled eggs and added some of the prawns and that was lovely too.

Naps are at a premium for us these days. Today they played as friends though.

Tuesday lunch and dinner

Bengali feast from Oh! Calcutta.
Today is Kainaz’s roj nu birthday. Birthday according to the Parsi calendar. We went and picked up my mom in law and this was her first visit to our place since March and the lockdown.
For lunch I ordered in from Oh! Calcutta, Andheri, as my mom in law loves their food and our usual Parsi options were not available. They were one of the first large restaurant chains to reopen and they tried to take care of the delivery too to maintain safety. There was alur dom on our table today, kaju kishmish pulao, fish fry made with rawas with that exhilarating green chilli marinade below the bread crumb coating, channa peas chop, rui kaalia ( a fish we barely got to have during the lockdown) and mishti doi. Quite the Bengali celebratory fare for my Bawi bou. (Parsi wife).

Let’s see what to do on her ‘real’ birthday or what they call the ‘date birthday.’ We would usually do a staycation but that will not happen.

Nair on Fire: Keralite
Dinner was interesting too. My first taste of the Keralite fare from Nair on Fire who are based in Bandra. A fairly young (pre-lockdown) initiative run by Toral Sanghavi and chefs Sarah Jacob and Vinod G Nair. Their attempt is to bring home styled Keralite cooking to the suburbs and there is not much of that in offer here unlike in Fort in south Mumbai and pockets such as Mahim and Chembur which have the odd Malayali restaurant at least. They had adopted a delivery (versus sit down) model from before the lockdown and that has held them in good stead now. 
The food they have sent for us to taste include Thattukuda chicken fry, Valsa’s fish cutlet, Trivandrum buff olarthu, kappa with pulichamanthi, maanga ozichukuttan (mango drumsticks curry) with red rice and ada payasam. I tasted the food while taking them out of the restaurant containers and they brought back happy memories of our trip to Kochin. I like the fact that the food came with short explanations of each dish which helped a non-Malayali like me understand it better. I got the full experience during dinner and was very impressed by the very tender buff fry, the tangy green mango and drumstick curry, the intricately flavoured succulent chicken pepper fry, the fish cutlets which reminded us of Goa barring the distinct coconut oil hit and the tapioca with grated coconut which ended up being the first tapioca dish that I have ever liked!
It feels so good to have such new experiences even in the lockdown. Testimony to the fact that people are trying their best to move ahead and are far from giving up.

How inspiring is that.

Making the most of the new normal

I had written about what might bring eating food from outside and ordered in options back in the game in the early days of the lockdown. I had said there that it all came down to trust at the point.

Things have changed a few months down the line with people being more open to ordering in now as I had suspected they would. What is going to matter the most now I feel is the quality and the taste of the food that comes to ones table. All other variables such as restaurant brand, aura of the chef, ambiance, plating, service being taken out of the picture. Assuming one has passed the trust and hygiene hurdles of course. Price would play a big role too given the depressed state of the economy.

There will no be place for fluff. No place to hide. It will all come down to how good the food is above anything else. That is what is going to determine value.

Which makes this an exciting time for the creators of good food and for the devotees of it too. Win win anyone?

Balloons brought home by our neighbour Gia and her mum Erika last night to celebrate my reaching
45 K on Instagram. ‘Congrats Kalyan uncle,’ said Gia. ‘This is what I have seen youtubers do when they reach milestones.’
I felt so touched and blessed. Thank you all.

Appendix:

  1. My post on the road ahead for restaurants in the time of the lockdown
  2. My post on the home chef movement sparked off by the lockdown

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  • Amrutha says:

    The above post was really a nice one. In spite of being born and raised in Mumbai, never knew so many restaurants or even food options existed. Also, the home chef option is such a plus point. Would love to order their spread some day. Hope you all have a great week.Congratulations on reaching 45k! Best wishes to K as well on her birthday. Hope Loaf and Nimki call for a complete truce and we see 'ye dosti' from sholay being played in the background 🙂

  • @thank you so much Amrutha and for your best wishes. Yes, I pray for such a truce too. We had stopped trying out new places for a while and the lockdown changed that in a funny way

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