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Our friend Nikhil Merchant @nonchalantgourmand invited chef Vanika Choudhary, Rhea and Kurush Dalal  and me for dinner yesterday. Nikhil’s the perfect combination of a generous host and a great cook. Yesterday he cooked a Kutchi Gujarati meal the way it used to be done traditionally in his house.

I created Instagram harakiri earlier by starting with a picture (at the top of this post) that’s not aesthetically appealing, but it did win my heart last night. It’s a dish called oro. A subtly flavoured dish, where aubergine is smoked in ghee and then slow cooked in ghee with minimal spices.

There were the Merchant House special potatoes, batera jo shaak, which were slow cooked, squishy delectable. They are made everyday at home for his dad. Nikhil added a touch of toasted sesame to elevate the dish.

Then there was the lilva kachori with lightly mashed lilva (fresh pigeon pea) and grated coconut at its heart.

There was a Gujarati kadhi which was soporific, packed with veggies and with sweetness levels balanced right.

There was a kand (purple yam) dish with a tangy masala which he’d made in the way it is made at Srinathji, the temple town of the family. He made a lila lasoon (fresh green garlic) infused chutney. There was khaman kakri.

A cucumber salad and dhokla made with kuttu na doro (whole buckwheat). Loved the texture of both.

For dessert, he made a light and fluffy shrikhand. Rhea made and brought a subtly flavoured @bundtitqueen orange cake. I lifted Vanika’s picture of it.

A relaxed evening, spent in the company of lovely folks, where the conversation was casual and the food spoke to the heart. Aar ki chai, as we say in Bangla.

What more does one need?

Nikhil had invited a bunch of us home years back and had cooked up a Tex Mex storm. That’s when cooking and eating firangi khana was the norm. We’ve grown up since then.

Thanks Nik

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