Rock you like a hurricane: Chants of Jai Maharashtra, Amar Shonar Bangla, Viva Italiana in the kitchen

Egg roll breakfast today

This post consists of a series of Instagram posts stitched together. Which is in keeping with my advice to a couple of blogger friends (Kaniska Chakraborty ans Eldon Sequeira) today who have been sharing interesting stories on Instagram, “copy and post them in your blogs too. More permanent. Easier to find in the future.”

Yesterday I conducted a workshop on the bookaworkshop.in platform titled ‘how to build your instagram brand organically.’

I have two confessions to make. When I first started out on the medium, I thought Instagram was a photoshop tool. I understood its value only after chatting with a young blogger friend of mine, Zenia Irani, on Twitter and opened a fresh account and started afresh. The account has grown organically over the past few years.

How to build your Instagram brand organically on bookaworkshop.in

The move was fortuitous. My growth in Twitter stagnated as it became a medium prone to politics and bitterness. The growth of blogs per se stagnated too.

The Instagram account became the engine of growth for brand Finely Chopped.

The second confession is that I do not really have a strategy for Instagram but yes, I do try to work out my overall purpose and mission in life as we have learnt to do in Buddhism and try to manifest that in my work. That’s the strategy in a sense. The strategy of the Lotus Sutra.

For the sake of the workshop, I put on my market researcher hat to analyse my account for patter,ns to come out with learnings for the workshop and shared that with the participants and best practices from accounts I admire. It was fun. Or so I think!

Chalo, food stuff now. The Instagram posts as I said, with a few additions:

Saturday: Kolkata biryani

Lopa Kanungo: Mutton biryani

“‘Achha mutton piece dijiye’, is a plea I usually make while ordering biryani in Kolkata. Please give me a good piece of mutton. It usually works, it can be a bit of a gamble otherwise.

No such problems with the mutton in the Kolkata mutton biryani sent by home chef Lopa Kanungo of @happytummies.info who is based in Powai, Mumbai, along with a range of other dishes from her repertoire. The mutton was so tultule (tender) that I could understand why she said that she’s well regarded for her kosha mangsho and pathar patla jhol. 

The payesh was lovely too. As was the kaju chicken though a tad less salt would have helped. Combined well with the pulao.”

Sunday: Jai Maharastra

Pallavi Amberkar: chicken sukha

“It’s been a Jai Maharashtra sort of day which started with Pallavi Amberkar, a friend and home chef, most kindly dropping off a chicken sukkha from her @flavoursofmalvan menu at our place. 

I was yet to have breakfast then but I had to try a bit (I avoid spicy food in the morning) as she is a great cook and the dish was so flavoursome and not spicy or excessively oily at all. The flavours were so nuanced. The seasoning perfect. Very different from what I’ve eaten in any Malvani restaurant. In a good way. Kombdi vade (chicken sukha and multigrain puris) are my favourite orders there. The purity of home cooking came through. “

Bimba Nayak: Pathare Prabhu

“Lunch was a Maharashtrian Pathare Prabhu one. The community which is considered to be one of the earliest settlers of Mumbai. I first had this cuisine at the house of the indomitable Bimba Nayak.

She launched her home chef business after the start of the lockdown with Hyderabadi (fab mutton biryani and chicken 65) and Mughlai food and I’d told her that I’d be the first to order the day she offered her native PP food.

She did so today and I lived up to my promise. I believe that there were 40 more orders. That should be encouraging to those who feel compelled to offer only the more familiar dishes instead of their own. It shows that there are takers for lesser known but brilliant local cuisines. 

On offer, in order of my preference, was gode mutton (reminded me of a nice Bengali mangshor jhol), tomato chi saar (a coconut soup to balance the spices with shrimps inside), prawns khadkhadle, paplet che bhujne (loved the coriander leaf hit though a bit briny) and bombil metkut (a bit briny but that’s possibly because it is a pickle), rice and pav. We overate but the food was enough for two. Looks spicy but even I could manage it without breaking into a  sweat.

I had done a #foodocracyforher chat with Bimba Nayak earlier and you can watch it on my IGTV.”

Monday: 

Amar Shonar Bangla 

#LoveYourLeftovers egg rolls

“After a Jai Maharashtra Sunday yesterday, it was an amar shonar Bangla Monday morning today.

I used the lovely leftover flaky and not too thick Malabar parathas, chaat masala given to be sprinkled on mutton chops and pickled onions from what Kabir, chef Mrigank and the team @ghoshtstories sent last night, along with super tender mutton chops, as soft as galauti mutton shammi kebabs and beautifully cooked mutton in very robust, lip-smacking and sinful curries to taste, to make egg rolls for breakfast today. 

Without sauce for K and with for me. Scorpions playing on Alexa as I tried to recreate Kolkata of the 80s in our kitchen in Mumbai.

Ghosht Kitchen from Sunday night: Not fair to review as it is still WIP but K can’t stop raving about the quality of the food which was indeed good.

The name of this about to be launched cloud kitchen outfit in Mumbai is a play on the fact that they would be offering a mutton (goat meat) focused menu. They are taking pre-orders now and go live on Zomato and Swiggy next weekend and are in the final menu testing process. They had sent Indrayani rice which is sticky and which I’ve had in a mutton thali in Nasik.”

ITC Grand Central: Gourmet in You ravioli

Gourmet in you ravioli.

After a maelstrom of desi meals this weekend, it was a caramelised onion & asparagus ravioli lunch today to refresh ones palate.

ITC Hotels have started a #gourmetinyou #DIY home meal concept and when they offered us samples, I chose this and the Thai green curry with prawns, which came from the ITC Grand Central Hotel.

I confess that I am more a DIFM over DIY person (terms I learnt in my lube market research days) when it comes to ordering in.

It turned out to be very easy to put together though. Assembling it at home makes one feel the food is safer too.

There was garlic bread which I kept for the evening, lots of grated Parmesan which I kept for the future and the overall portion was much more than the ‘for 2 people’ that they said and we sent some to our young neighbour who bakes us delectable goodies.

This is what she just messaged back: ‘The ravioli was phenomenal. Thank you so much! #chetepute as Kalyan uncle says. Quick work on my part 😋😋 truly delicious 🤤’

We loved the flavours and seasoning  and the lunch was so indulgent and joy giving and I did a #chetepute of the saucepan too. 

The ravioli, when had at the restaurant, would possibly have a thinner skin as this had to travel but yay, I made ravioli. In a sense! 

We plan to have the chicken sukkha for dinner today with fresh rotis made by Banu, along with shukto given by our friend Shaswati. The Thai green curry tomorrow and the leftover mutton curry on Thursday perhaps. Thinking of not ordering in anymore till at least the weekend, not partake in more tastings. The food is fab, but the body needs some home food too. Always best for ones health.  I do have my eyes on something I want to order for Sunday lunch and will save myself that that. So bring on the lau and bhindi. Plus there is mutton and prawns in the deep fridge to be cooked yet. And the Goan sausage from Incendiary Kitchen which I am so keen to try.

Form the archives: Pathare Prabhu at Bimba Nayak’s
From the #HouseOfCats

From the #FinelyChoppedKitchen playlist todayRock you like a hurricane:
Winds of Change:
Still loving you: