Recipes by home chefs on restaurant menus

 

(This article first appeared online on 13th March 2024 on Live Mint, India and in print on page 14 on 14th March https://lifestyle.livemint.com/food/discover/nostalgia-recipes-menus-home-chefs-mumbai-delhi-goa-111710318343110.html)

Very Peri Served Haute

 

(This roundup appeared in the 28th January 2022 issue of the Mid-Day newspaper, India on page 24 https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai-guide/mumbai-food/article/very-peri-served-haute-23211612)

Mid-Town Master Chefs

 

(This roundup appeared in the 14th January 2022 issue of the Mid-Day newspaper, India on page 17 https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai-guide/mumbai-food/article/mid-town-master-chefs-23209472 )

Around the globe for Christmas

 

(This article appeared in the 20th November 2021 issue of the Mid-Day newspaper, India on page 17 https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai-guide/mumbai-food/article/around-the-globe-for-christmas-23205822 )

 

Sweet and Safe

 

(This article appeared in the 2nd June 2021 issue of the Mid-Day newspaper, India on page 17 https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai-guide/things-to-do/article/sweet-and-safe-23176241 )

5 Of The Best Biryani Delivery Services In Mumbai

 

This article was published on 17th February 2021 online on NDTV Food https://food.ndtv.com/lists/5-of-the-best-biryani-delivery-services-in-mumbai-2372370

Xmas goes international!

Bringing an eclectic flare to your Christmas fare are a host of home chefs and small businesses dishing out everything from Swedish meatballs to Portuguese festive delicacies and a whole lot more.

By Raul Dias

Rummy’s Kitchen

With over a hundred varieties of vegetarian and meat pickles in her repertoire, Andheri West-based Inderpreet 'Rummy' Nagpal of the eponymous Rummy’s Kitchen decided to shake things up a bit this festive week with her rather 'well-travelled' Christmas special menu. “Having relatives all over the world, I thought it best to come up with a range of international festive dishes that I learnt to make on my visits abroad,” says Nagpal. On her a la carte Christmas menu that’s available from Wednesday to Sunday this week are dishes from America like a lemon herb roast chicken with cranberry meatballs (Rs 850) and braised pork ribs (Rs 850) with a side of the Italian staple of polenta. Accompanying these are her German stollen fruit bread (Rs 200), bacon bread (Rs 550) and a very unique Christmas tree pull apart bread (Rs 550). Desserts take the form of a Christmas cupcake with a rum and cream cheese frosting (Rs 150 for two) and a Christmas jar dessert (Rs 350) layered with spiced plum cake bits, cheesecake and piped chocolate ganache.

Call: 9769211608

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CAS

Egged on by friends who couldn’t get enough of his all-vegetarian lockdown dinners, fashion designer turned home chef Chintan Shah decided to start a small, luxury catering outfit called CAS (Culinary, Artisanal, Sensory) in earnest a couple of months ago. Operating out of his Peddar Road home’s kitchen, Shah bases his weekly vegetarian meal menus on his past travels to 101 countries. “My current Winter Wonderland Christmas menu is an ode to my trips to Switzerland where the food is hearty and warming,” says Shah. Packed for two, the three-course meal (Rs 1,900) available from Thursday to Saturday this week consists of a creamy asparagus soup, a Swiss chard, walnut and feta salad and a French baguette topped with the typically Swiss melted raclette cheese. Shah also sends in his wine and craft cocktail pairing suggestions with the meal. For an additional Rs 600, you can even get two servings of a traditional, boozy zuger kirschtorte cake with a nut meringue.

Call: 9969999699

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Cozinha Amorosa

“A loving kitchen” is what former lawyer and passionate home chef Anisha Andrade's three-month-old food business Cozinha Amorosa means in Portuguese. “I learnt the nuances of Portuguese cuisine from my mother-in-law, who, although Goan, has a strong Portuguese heritage,” says the Santacruz West-based Andrade. While her regular menu is full of traditional Goan dishes, she’s doing a number of Portuguese-style delicacies for this festive week. One can expect to relish dishes like a pork and bean stew called feijoada, an arroz con chorizo (sausage rice), a rare-to-find prawn cake called apa de camaro and a creamy tuna moulded salad which are all priced between Rs 450 to Rs 500 a portion, that Andrade says is enough to feed two. Desserts like the biscuit crumb serradura pudding and the tender coconut soufflé (both Rs 150 a portion) are just some of the sweet treats she has on offer. Andrade requires at least 48 hours advance notice for all orders.

Call: 9821399414

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Global Foodie

Taking the home diner on a whirlwind tour of cuisines from around the world is the Christmas menu by Global Foodie. Started a few years ago by advertising professional Prashant Pradhan, this Powai-based kitchen stays true to its name. “Our entire festive menu is made up of dishes from places as diverse as Brazil and Scandinavia to Korea and Italy,” says Pradhan who makes interesting dishes like Swedish meatballs served with mashed potatoes and blueberry jam (Rs 1,250 for a five-person portion). The menu, that’s available all this week, also has a Spanish seafood paella (Rs 1,600 for 1.5kgs), Italian porchetta pork roll (Rs 1,850 for 1.5kgs), Korean fried chicken wings (Rs 450 for a dozen) and Brazilian chicken croquettes called coxinas (Rs 1,400 for two dozen). To finish the feast off is the rich and decadent French chocolate terrine (Rs 400 for 300gms).

Call: 9967353332

(An edited version of this review appeared in the 23rd December 2020 issue of the Mid-Day newspaper, India on page 19 https://m.mid-day.com/articles/christmas-meals-from-around-the-world-by-mumbai-based-home-chefs/23156210)

Inside the box

With everything from elaborate, boxed Mughlai 'daawats' to multi-course meals on offer, we acquaint you with a selection of small businesses and home chefs across the city that bring the feast directly to your doorstep!

By Raul Dias

Daawat-e-Ruksariyat

This five-dish, weekend-only daawat (in both veg and non-veg versions) is the brainchild of Jogeshwari-based home chef Ruksar Memon whose daawats or home feasts were such a hit with friends, that she recently started delivering them all across Mumbai. “I had no clue what a home chef is until my friends encouraged me to start my business. I believe that food must be cherished and shared, which is the crux of a daawat,” says Memon, who makes sure to send a small box of dates to kickstart the meal, along with a disposable table/floor cover, as daawats are generally eaten sitting down on the floor. While menu keeps changing every weekend, one can expect to relish appetisers like the signature foil chicken, mains like mutton rogan josh, shahi chicken biryani, paneer makhanwala and desserts like shahi tukra and matka rabdi. Also available on special order is a Memoni Muslim version of khao suey called khausa and a mutton khichda among other a la carte Mughlai dishes.

Cost: Rs. 2,499 onward (daawat for four) and Rs. 1,299 onward (daawat for two)

Call: 9930831336

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Lucknowi Chowk

Dubbed the Nawabi Platter, this six-item meal is a selection of Awadhi cuisine classics by Lucknowi Chowk, a two-month-old Goregaon West-based home chef business. Started by Nirban Goswami who is originally an actor and his fiancee, singer Nandini Deb out of sheer necessity. “Due to the pandemic we were completely out of work and literally broke. So we decided to work on something like cooking that we both are really passionate about,” says Goswami. The platter comprises of a portion of murg biryani and one piece each mutton galouti, kakori and chicken kebabs, along with two portions of breads (sheermal or kulcha). The couple also does fish, chicken, egg and vegetarian Bengali thalas (starting at Rs. 375) made up of dishes like macher kurma, Dhakai murgi, and lao ghonto.

Cost: Rs. 1,599 for a one-person Nawabi Platter

Call: 9821538599

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Spoon of Love

This all-vegetarian, delivery only 'virtual restaurant' operates from Sewri and focuses on Mexican, Lebanese and South East Asian cuisines. It is the idea of hotel management graduate Charmy Mody who calls her two categories of set boxed meals 'lovemeals'. "While ours is a new brand, it is based on an old truth--that when we make things that we love, it just doesn’t feel like work anymore," believes Mody. Both the categories of meals are packed in sealed, biodegradable, pastel pink hued boxes. The Abundant Lovemeal is a four-item box with dishes like a deconstructed falafel for starters and a cottage cheese tsingoi and chilli basil rice for mains. The more elaborate Love Galore box has an additional dish of a khao suey and a dessert of either a salted Nutella shot or a tiramisu cup. Both boxes come with a bottle of water and a disposable cutlery set. Spoon of Love also offers a separate a la carte menu of vegetarian/Jain dishes and desserts.

Cost: Rs. 720 onwards for a one-person Abundant Lovemeal box and Rs. 1,200 for a one-person Love Galore box

Call: 7045699255

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The Cutchi Memon Table

While the name may be at tad 'inspired' the food that is part of Bandra West-based Faiziya Soomar's The Cutchi Memon Table meal box is not. An interesting mix of Bombay Muslim, Kutchi Memoni and a bit of Bengaluru Muslim cuisines go into her boxes that include an appetiser like a couple of Russian cutlets, mains like nalli nihari or Bengaluru style biryani and dessert such as phirni or khubani ka meetha. Learning cooking at a very early age from her cookery class instructor aunt, Soomar is all about experimentation. "I love what I do and continuously try to push the envelope by improvising on my dishes and creating new ones,” says Soomar. And that is why her a la carte menu also has some usual stuff like a white biryani and cashew korma on it.

Cost: Rs. 500 onwards for a one-person meal box

Call: 9820398922

 (An edited version of this review appeared in the 15th December 2020 issue of the Mid-Day newspaper, India on page 15 https://m.mid-day.com/articles/best-home-chefs-small-businesses-in-mumbai-that-home-deliver-food/23143210)