Mouth-watering delicacies roll out from her modest kitchen in Kakkanad. Orders keep pouring by the day from people in and around Kochi for ready-to-eat dishes and from those far away especially NRIs for ready-to-fry snacks. The aroma of Sahida’s yummy food is spreading far and wide.
Sahida is busy rolling unnakkai, folding different kinds of fillings into samosas, shaping cutlets and what not even as her eyes flit to each move of her assistants ensuring that every step of the recipe goes like clockwork. Cool and confident, she manages to cater to the needs of her clients with elan. “I always take orders two days in advance and get my calculations going and place orders for the ingredients. I like everything to be fresh and shopping is done each day for meat, fish, egg, vegetables and other things.”
Quality comes first and she goes to any extreme to keep that up. Subtle, the taste of her dishes linger in your memory. Ramzan keeps her more busy. “Yes, I cater to many homes, institutes and mosques during the period.” Many an NRI break their Ramzan fast with the ready-to-fry snacks that Sahida has packed with love. “Some of them even take the cooked snacks, leave them in the freezer and microwave them.” The delicious home made feel makes them irresistible.
Sahida sticks to what she can handle. Generally she gets orders for about 700 unnakkai, about 500 samosas, similar amount of cutlets, around 600 rolls and stuffed buns. Not to mention her famous biryanis- chicken, mutton, fish, prawns, egg and vegetable. The taste of the above, different pathiris, porottas and baturas, fish curry, chicken curry, mutton curry, chicken roast, pickles and much more spread by word of mouth. “At times when people place orders for biryani, they request me for some dessert and I make some puddings.”
The snacks range between ` 6 and ` 16 while the biryanis and other dishes are priced between ` 100 and ` 250 and varies according to the price of fish and meat. Sahida is particular that the ingredients are right and just perfect. Despite the rising demand she does not want to do it on a large and commercial basis as she fears that the essence of the taste may be lost. Does she have any recipes or reference? “No. It’s instinctive.”
And of course collective. Her mother, grandmother and great grandmother who was in Thalassery were known for their cooking. “I’ve got it from them and there are times when I feel I should have learnt more from them,” says Sahida who has no formal training in cooking although she was a fan of Mrs K M Mathew during her childhood days in Kottayam.
Sahida was passionate about music which Mrs Mathew encouraged. Even now she listens to music on the TV as she cooks and does the lion’s share of the job. Her chief help is James Joseph who loves dishing out delights and when orders peak, her assistant Sivan and her housemaid helps her.
It’s 10 years since Sahida began her tryst with catering. She had plenty of time on her hands when her daughter and son were married and settled. Compliments from all who tasted her dishes testify her skill and talents.
What began on a small scale in her rented house in Thammanam has become a name (though she is yet to name the catering service), in the extra kitchen of her own house in Kakkanad.
To overcome the worries related to her husband’s ill health and her own, she loses herself in her passion as encouraged by her doctor.
“Space constraints prevent me from expansion although orders are going up every day,” says Sahida, who relishes every minute of her cooking hours.
surekha@expressbuzz.com