CHENNAI: Covering the length and breadth of India and testing international waters for the first time, the second edition of Ghar Ka Khana this month has a variety of tasty dishes on the menu — all done by home chefs
If you are someone who lives away from home, the search for homely food is never-ending. You look for authentic restaurants, make friends from your community who can share a dabba with you, or wait for a food festival that presents delicacies from home.
Bringing one such food festival is Hyatt Regency with Ghar ka Khana. After a successful first edition, Ghar ka Khana, the food festival celebrating rich flavours from the culinary traditions of different parts of the country and its neighbourhood, is back with its second edition with a variety of options. Curated by Yogita Uchil, food evangelist and travel influencer, the festival will feature seven home chefs representing different cuisines.
“This year we are representing international cuisine — Sri Lanka. All the home chefs are different from last year except the one representing Bengali cuisine. Everyone will be using heirloom recipes that they might have passed on from their mothers or grandmothers. There is so much diversity in our food. Through these festivals people will be able to savour the recipes from different cuisines,” shares Yogita.
From vegetarian dishes like Amritsari chole, niramish aloor dum, undhiyu to non-vegetarian delicacies like chicken stew, shami kebabs and Jaffana-style chicken, the festival promises to offer the best of each cuisine for the month-long festival. Though the event is being hosted at a five-star hotel, Yogita comments that the chefs emphasise providing authentic taste through homely food. She says, “This is organised to give a platform to the home chefs. Chennai has got a lot of talented home chefs (representing cuisines) from around the world. Through their homestyle cooking and sourcing of certain ingredients from their hometown, they guarantee authentic taste.”
Amara Bala
With an unhindered love for cooking and a thirst for learning new cuisines, Amara Bala, an Indian with a Sri Lankan spouse, who has spent the best part of her life living in Sri Lanka, has mastered the art of cooking Sri Lankan food. She says, “We are proud to bring the earthy flavours of Sri Lankan cuisine to namma Chennai as part of the Ghar Ka Khana initiative. Our specially curated menu is quite versatile, ranging from isso wade, the most sought-after street food along the shores of the Galle face beach to the Jaffna-style chicken curry, which is a native dish, enriched with a variety of aromatic spices. Devilled cuttlefish is a must-try delicacy for the love of seafood. A good way to end the sumptuous meal is by having the wattalappam or purple yam kanji, both enriched with the goodness of natural sugars available in kithul jaggery.”
Nisreen Madraswala
A French tutor, founder of Munshi Gut Cleanse Powder and curator of Bohri Food Experiences, Nisreen presents a traditional Bohri fare. On the menu are dal chawal palida (a rice and lentil pulao) which is made on the first of every month, malida (wheat and dry fruit halwa) a sweet for special occasions, daab, a coconut drink, channa bateta, a popular Bohri chaat, Bohri samosas, kaari chawal, wari (dried spice dal) and sheer khurma. There is also gushtava (dried chicken and beef), which is made by their home society (Sidhpur) that creates income opportunities for women. She says, “The speciality of Bohri food is the thaal experience where members eat together from the same bowl and plate. It is a community dining experience that promotes satiety and discipline in eating, because a particular order of serving food is also followed. Come and savour these delicacies which have their roots in Yemeni, Turkish and Indian kitchens.”
Instagram @gemini17681 and @tastebuds_bohrifoodwagon.
Shani Singh
Shani Singh is a passionate cook from Punjab, staying in Chennai. She began cooking because of her son, who wanted her to become a chef. It was her determination and strength that gave her an opportunity to achieve her goals. Shani loves to both cook and eat and is excited to be a part of Ghar Ka Khana. She says, “Whenever I try anything new and tasty, I will try to recreate it. My passion has become my profession. My most special items are kebabs, pinni and panjiri. I have been catering for birthdays and house parties.”
Ammu Rebecca Manoj
For Ammu Rebecca Manoj, cooking is like music. She finds serenity and rhythm to the process of cooking. Representing the Kerala cuisine, her dishes include beef ularthiyathu, chicken stew, appam, vattayappam, kadala curry, ada pradhaman, and starters like Fish pollichathu, Kulukki sarbath. “I believe good food is love and brings people closer. It also takes you back home and invites a whole lot of memories. I hope I recreate the dishes with the same amount of love as my mom did and carry forward the legacy,” says the owner of Adupadiyum Pothichorum, a cloud kitchen.
Meena Rahul Shah
With her roots in Mumbai and a traditional Gujarati (Sourashtrian) background, Meena Rahul Singh presents Kathiyawadi recipes. “My dishes include bharela marcha, bateka nu shak, bharela bhinda, dry fruit shrikhand, khamman dhokla with meethi and theeki chutney along with green chilli, patra, bajra na rotla, lasan ki chutney and ghee, kichdi and khati meethi kadi, papad no bhuko sathe, and vaghareli chash. The authenticity of all the dishes are ensured as the spices used are cold ground,” says the owner of Ambrosia catering service and supervisor of Dana, a specialised spice manufacturer.
Joyadrita Ragavendran Chatterjee
Joyadrita represents Bengali cuisine and is influenced by her mother’s and paternal grandmother’s cooking. “Some of the quintessential Bengali fares that one can find at Ghar Ka Khana 2 would be Kolkata mutton/chicken biryani, kosha mangsho (Bengali style rich mutton curry), chaat items like aloo kabli, koraishutir chaat. Other fares like niramish aloor dum, shorshe bhetki and desserts like bhapa sondesh, chhanar payesh,” shares Joyadrita owner of Food of JOY: Flavours of Bengal.
Instagram @foodofjoyflavoursofbengal
Dr Nithya Franklyn
Dr Nithya Franklyn is a paediatrician and a passionate cook who became MasterChef Tamil’s first runner-up. For the festival, she is representing the south Tamil Nadu cuisine which has influences from Kerala, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Having learnt the nuances of cooking from her elders and friends, she shares it with others through her social media. She says, “The menu includes the unique dishes from my region like masi sambol (Maldivian fish), inji pachadi, Dindigul biriyani, Madurai mutton chukka, nellai meen kulambu, paladai nellai sodhi, ulundu kali, kummayam tart, surul appam with pazharasam stuffing and coupany drizzle. I wanted people to know the unique flavours of the region and curated a menu incorporating the specials and food that evoke nostalgia in me. Tuticorin and pazharasam cannot be separated and hence I amped it into a jam and stuffed the surul appams (crepe with saunf flavour). I made, coupany, a syrup made with palm jaggery, dry ginger and cardamom which used to be our jam into a drizzle.”
Event Calendar
Dr Nithya Franklyn (South Tamil Nadu): August 17
Shani Singh (Punjabi): August 24
Ammu Rebecca (Kerala): August 29 (Onam Sadya)
Joyadrita Ragavendran Chatterjee (Bengal): August 8 & 15
Nisreen Madraswala (Bohri): August 9 & 23
Amara Bala (Sri Lanka): August 10 & 22
Meena Shah (Kathiyawadi): August 16 & 30
Date: Till August 31, Every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Time: 7 pm onwards
Dinner rate: `1,999 plus taxes (per person)