HYDERABAD: Parsi food is a distinct craving some foodies have — their farcha, dhansak, and patra ni machhi are some popular favourites whose very mention makes our mouths water. The best part about Parsi food is how the community has ensured to keep their cuisine and dishes traditional and authentic throughout the many generations, cutting across boundaries.
As Parsis in town recently celebrated New Year, Mercure KCP in Banjara Hills is organising a Parsi food festival, whose menu has been carefully curated by their home chef Daisy Homi Chenoy and executive chef Ganesh. The menu of the food fest that ends tomorrow, boasts of a variety of dishes that one is sure to have a tough time choosing from.
At the dinner buffet of the fest, we got to taste the famous chicken farcha, and egg and chutney patties for starters. For the main course, you guessed it right, it was the patra ni machhi, chicken cutlet in tomato sauce, sali murghi, fresh Bombay ducks, paneer and aloo stuffed capsicum, spinach corn bake, mutton dhansak and caramelised rice — all of which tasted lip-smackingly good. For the breads, we had parantha, laadi pav and garlic bread. The meal is complete without ravo sev, lagan nu custard and bread pudding.
Home chef Daisy Homi says that the restaurant comes up with a different menu for the food fest every day — so if you’ve visited once and thought you’ve had it all — you’re wrong. Each menu has been differently curated, with the right blend of sweet, sour and spices.
Explaining how Parsi food that is more than just dhansak, she says, “We have the patra ni machhi which is blended with coriander and wrapped up in a banana leaf. Then there’s the chicken cutlet in tomato sauce, Sali boti and murghi. The speciality of our food is that we generally use fewer spices — more sweet and a little bit of sour in the food. We have home-ground masala and we use more garlic, tomato and onion in our food.” She adds that the masalas are outsourced from Mumbai, which is the hub of the Parsi population. They also have the mithu dahi, which is sweet curd, apart from their caramel custard and bread pudding which gels well with the food and brings the sweetest ending to your meal.