If you’re feeling adventurous and want to experiment with new dishes in the kitchen, or whip up a special meal for your loved ones (or just yourself), you usually end up buying a lot more of the specific ingredients than you need, and it probably goes to waste. However, a new start-up in the city promises to tackle this problem, with their meal kits: all you have to do is order the dish you want, a day in advance, and a box of neatly-packed, pre-measured fresh and dry ingredients, along with the recipe will be delivered. All you then need is a stove and some vessels, and you’re good to go.
The brainchild of Praveen Kumar and his wife, Anjali Anand, AwesomeChef.in was launched in early February, as a response to their own experiences. Praveen says, “We have a three-year-old and we both work full-time, so it was quite a hassle for us to get our shopping done. We’ve also been running a popular food blog for the past eight years (AwesomeCuisine.com), and we got a lot of queries about where to buy certain ingredients. Some of these are difficult to source, and are quite expensive as well. And if you’re only going to use it for one dish, it is a waste of buying an entire jar. That’s when we decided to put together a service that will provide all these conveniently.”
They took over a year to research the market, and put together recipes. They stock the dry ingredients, while vegetables are bought fresh in the morning. The price range starts from Rs. 230 and goes up to Rs. 499, and each meal kit comfortably feeds two or three people. “It’s also convenient for those who are just learning to cook. With more people living by themselves, it is an easy way for them to get into the habit and enjoy it without the added stress of buying the right ingredients,” says Praveen.
We tried out the Thai curry noodles — all the dishes on offer currently are vegetarian. The box came with noodles, ingredients for the curry paste, veggies like capsicum, mushrooms and spring onions, and even some oil. The recipe was simple and easy to follow, but in terms of flavour, it was more Indianised than authentic. It might be wise to adjust spice according to your comfort level as well.
“People are not clear about what we do; they think we have chefs who come home and cook. But the brand name refers to the customer: they can be the awesome chef themselves,” smiles Praveen.
Order your meal kits at awesomechef.in or contact 98402 79969. The service is currently available only in Chennai.
