Good may or may not triumph over evil, but what is of immediate concern to me is that overindulgence triumphs over caution during this season. And what really aids and abets this reckless bingeing is the festival of Dussehra and the aftermath, which is called Bijoya in Bengal. This is the season when various kinds of snacks and sweets are eaten and served.
With Bong sweets in mind, I clicked on to a site called Tiffin Kaku on the internet. The name was promising. Kaku is the equivalent of chacha in Bengal, and somehow, just as chachas are supposed to feed you kababs and kachoris, you expect a Kaku to organise luchis – soft maida puris – and chholar dal, channa dal cooked with coconut.
The good news is that Tiffin Kaku does that. It is a home delivery service that delivers snacks and fixed meals to areas in and around Vaishali in Ghaziabad. I had been eyeing the breakfast fare ever since my sister told me about Tiffin Kaku some weeks ago. I went to the site (http://tiffinkaku.com) and the first image that caught my attention was that of a plate of (presumably) soft luchis with chholar dal. I could even see the coconut pieces in the dal. That and kochuri with hing (both for Rs.60 a plate) are served for breaker. Unfortunately, they don’t deliver breakfast to my neighbourhood, though they do deliver lunch.
For afternoon snacks, available from 4 p.m. to 7.30 p.m., there are various kinds of Bengali snacky preparations –– fish bread butter fry (Rs.150), fish butter fry (Rs.100), fish chops (two for Rs.50), egg devil (two for Rs.75) and vegetable chops (three for Rs.50). I haven’t tried the snacks out, but I did have a special lunch delivered to my place in Mayur Vihar.
Tiffin Kaku is run by a gentleman called Prosenjit. The menu changes every day, so they urge you to have a look at the new dishes and then call them. The only problem is that by the time the meal reached me, I was so famished that I could have eaten an entire stable, forget a horse. But the food, when it did come, was so good that I forgave Tiffin Kaku.
We had asked for two plates of mutton curry meal (Rs.350 each) and one plate of a chicken curry meal (Rs.225). It came well packed in small covered aluminium containers in a big carton. Each box had a helping of pulao, of mutton or chicken curry (two big pieces each), a potato-pea sabzi, a large vegetable chop, pineapple chutney and a sweet.
My mutton curry was thick and nicely spiced. The pulao was very good, strewn with cashew nuts and raisins. The chop, crumbed and fried shredded beet with roasted peanuts was excellent. We had the chops for tea, and enjoyed them thoroughly. Here, I must also explain that Bengali chops are not the western chops or the northern Indian chaaps. They are round cutlets with a minced stuffing.
For the Pujas, I found that Tiffin Kaku had special meals, A non-vegetarian special meal (Rs.450) consisted of rice with steamed hilsa or prawn malai curry, potato straws, moong dal, pulao with garlic-onion-less mutton rezala or chicken do pyaza, vegetables, chutney, curd and a sweet. The vegetarian puja special (for Rs.250) has shukto, which is a light mixed vegetable curry, potato straws, parwal korma etc.
The simple mutton curry and rice is for Rs.180 (mutton curry, rice, dal, fries and chutney) and with chicken for Rs.175. On normal days, they also served steamed hilsa with rice, or prawn malai curry. A Facebook page told me they have quick meals with fish curry and there was even Bengali khichuri with three kinds of fries one day. Sometimes, they serve pabda fish.
Tiffin Kaku is good news. After a day’s indulgence, I am certainly ready to say ‘Uncle’!
For placing orders: Call 8800522277 or 01204332854.
