Even as restaurants serving a variety of cuisines pop up all over the city, home cooked food is fast becoming the ambrosia of foodies. Home chefs by the dozen are moving beyond the confines of their kitchens to whet the appetites of gourmands. Biriyanis, cupcakes, vattayappam, samosas, Kuttanadan duck roast, rosgullas... you name it, these enterprising men and women will whip it up like our mothers and grandmothers make it.
Kappa and curry by a home chef on PinStove
Suchitra Reghuram, a management graduate, has been running ‘Nexus Kitchen’ out of her home kitchen in Pettah for more than a year now. “I like cooking, particularly traditional Kerala dishes. I had time on my hands after my kids left for school and I started experimenting with recipes and putting up pictures of the menu of the day on Facebook and on Whatsapp. Soon, orders started coming in and just like that I was in business,” says Suchitra, whose biriyanis and pork dishes are, reportedly, scrumptious. “Home food is comfort food. I think it’s that yearning for homely food that leads foodies to home chefs,” she adds.
Oodles of TLC
For Kanpur native Deepika N.K., better known as the hand and heart behind ‘Leela’s Kitchen’, too the journey from homemaker to food entrepreneur was incidental.
Payasam by a home chef on PinStove
“I have been living here in the city for 25 years now but it was only after my daughter moved to Chennai and started searching for homely food that I realised the scope for authentic North Indian food here. Until then, I used only make tiffins for a handful of few friends. There’s nothing like home cooked food. It’s good for health because we are giving the customers the same food that we cook for our families, which is made with the best and freshest ingredients possible and with much care. Also, home chefs are able to lavish attention on each dish,” says Deepika. A resident of Kuravankonam, she started her foodpage about two years ago. Today, she gets about 30 orders every day for her parathas and subzis .
Home chef Thanima Ghosh of ‘Thakumar Jhuli’ is a whiz at Bengali food
Thanima Ghosh, meanwhile, moved to the city only three months ago and as soon as she set up home, she donned her apron and started cooking the best of Bengali cuisine. “It was an article in MetroPlus about Home Chefs Hub, an online platform for home cooking, that really got me thinking of capitalising on my cooking skills. I got in touch with the admin and it took off from there,” says Sasthamangalam-based Thanima, who specialises in traditional Bengali fare, particularly sweets. Her Facebook page, ‘Thakumar Jhuli- A bag full of surprises’ features dishes of the likes of sandesh, rosgulla, dum aloo, luchi chanar dal and macher jhal, to name a few.
“As a foodie, who eats out quite a lot, I think we are reaching a saturation point in terms of what’s available in restaurants. With home cooked food you know that it will be fresh and tasty and there will be a measure of quality control, given that almost always each dish is made on order,” she adds.
Nisha George from Nalanchira, also a find of Home Chefs Hub, is another homemaker who has jumped on the home food train. She specialises in Suriani food. “I usually dish up for my customers what I would be serving my family for lunch/dinner. I just factor in portions for another six to seven people,” she explains.
Just a click away
No wonder, the two online platforms, Home Chefs Hub and PinStove, which connect enterprising home chefs with foodies, have found the recipe for success in the city. Between them they have some 100 home chefs on their rolls, their menus available only a click away. “These days there are a lot of outsiders, many from other states, who have made the city their home. They want quality food that’s authentic, fresh, and tasty. Home cooked food fills all those requirements,” says Nishana Sameer, head of operations for Home Chefs Hub. “Home cooked food can be personalised as per the customer’s taste, unlike in restaurants, and it comes as a comfort for the many aged people who stay alone at home. We have a few aged clients who have ordered our monthly packages for all meals,” she adds.
Aneesh V.K., co-director of PinStove, which is just over a month old, is equally thrilled by the response. “Thiruvananthapuram has exceeded our expectations. The city has had online sales much better than what had we projected for metros like Kochi and Bangalore. We’ve got some amazing home chefs on board, who serve everything from cheesecake and kaipolas to biriyanis and cutlets, and equally spectacular customers who spend at least Rs. 300 per order on our app,” explains Aneesh.
“The figures just reiterate that home is where the heart is, especially when it comes to home cooked food,” he adds.
On a roll
A few of the more enterprising home chefs have already taken the next step in converting their food dreams into reality. Nabila Shahnavas, a whiz at Malabar food, has opened a joint, O’roti, in Kuravankonam. Home baker Sajin Zubin, recently, set up a French patisserie- inspired bakery, La Jawab, in Nanthancode. K. Venkitachalam Potty started AgrahaarA in Sreevaraham that dishes up spectacular dosas.
