Yegammai Annamalai had just delivered 30 packets of red beans and paneer salad with salsa dressing, she informs me.“Now I will watch a video and wait for the reviews. This is my reward time for the hectic work that I do in the mornings,” she smiles. The 33-year-old who has been catering for small parties for the past one year has recently launched Incredibowl. She describes it as a home made salad venture and sounds still a little surprised about how it all came about. “This happened by accident. Last month, a friend asked me if I could make her salads as she was on a diet. I did it for an entire week. Soon, the word spread and I started to get more orders. It occurred to me that I could make a business of this and I started a Facebook page,” she says.
A Yegammai preparing her salads
It is not as simple as it sounds. Yegammai keeps herself updated about the salad world through the internet. “On the weekends, I do trials and decide the menu for the coming week. I try to include salads from different parts of the world like guacamole from Mexico, stir-fried-vegetables with cauliflower rice from China and raw papaya salad from Thailand. I have made nearly 20 different kinds of salads. Her guacamole has a lot of fans,” she says.
She takes pride in the fact that her vegetables and fruits are locally sourced. “The raw materials are procured everyday to retain the freshness. Salads tend to become soggy by the time they are delivered. So, I pack the dressing separately,” she says. Yegammai stays far away from ketchups and mayonnaise. “They are filled with preservatives, fat, sugar and salt. The only sweeteners that I use are brown sugar and honey.”
Yegammai makes a vegetable based salad and a fruit based one every day. Her customers, she says. “They range from age 25 to 60.” If required, she customises and replaces ingredients. For example, if she is preparing a salad for a vegan or someone who is lactose intolerant, she replaces paneer with tofu. She always consults with her clients for information about any allergies before she accepts orders. Recently she made zoodles with zucchini strips where she used an Italian sauce with herbs. Yegammai admits that sometimes she does get feedback that is critical. “One of the reviews said that my salad was bland. Now, I customise the spice levels too,” she says.
- Available from Monday to Friday
- Each salad box contains 300 to 500 gm and price ranges from ₹80-₹220
- The orders should be made a day in advance.
- Visit www.facebook.com/Incredibowl-101498778099396/ or call 098422 80001 for orders
Some of the salads she makes are more time consuming, she says, and says the Lebanese Platter is one of them. “It is made with parsley, crushed wheat, tomato, cucumber, carrot and olive oil. It took me a lot of time to prepare. One also has the option of ordering home made pita bread as an add on,” she says. Parvathi Vaidyanathan, a customer who follows a low-carb diet has been ordering from Yegammai for the past two weeks. “These salads are light and unlike the commercially available ones are not smothered in mayonnaise and sauces. The quantity is filling and and she also customises my orders,” she says.
Yegammai delivers her salads within a six kilometre radius around Race Course. She hopes to expand her area of delivery soon. While her salads are usually ordered for lunch, she says she will also be preparing them for dinner orders soon.
