Chef Manimaran at Puppy’s Bakery in Anna Nagar takes a bit longer than usual to whip up my mini-meal – the Asian salad. But watching him layer my food I know it is worth the wait. He puts the wet ingredient – in this case the sesame honey dressing – at the bottom, then a layer of thinly sliced carrot, purple cabbage next, followed by pineapple, broccoli and tomato. The bright and beautiful colours of the garden fresh vegetables look so visually attractive through the air tight glass bottles that I can’t wait to experience the novelty.
“You can shake it, stir it with some mustard sauce and eat it straight from the jar,” he tells me. With a long spoon I twirl the vegetables inside the glass jar and take a spoonful and swirl it around in my mouth. The vegetables crunch in the juicy flavour and it is a familiar taste. I have always loved the taste of the salad here presented beautifully on a plate before.
Now it is as much the taste of the food as the utensil used to present it, says Vichitra Rajasingh, CEO Puppy’s Bakery. Mason jars as a trend may be passé but still everybody seems to be going crazy about them and Vichitra has led the way in bringing them to Madurai. Crazy shakes, diet salads or fattening desserts, people are lapping it up in the new format at her eatery.
There is a novelty in just shaking, stirring and eating or drinking your meal, she says. The attractive colours of ingredients and the visual presentation of the item make it look so appetising but the portions are controlled. People on the move are happy to carry it and eat it without any fuss or mess, she says.
Given the jar size, they look like short eats but are actually wholesome. After several rounds of trials and testing, the chef has introduced five types of nutritionally dense salads with garden fresh vegetables and proteins layered to perfection and balanced with delicate dressings.
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For the non-vegetarians there is the Mexican salad with chicken cubes, corn, tomato, cucumber, onion, jalapeno, lettuce, baked beans dressed in salsa. The gym going and health-conscious youngsters are demanding keto and paleo diets in the jar. For them there is the Creamy Paneer with chunks of cottage cheese, broccoli, mushroom, lettuce, cheese and pepper in creamy mayonnaise dressing or the Bunless Burger keto-friendly salad in a jar containing minced meat, pickle, onion, tomato, cheese lettuce done in Thousand Island. There is the protein jar too with egg slices, chick peas, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, green beans and lettuce with honey mustard dressing.
Priced between Rs.135 to Rs.175, a dozen jars move each day on an average and Vichitra is happy at the pace of her new menu at the renovated eatery. Some customers order the salad in a jar because of the excitement to see clearly the quality and colours of the items used but prefer to empty out the contents on a plate or in a bowl for eating.
And then there are the smaller versions of the glass jars – that resemble the jam bottles – and are packed with desserts. They come at a flat rate of Rs.95 each and are mousse and whipped cream based. The bakery has introduced seven flavours including the seasonal mango mousse in caramel sauce, the rainbow and the red velvet cheese cake, the chocolate oreo cake, white chocolate and red cherry, nutella and blueberry. “We cube the cakes and use gelatine-free mousse and sugar syrup for setting in the jar,” says Chef Manimaran.
The customers are happy taking the Puppy’s dessert jars home as collectibles. The mason jars with their handles and polka dotted colourful lids are also slowly finding and firming their place in few other eateries across the city. (Check out the freaky shakes at Mad Fellas in K.K.Nagar).
Easy to eat out from and easy to carry, the mason jars are here to stay. The world over they are used to make and transport meals from simple salads to savoury dinners and diet lunches to sweet desserts. The fun has just begun here. The competition is such!
Jar facts:
Mason jars were invented by Philadelphia tinsmith John Landis Mason. He named the jars after himself and patented his design in 1858.
There are a few characteristics in the design of Mr. Mason’s jar that made them so popular. It was the first time bleached glass was used, allowing canners to see what was inside and determine if canned food was still safe to use for consumption.
An estimated three million canning jars were sold around the 1940s when the jars were used to preserve the summer’s bounty for enjoyment (or survival) when nothing would grow in the winter.
