A meal from the mountains of Garhwal at this pop-up in Andheri

The spread that will be served at the dinner

There is a garden in your backyard. In it, bottle gourds have reached a state of ripeness. The pumpkins are full-grown, too. So you pluck them and take them back into the kitchen. Then, you go for a walk and chance upon kachnar, or orchid tree flowers, strewn on the ground and think, "Why not hunt for some stinging nettle as well?" This leads to a bit of foraging and when you finally reach home, you prepare a meal with all the ingredients you now have at your disposal. It's a simple, no-frills affair. But most importantly, you know exactly where all the food on your plate came from.

Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal

We are, of course, not talking about a city like Mumbai here. Such a scene, though, is de rigueur in the mountainous region of Garhwal, in Uttarakhand. It's a place where homes don't usually have fridges. The locals are born with a green thumb. Foraging is almost a way of life. And families are so hospitable that if you're a guest in someone's home, you are guaranteed an extra spoon of ghee.

That same hospitality is something Mumbaikars can experience as well, at a pop-up featuring a Garhwali dinner that will be held this weekend. Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal, who runs APB Cooking Studio - a space in Andheri East dedicated to all things food - is hosting it. And she tells us that her intention is to showcase how Garhwali food is more than just daal-chawal, as the popular perception goes.

Ghildiyal tells us, "A lot of the variety in Garhwali food comes from seasonal vegetables. Some are really common, like regular gourds. But things like stinging nettles, kachnar and fiddlehead ferns are local to the Himalayas. And since Garhwal, in its evolution, was cut off from the rest of the population, we have a spice profile that is our own. One of the things we use for example is jathiya, or wild mustard. It has this lovely nutty crunch and is used for the tadka in vegetables."

She adds that the meal will have a daal that's tempered with jambu, another locally grown spice. There's also kafuli, a spinach-based dish. A simple mutton curry - which is how all meat curries in Garhwal are - also features on the menu. So, sign up for the meal if you're in the mood for uncomplicated food and take a sensory trip far from the maddening crowd.

AT: APB Cook Studio, Saki Vihar Road, Andheri East.
TIME: 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm
LOG ON TO: authenticook.com
COST: Rs 1,500

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