Take your pick of authentic Sindhi or Tamilian food at these pop-ups

Mohini Ahuja and Nishek Jain

Tamilian food coma
OpenOut, a Bengaluru-based homechef pop-up experience company, has recently started curating meals in the city. For those who love exploring local Indian food, sign up for their Arusuvai Virundhu: A Tamil Feast. Arusuvai Virundhu translates to six taste elements such as sweet, sour and bitter. The host, Sundari Iyer, hails from a traditional Tamil Iyer family and hopes to recreate the joy of having a family meal together, complete with laughter and stories.

This sit-down meal experience will start with paanakam, which is made with jaggery, lemon, cardamom and dried powdered ginger to kick-start your appetite. This will be followed by neer mor, a spicy chilled buttermilk that contrasts the flavours of paanakam. The unlimited meal includes thayir pachadi, a Tamilian tempered raita made with curd, cucumber, tomatoes and occasionally lady's finger.

You needn't have to wait till the end of the meal for something sweet as payasam, a milk and rice kheer, is served at the start of the meal to signal sweet beginnings. Farsaan lovers will like masal vadai, a spiced-up crunchy lentil vada. More protein comes in the form of paruppu or cooked lentils, salted and served with molten ghee, which is supposed to be eaten with steaming rice. Two staples of the cuisine, sambar and rasam, are also part of the meal. For some veggies, look forward to cabbage carrot poduthuval dry, and avial, both made with a coconut base. Those who like it spicy can relish the urulai roast, or roasted spicy potatoes, and appalam (papad) to add some crunch. The meal will end with kesari, a semolina sweet dish.

On March 25, 1 pm to 4 pm
At Thakur Complex, Kandivali East.
Call 9742497111
Cost Rs 1,100

A taste of Sindh
There is so much more to Sindhi food than papad and aloo tuk. And if you wish to explore more, book a table at Twenty Nine for the Sindhi Lunch Maani Special. The menu has been designed by Mohini Ahuja, a regular at the restaurant, who happened to have a conversation about the dearth of venues to try Sindhi food, with owner Nishek Jain. Jain then got Ahuja on board to train his chefs and guide them to cook a Sindhi thali that will be available over the weekend.

"While travelling through various states, I realised that Sindhi cuisine, along with Bohri and Parsi food, is distinct and unique in a special way. They're almost like non-physical states of the country. Hence, when I met Mrs Ahuja, I instantly thought it would be an excellent opportunity for diners to explore Sindhi food. In a way, Twenty Nine will turn into her restaurant for the weekend," says Jain. "The beauty of Sindhi food lies in its simplicity. The flavours of the vegetables are retained due to the use of minimum spices. We are famous for our love for deep fried food. I remember learning from my grandmother the techniques of deep-frying bubbly, golden and super-crunchy papads and rolling out even chappatis with no patches (raw or charred), at the age of five," shares Ahuja.

The meal begins with thandai, followed by the popular tuk (crisp double-fried potato, arabi and suran variants); dal pakwan (chana dal served with deep fried flat maida puri); and paneer seviyan (cubes of paneer fried in a coating of vermicelli soaked in water). A few obvious inclusions in the main course will be sai bhaji (a spinach dish), koki (thick spiced roti), bhee (lotus stem curry), meetha rice, kadhi chawal and satpura (layered parathas). End this lavish meal on a sweet note with kheerni (vermicelli kheer) and Sindhi lola (sweet wheat flour roasted flat bread). The quintessential Sindhi papad will be served with chutney/pickle.

On March 24 and 25, 11.30 am to 3 pm
At Twenty Nine, near Cumballa Hill Hospital, Kemps Corner.
Call 65052999
Cost Rs 495
Compiled by Dhara Vora Sabhnani

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