From a football coach to home chef, Anslem Alphonso's inspiring tale

Alphonso started a delivery kitchen service on August 31 from his Mazagaon home

"I was brought up in a poor household, but that couldn't stop me from playing football. I have been playing and coaching for close to 40 years. It has been a good run," says Anslem Alphonso, 64. A childhood spent in a Goan home meant meals of rice, seafood, coconut. "Both mum and dad were passionate cooks. I loved watching them cook for me and my four siblings," he remembers.

Buff roast

While Alphonso, who grew up in Mazagaon, loved his sorpotel, taking up cooking professionally was never on the cards. Football was. "I started playing in the 1970s at St Mary's in Mazagaon. We won many laurels then. But in 1988, I changed course to become part of a bomb squad team in Saudi Arabia. I worked for the government for about one-and-a-half-years," he tells us, adding how this stint in the Gulf made him take up cooking more seriously. "While we had a cook there, I would often enjoy cooking for myself. I think that was my first real exposure to the kitchen."

Chorizo pulao

After he returned to Mumbai in 1991, he took to soccer and began coaching across the city's schools. "From the all-girls Canossa High School to Holy Family, and now a senior coach at St Mary's SSC in Mazagaon, I've witnessed our teams perform wonderfully. Some have even played at state level," says the former secretary of the Mumbai Schools Sports Association's (MSSA). By now, Alphonso says he had barely any time to cook. But he'd help his wife pound masalas sometimes.
With her passing eight years ago, Alphonso decided to take up cooking again. "I have three kids - two daughters and a son; they would say 'dadda, make this for us', and I could never say no. My cooking has surely evolved over the last decade."

Paya gravy

With the national lockdown, Alphonso could no longer coach. Cooped up at home, he decided to turn to what made him happy to take his attention away from morbid news. And a delivery kitchen was launched on August 31. Coach's Kitchen sees him collaborate with his youngest daughter Astrid. Together, they are cooking up a storm. "We only make Goan dishes like paya gravy, pork vindaloo, buff roast, chicken cafreal, prawn curry, mutton xacuti and sorpotel. We have a pre-decided menus for delivery on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. You need to place an order two days in advance," he shares about home-cooked meals. "And most favourite dish, the sorpotel, has been the best-selling recipe."

Pork vindaloo

Taste Test

We tried the chorizo pulao and fried fish [pomfret] from Anslem Alphonso's kitchen. The sausages added flavour to the veg stir-fried rice. The packaging was home-style and the food, hearty. What we liked most was that the pomfret was stuffed with masalas pounded at home. It was not too spicy and had the exact amount of crisp in it. It was a wholesome meal, and came at a reasonable price.

Follow: @coachskitchenmumbai; Instagram. Order: 9930568885

Anslem Alphonso with the team of Canossa High School during a match in 2009. Pic/Atul Kamble

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