26 December,2021 08:19 AM IST | Mumbai | Anju Maskeri
Hariyali fish tikka
Don't we all have those days when we just want to stay home, watch our favourite TV show and tuck into a comforting meal? That applies even to the Ramsays amongst us. Thankfully, help is at hand. Quikish is a new online platform that provides easy-to-cook gourmet meals. Hyderabad foodpreneurs Akshay Puljal, Hrishikesh Raj Saxena and Narendra Challa launched the brand earlier this year to make "restaurant-style homecooked food" easily accessible. The team claims that the contents of these do-it-yourself (DIY) single pouches are prepared using natural ingredients and are free of preservatives. It spares you the trouble of scrambling through the fridge for ingredients as they come with prepped meat and veggies, semi-cooked sauces coupled with step-by-step instructions. All you have to do is bring out your pots and pans, and get it on the stove.
Chicken haleem
The dishes are ideally meant for immediate consumption, but come with a shelf life of three days under refrigeration. The menu is extensive - vegetarians, pescatarians and meat lovers will be spoilt for choice. They have divided the fare into appetisers, mains, one-pot wonders, with separate sections for accompaniments, spreads and specials (barbecue packs). We picked the chicken haleem (Rs 236) because it's a dish that's hard to come by, along with hariyali fish tikka (Rs 278), dum aloo Kashmiri (Rs 176) and Rajasthani safed maas (Rs 348).
The haleem is a lighter version of the authentic Hyderabadi one made with chicken and broken wheat. After adding 500 ml of water, you put it in a pressure cooker and allow the steam to release naturally for 30 minutes. Once ready, the chicken pieces need to be mashed with a spatula for desired consistency. The nutritious bowl of pasty broth turned out aromatic, mildly spiced and with a generous amount of chicken. It was enough for two.
The dum aloo Kashmiri in yogurt-based gravy flavoured was rich and creamy. However, it was more Punjabi in flavour than Kashmiri, which is traditionally hot and spicy. The Rajasthani safed maas was a thick mutton gravy made from a cashew nut and almond paste. The meat was well cooked and went well with rice.
As frequent fish eaters, it's the hariyali fish tikka that we were looking forward to. The chunks were doused in a flavoursome mint and coriander paste and the result was delicious. Ready to eat is a much maligned consumer category and rightly so. But Quikish may have found the sweet spot between convenience and freshness, given it's no-more-than-three-days sell by date.
