A House special Iftar

The Guide went in search of the best Iftar food being dished out from home catering services around town and got an opportunity to feast on Mughlai, Peshawari, Middle Eastern and Kutchi Memon cuisines

Last year, during the holy month of Ramadan, The Guide had gone in search of the best street food to be had during Iftar. While we discovered gooey Haleem, spicy kheema samosas, juicy seekh kebabs, handis of fragrant biryani and Shahi Tukda, we never thought our hunt for home cooked Iftar food would lead to a gastronomic mapping of the different strains of Islamic cuisine in India.

A Middle Eastern Iftar spread prepared byu00a0 Mahajabeen Sheikh
(Clockwise from right): Sambusak, Basbousa, dates, porridge,
Ba'shamel and Tabouleh.

Who knew that delicious, non-greasy, mutton mince or cheese-filled Middle Eastern sambusaks could be found in a Kamanahalli neighbourhood or a fragrant, Yakhni biryani cooked in mutton stock was waiting for us in an Indiranagar home and a kheema, egg and vegetable stuffed puffed pastry called Madina Roti, a Kutchi Memon speciality, was just a phone call away.

Biryani finds a fitting home in Indiranagar
The most persistent request Azra Sidhan, an Indiranagar-based fashion designer, has ever received from friends and family during get-togethers is 'Biryani Chahiye'. "I have been cooking for the last 27 years. And the request has been uniform at parties, birthdays and any family gathering. People always want me to cook biryani," says Azra. On her

daughter's insistence, Azra recently decided to take that plunge and turn into a food entrepreneur catering eight to ten varieties of biryani along with raita. Named after her daughter's nickname, Tona's The Biryani Place not only makes chicken and mutton variations of the basic biryani or the several layered Mughlai version but also a richer Yakhni style. Seer fish and prawns fried in a spicy green masala made of spring onions also partner fragrant basmati rice in the form of Fish Biryani. However, the biryani that is much in demand and a conversation starter at parties, according to Azra, is definitely her Yakhni Mutton Biryani which she learnt from her mother, a native of Peshawar. Chunks of goat meat (the rann or the shank portion of the animal) are cooked along with rice in a mutton stock. The spices and condiments are tied up in muslin cloth potli to make the rice fragrant while cooking.

What you get (we did manage to wolf down two huge servings of it) is every grain of rice coated with juicy, meaty flavours, garnished with caramelised and golden fried onions and fresh coriander. The dish wasn't spicy but came with a kick of freshly ground black pepper. The meat had been cooked off the bone and melted in our mouths, the fried onions adding a sweet note to the dish. Use your hands to polish off this meal. The meaty flavoured potatoesu00a0 in the dish were an additional delight.

Where Tona's The Biryani Place, 3rd Cross, Indiranagar
Call 9880181144
For A minimum order of four servings, Chicken Biryani R 150, Mutton Mughlai Biryani R 200, Yakhni Mutton Biryani R 250 and Fish Biryani R 275 onwards
A six to eight hour advance notice is required.

A Middle Eastern Iftar in Kamanahalli
We visited caterer Mahajabeen Sheikh's Kamanahalli kitchen expecting usual suspects like biryani, kebabs and samosas making it to her dinner table. But we were greeted with mutton mince filled Sambusaks, a Middle Eastern, elderly relative of the humble samosa, Tabouleh(broken wheat combined with finely chopped onion, garlic, tomatoes, cucumber and minced mint), Ba'shamel, a layered baked dish of pasta and meat cooked in a white sauce, topped with cheese andu00a0 a sticky sweet dessert made out of semolina and sugar called Basbousa.
Mahajabeen, who moved back to India in 2010 from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia after 26 years, was surprised to find a large number of Arab students in her neighbourhood of Kamanahalli who were dying for a taste of food from back home. And before long, she started catering lunch and dinner to four hungry mouths in the area from November 2010 under her brand Zawaqa (taste in Arabic).

The number of students have now swollen to 45 during the holy month of fasting. Mahajabeen specialises in authentic Arabic food. She makes Tamiah Rolls, lentil fritters stuffed with fried brinjal and potatoes with a tahina sauce in a wrap to Shorba Billham, a meat broth to stewed rice with mutton or chicken.

Mahajabeen warned us, when we were about to bite into her Sambusaks, that we might find them bland because Arabic food is not spicy. The mutton mince was non-greasy and perked up with slivers of onions and fresh coriander. We spiced it up with some hot and sweet ketchup. The Ba'shamel reminded us of Lasagna except that it was low on spices. The Tabouleh was a fresh, tangy and a healthy alternative to the richness of the other snacks. What we really loved was the Basbousa, the gooey semolina sweet that came with a slightly caramelised top that gave way to a sticky, crumbly cake within.

Where Zawaqa, 27, 3rd Cross , Kamanahalli
Call 725916059
For 1 kg Mutton Biryani R 850, 1 kg Chicken Biryani R 750, Short Eats Rs 6 onwards per piece

Best kept secrets from a Kutchi Memon kitchen
The samosa takes on a flaky, layered and delicate avatar in the hands of Frazer Town-based caterer Anisa Siraj. Known as the Warki Samosa, this multi layered pastry shell stuffed with lightly spiced mutton mince flavoured with coriander, green chillies and a dash of lime is a Kutchi Memon speciality, claims Anisa who belongs to the community. Anisa also makes other Kutchi Memon specialities like Madina and Kheema Rotis, Mutton Cutlets, Shikhampura and Shammi Kebabs, mains like Haleem, Khichda (a one pot dal, meat and vegetable dish), Trotter Curry, Bhendi Ghost (an okra and lamb curry) and the Kutchi Memon Biryani that uses saffron uniformly throughout the dish. Anisa's Kitchen, which has been in business for the last 29 years now, gets the most number of clients during the holy month of Ramadan.

Anisa and her cooks work in two shifts throughout the day from seven in the morning till sundown, after which the food is packed and sent off for home delivery. Anisa, who learnt cooking by watching her mother, started off by selling kebabs and sandwhiches at the weekend stalls at the Rajendra Singhji Institute (RSI) Club at her neighbour's insistence. She also does desserts like Firni, Muttanjan, a type of kheer flavoured with
saffron and candied fruit, Dal ka Meetha and Gajar and Pumpkin Halwa.

We tried the Warki Samosa, a multi-layered affair best had with a dash of ketchup and spicy kheema and boiled potatoes shaped into Mutton Cutlets. But what we would recommend you break your fast with is the Pakan, a savoury pastry resembling a namak para but with a thicker, shortbread-like consistency. Crunchy and with a sweetish aftertaste, the pakan is best had by itself.

Where Anisa's Kitchen, No 57, MDM Road, Mosque Road Cross, Frazer Town
Call 9845878300
For 1 kg Mutton Biryani R 900, short eats Rs 8 per piece onwards.
A day's notice is needed for any order.

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