Mumbai Food: Madh Island pop-up Rajasthani dishes are lip-smacking good

Gorge on laal maas, a Rajasthani dish, at a pop-up in Madh Island

This happened over a decade ago, but the memory is as clear as if it were yesterday. A bunch of us had driven down from Delhi to Jaipur to spend New Year’s Eve at a friend’s place. We reached his home around 8.30 pm and had immediately sat down for dinner after freshening up. This meal, which his mother had cooked, starred laal maas. None of us had ever had this local delicacy before. But, it was love at first bite. The red-hot gravy with succulent pieces of mutton swimming in a pool of ghee was so utterly delectable that we had eaten like there’s no tomorrow. Yes, our stomachs did groan in protest the next morning. But these complaints fell on deaf ears given how satisfactory our culinary experience had been.

Now, Mumbaikars, too, can get a taste of laal maas cooked the way it is in Rajasthan’s capital. For, when Sureshi Prasad and her husband had gone to Jaipur only a few months before our own trip to the friend’s place, their socks had also been knocked off when they had their first meal of laal maas and rice. “I later met a person there who taught me the recipes,” the Uttarakhand native says, ahead of a pop-up she will host at her Madh Island home where both these dishes will take centre stage.

It’s going to be a full-blown Rajasthani affair, actually, with other favourites like pyaaz ki kachori and gatte ki subzi on the menu as well. But our suggestion is that you keep space in your belly for the laal maas. For, it’s an experience you won’t regret, even if your stomach throws its hands up in despair.

On: January 26, 1 pm
At: Pascal Wadi Road, Madh Island.
Log on to: authenticook.com
Cost: Rs 900

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