Keep calm and curry on

Dive into Mumbai’s melting pot of cultures through the taste of curries whipped up by its myriad communities

In a city that’s always in a hurry — its citizens often seen chopping vegetables on the local train commute — Sunday offers an excuse to slow down. A trip will be made to the market; seafood or meat will be haggled over; and the aroma of a slow-cooked curry will waft through the afternoon breeze, demanding a bellyful of siesta. This is the curry-laced memory that culinary chronicler and consultant Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal has of Sundays in Mumbai. “Since childhood, curry has been a source of comfort. My mother whipped up a special coconut curry. We’d often have dhansak at my father’s Parsi friend’s house. So, that became a Sunday curry association,” she reminisces. A house help’s Maharashtrian curry, and a sampling of curries by East Indian, Bohri, and Koli colleagues further spiced up her nostalgic longing for the comfort food, she adds.

This October, Ghildiyal, along with travel curators No Footprints, will celebrate the essence of curries, communities and Sundays. Titled The Mumbai Sunday Curry Project, the initiative will comprise four Saturday cook-along sessions, where Ghildiyal will dive into Mumbai’s melting pot of cultures, one curry at a time. Harshvardhan Tanwar, co-founder, No Footprints, reveals that the idea is rooted in the quest to learn the history of the myriad communities that call Mumbai home. “While growing up, I was introduced to a host of fare from different communities — be it salli marghi or Bohri curry — through the tiffin boxes of my schoolmates. Once I started working in this field, I realised how historically and culturally important the food was,” he  adds.

East Indian maasachi curry that Ghildiyal will be demonstrating

Ghildiyal, who’s been documenting spices, will guide participants on how to cook curries unique to four communities: East Indians, Parsis, Bohris and Kolis. Participants will receive sets of spices — Koli masala, bottle masala, dhansak and sambhar masala, and Bohri kaari masala — for each session, along with a bonus Sunday masala. 

“I know that among many communities, curry is ubiquitous round the week. But for me, curry means a break from routine,” she explains, musing upon how the concept of Sundays possibly came about as a result of colonial influence. “Sundays are synonymous with special meals that you enjoy together. Curries are also a way to spread flavour. Flavourful curries can be made on a tight budget, too; the slow-cooking process turns the most unpopular cuts of animal protein into something delicious,” she informs us.

Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal and Harshvardhan Tanwar

During every session, Tanwar will take participants through a historical background of each community, before Ghildiyal steps in to give them a taste of their culinary culture. There’ll be recipes for vegetarians too, she promises. While for non-vegetarians, she’ll make a Koli prawn curry; for vegetarians, there’ll be her mother’s lentil and coconut curry. “For the Bohri mutton kaari, I’m doing a veg version with cauliflower and potatoes. For the East Indian session, I’ll make a maasachi curry; the vegetarian version has a soya keema-based curry. And, for the Parsi chicken dhansak with mince kebabs, the meat-less iteration is a veg dhansak with cauliflower kebabs,” she reveals.

From: October 9 to 30, on Saturdays; registrations open
Log on to: @nfpexplore on Instagram for registration link
Cost: Rs 1,499 onwards

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