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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  The sin from Sindh
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The sin from Sindh

Spicy and rich with lashings of 'ghee' and lots of variety, Sindhi food is stepping out of home into commercial spaces

Motuu’s Qila at Gurgaon.Premium
Motuu’s Qila at Gurgaon.

It’s perhaps no coincidence that two of the relatively new Sindhi diners, located 2,200km apart, are symbolized by generous girth. Fat Sindhi in Bengaluru and Motuu’s Qila in Gurgaon have different owners, but they celebrate basically the same philosophy: rich, flavoursome Sindhi food that is going to make you very happy, and possibly a few kilos heavier.

“I think fat people are the happiest," quips Kailash Bajaj, chef-owner of Fat Sindhi, who gave up his corporate job a few years ago to explore the food business. His mother Anju is well-known in the city’s Sindhi circles for her catering service, and Bajaj, 32, says he noticed there was a gap to fill. Non-Sindhis were curious about the community’s food and just needed more access to it.

“I set up a regular dal pakwan (crisp puris with chana dal and chutneys) stall at Sunday Soul Sante, a platform for entertainers and retailers, and it was a hit. I followed it up with a snack counter at BTM Layout and then, in February, I opened the café-style Fat Sindhi in Koramangala, serving Sindhi meals and snacks," says Bajaj.

Up north at Motuu’s Quila in Gurgaon’s popular food hub Baani Square, chef-owner Abhishek Jagasia, who is 29 (his grandmother’s nickname for him inspired the name of the restaurant), says: “I started Motuu’s mainly to recreate what we eat at home. Motuu’s isn’t meant to make profits, just to showcase my grandmother’s recipes."

Kanchan and Sannat Ahuja of Sindhful.
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Kanchan and Sannat Ahuja of Sindhful.

His diner does indeed do a mean Sindhi thali: spicy, rich, with loads of variety, and easy on the pocket, if not on the tummy, given the generous use of desi ghee. As we sample koki (wheat-flour flatbread with onions and whole seeds) with an intense garlic potato, and then spoon the gentler kadhi flavoured with kokum on to the fluffy white rice, Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi break into the energetic Jaanu Meri Jaan through the speakers, a 1980 hit I haven’t heard in a while. The mood is throwback all right, matched by the enormous steel thals, tumblers, dabbas, dim lighting, rustic wooden tables and charpais across the two-level restaurant.

Sindhi cuisine has always been a niche culinary tradition, its secrets best kept in the kitchens of the community dispersed by Partition. There are a handful of cookbooks that will guide you on how to perfect the tangy Sindhi kadhi and feisty sai bhaji (dal cooked with spinach and vegetables) but, till some time ago, if you wanted a dal pakwan, a Mumbai local only had the option of certain sweet shops or street carts in Sindhi-dominated areas such as Chembur, or at the Kailash Parbat chain of restaurants, or further away in Ulhasnagar in Thane. But new avenues are opening up now, and in other cities as well. If it’s Parsi cuisine that has been creating a buzz the last few years, Sindhi food is subtly making its way up the regional food charts.

A biryani from Sindhi House, Gurgaon.
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A biryani from Sindhi House, Gurgaon.

“Some non-Sindhis believe that our food is basically like Gujarati food, a little sweet, or like Jain food, without onions and garlic," says Pratik Jiwnani, 29, who set up Sindhi House, a counter at a Gurgaon mall, because he felt his community’s food was missing from the country’s otherwise varied culinary landscape. Having run a clothing store in the same mall, he joined the food business after a culinary course in Singapore.

Sindhi House is an experiment which could lead to other branches in the National Capital Region. “I have priced most dishes below 200, so people may not mind giving it a shot," says Jiwnani. Young Sindhis like him see sense in reviving what they view as a fading culture, dusting off old family recipes and reinventing them to suit modern lifestyles and curious palates.

The Papad Co. in Thane, started by 30-year-olds Dilip Verma and Tarun Kamra, childhood buddies who grew up in Ulhasnagar, attempts to stir memories of the crunchy Sindhi favourite. “We were often teased in school as being ‘Sindhi papads’; every Sindhi will be able to relate to that name (papad-making was a common Sindhi household activity and spun many small-scale businesses). But surprisingly, our café sees a 60:40 ratio of non-Sindhis to Sindhi customers. We also do lots of corporate lunches, and cater to old-age homes. On weekends, we have Sindhi couples coming in, as many Sindhi dishes are time-consuming and labour-intensive," says Verma.

In most of these new ventures, it’s the personal touch that makes the difference. In Mumbai, mom-and-son duo Kanchan and Sannat Ahuja’s delivery service Sindhful opened in May to rave reviews for their sai bhaji with bhuga chawal (spiced fried rice), mutton keema pattice, mutton kofta and, of course, the all-time favourite dal pakwan. All the dishes are prepared by Kanchan and a small team of chefs and the final tasting is done by Sannat and his father. They deliver in Bandra, Santacruz and Mahim via Swiggy, Zomato and Scootsy.

Sannat, 26, who quit his corporate job some years ago, finds himself just as busy as before. The only time he gets a breather is in the afternoon, in between lunch and dinner orders, when he tells me that they have been doing about 60-85 orders during the week and 90-120 on weekends. “We also cater to the health-conscious, so we try and keep the use of oil low where we can, even though Sindhi food does depend a lot on deep frying," he says.

In Pune, the online food delivery start-up HausKhaas, which curates “Lost Recipes of India", is offering a few Sindhi specials by home chef Veena (who goes by one name only), a 60-plus veteran of the cuisine. “Through our ‘Lost Recipes’ campaign on social media we have been trying to educate our customers on what the cuisine is all about, the spices commonly used, its origins and nuances," says Pavithra Sampath, part of the HausKhaas team.

Bajaj of Fat Sindhi and Jagasia of Motuu’s do their own cooking, having picked it up by watching their mothers and grandmothers. They cook daily, in two batches, use only fresh ingredients, hand-made masalas, and no preservatives. Bajaj even likes to shop for the meat himself.

Sindhi cuisine has a rich history. The cuisines of Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan have had an impact on Sindh’s food culture, notes Alka Keswani, a food consultant who documents her culinary expertise on her food blog Sindhirasoi.com. “The invasions by Soomros, Sammas (both Rajput tribes), Mughals and even Arabs influenced Sindhi food habits to a great extent. For example, stuffed parathas became popular under Sikh influence; tidali dal (a dish that uses three dals) and panchratni dal (five dals in one dish) were also adapted from Punjabi cuisine and so was karaha prasad (wheat halwa). Kebabs were a fallout of the Muslim invasion, while exotic ingredients like saffron, rosewater, pistachios were introduced by Persian rulers. Later, food like malpura (known as malpua elsewhere), gheeyar (Sindhi jalebi), papda (known as fafda in Gujarat) got absorbed in our culture thanks to Rajasthani influences," says Keswani.

Slow cooking, layers of garam masala and tangy flavours characterize Sindhi cuisine. “Most of the dry vegetables, meat and fish dishes are cooked in a base of sautéed onions, tomatoes and dry spices or in a Sindhi-style pesto called sao masalo (sao means green). It is basically a pounded mixture of garlic, ginger, coriander leaves and green chillies," Keswani explains.

The resulting flavours are not something you can forget quickly. “Sindhi food is easy to like," says Bajaj. It also surprises you at every turn, especially in its sweet and savoury combinations. “Koki with rabri, bori (whole-wheat flour roti crumble, tempered with ghee and sweetened with sugar) with papad and lemon pickle, seyun (sweetened vermicelli) with shallow-fried potato chunks, karaha prasad with boiled green moong or black-eyed peas, lolo with yogurt, kadhi rice with sweet boondi, tayri (fennel and saffron flavoured rice, sweetened with sugar or jaggery) with bhee patata (lotus stem and potato curry) are some of the most popular ones," says the Thane-based Keswani. She is most happy to settle for a bowl of steamed rice and piping hot Sindhi kadhi loaded with okra, drumsticks and cluster beans, garnished with juicy, sweet boondi paired with crisp alu tuk (double-fried crisp potatoes) on a lazy Sunday.

Ask a Sindhi her favourite food memory, and it strikes an immediate, wistful chord. “When the Sindhis moved across the border after Partition, they left their entire culture, except their culinary traditions," says author Saaz Aggarwal, who wrote Sindh: Stories From A Vanished Homeland, which has a few recipes, including the classic one-pot meal sai bhaji. “It’s one of those ethnic dishes that defines a community: combining the nutritional riches of spinach, dal, and a basket full of various vegetables, tedious to prepare but good to taste."

Our chat reminds her of a lovely Sindhi poem by poet Bharti Sadarangani, called Zibaan, which speaks not of the Sindhi language, or sayings, but of classic delicacies. “What we remember," explains the Gujarat-based Sadarangani, winner of this year’s Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar for her collection of Sindhi poetry, over the phone, “is the taste of the food, not the language. This is our identity now. It is the only surviving part of our history. So if people are opening doors to Sindhi cuisine, it could be a good way to promote Sindhi culture, to let it live."

Where to Sindhi?

Gurgaon

■Sindhi House, MGF Metropolitan Mall, MG Road

■ Motuu’s Qila, Baani Square

Pune

■Climax of Flavours, Amanora Town Centre, Hadapsar

■Hauskhaas.com

Mumbai

■The Papad Co., Manpada, Thane (West)

■Home delivery from Sindhful, Khar (West)

Bengaluru

■Fat Sindhi, Koramangala

■Indian Kitchen, MG Road

24 hours in a Sindhi kitchen

Brekkie

■Dal pakwan

■Koki with dahi, papad, achar, dry sabzi

Lunch

■Sindhi kadhi and rice

■Sai bhaji with bhuga rice

■Thumbh mein machchi

Snacks

■ Keema/chola pattice

■Dal cutlet chaat

■Bhee chips

■Seyal maani

Dinner

■Teevan curry

■Bhugal ghosht

■Jheenga pulao

■Masaley waara bhee basar with rice

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Published: 28 Oct 2016, 01:07 PM IST
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