The Bohri thaal gets innovative with sushi and khow suey

The Dawoodi Bohras are a community of traders, travellers and keepers of tradition. They trace their lineage back to Yemen and the Fatimid Caliphate (Egypt). The Shia Muslim community arrived in Gujarat centuries ago, settling along India’s western coast, and from there dispersed across the globe, carrying with them their faith, language, and most importantly, their cuisine.

Growing up Bohri, I learned early that our relationship with food is anything but ordinary. While the world begins meals with appetisers and ends with dessert, we start sweet, move to savoury, and dance between the two throughout.

The centerpiece of this journey is the thaal, a large communal platter around which eight or nine people sit—a practice that dates back generations—sharing not just food but space and conversation. My earliest memories are of sitting around our family’s stainless steel thaal, my late grandmother, Khatija Fidvi, presiding with quiet authority, teaching us the unspoken rules: always begin with bismillah (in the name of god), never reach across someone, take only what’s directly in front of you, and above all, waste nothing.

The meal begins with a taste of salt to cleanse the palate followed by something sweet (mithas), perhaps sodannu, a simple mix of rice, sugar, ghee and chironji or on special occasions, malido, a golden wheat halwa fragrant with cardamom and nutmeg.

“Sweet starts to open the heart, savoury sustains the body,” my grandmother would say. She ran a Bohra catering unit from her home on Mohammed Ali Road in Mumbai for over two decades. Then comes the pivot. Within minutes, we’re moving to something savoury (kharas), a deep-red jangbadi chicken or a baked mutton dabba gosht.

But traditions don’t survive by remaining static.

During the summer holidays, I’d watch my grandmother scoop out a loaf of bread and fill it with her classic chicken in white sauce. The sliced top would be placed over the stuffing like a roof. A long crouton became the chimney. Boiled eggs, halved and placed upside down, served as a base for mint stems resembling trees. For me, this edible cottage was as authentic as a classic kaari chawal, never mind that it had no correlation to traditional Bohri cuisine. The thaal has always absorbed what delights us, quietly making room for the new alongside the inherited.

Chef Hussain Shahzad, executive chef at Hunger Inc. Hospitality, is Bohri but doesn’t actively cook Bohri food at his restaurants but holds on to memories of meals he’s eaten at home. “There was almost always this banana split-style ice-cream sundae. It had absolutely nothing to do with any Bohri culinary tradition, it was just there,” he recalls with a laugh. “I’ve also had chocolate halwa. Halwa, yes, that makes sense. But chocolate? That clearly came from somewhere else. Still, no one questioned it. It’s almost funny how quietly these things become tradition.”

The change today is being driven by caterers, who grew up in the narrow lanes of Bhendi Bazaar in Mumbai, and now serve a globally exposed generation. Abbas Channiwala of Ghoga Caterers, whose business has evolved over five decades, now offers Burmese khow suey, chicken sushi, French vol-au-vents, Malaysian red curry with garlic bread, even chicken Wellington, all within the thaal format. “The demand for global additions largely comes from younger, local clients,” he explains, “while NRIs often prefer more traditional menus.” It’s a fascinating paradox. Those of us in India, surrounded by tradition, crave novelty. Those abroad, seeking connection to home, want the flavours of memory.

In Pune, Ali Engineer of Degchi Catering Services, which launched in 1979, was once the go-to caterer for traditional fare like mutton biryani, cream tikka, chicken jungbari and mutton shami kebabs. Today, his Gold Thaal features Italian, Mediterranean, West Asian, and Pan-Asian influences, including nihari on a croissant, rasmalai tres leches, and baklava cheesecake. For Ramzan, he’s been experimenting with Nihari Tortellini with Saffron Bone Broth and Korean Gochujang Lamb Chops with Khajoor Glaze. “We’re elevating tradition rather than replacing it,” he says.

At Bhol Caterers in Mumbai Central, Alifia Bhol describes thaals featuring fried rice with Hong Kong-style gravy and Arabian rice. Their signature Black Beauty Mutton Bawra is a slow-cooked goat shoulder in black pepper and black bean sauce with rice noodles and has become a cult favourite at many Eid feasts. Her father-in-law, Shk Saifuddin Bhol was among the first to introduce Chinese food into the thaal in the 1980s. As a dietician, she introduced diet thaals in 2014, using air frying, steaming, and alternatives to khameeris and naans such as jowar roti.

Bohri cuisine itself is a testament to migration where Persian techniques meet Indian spices, Arab hospitality merges with Gujarati vegetarianism. “Growing up (in the 1990s), the thaal always meant celebration,” Hussain says. “The cultural strength lies in the ritual, in the rhythm of kharas and mithas, in the act of gathering. As long as that stays intact, innovation doesn’t weaken tradition. It keeps it alive.” At his chef’s counter restaurant Papa’s in Mumbai, his tasting menu begins with mithas and moves between sweet and savoury, a subtle nod to the thaal.

Abizer Harnesswala of Pune’s Abi’z Kitchen, caterers with a focus on Bohri cuisine, captures this with his Thai curry risotto, butter chicken kunafa and butter chicken lasagna. “The dishes should feel familiar rather than foreign,” he explains.

Yet certain anchors remain. Channiwala’s kacchi gosht biryani. Engineer’s mandi. The traditional mutton raan. These dishes preserve authenticity even as everything around them transforms.

I think about future generations, perhaps serving dishes I can’t imagine yet. Whatever they serve, they’ll still be doing what Bohris have done for generations: gathering around a shared plate, starting with something sweet, and remembering that the best meals are the ones we eat together.

Insia Lacewalla is a Goa-based food and travel writer.