Dabbalicious

Remember the old cooking oil ad where a mother lovingly packs a meal for her son while an S.D. Burman ditty from yesteryear plays on in the background? Kishi Arora’s kitchen in Delhi’s Preet Vihar fills you up with the same sweet nostalgia. The citrusy aroma of fresh narangi achaar as you enter the swanky kitchen is most inviting, even as fluffy beetroot puris, crisp and spicy baby brinjal, aromatic chhole and raita woven with fresh spring onions and pomegranate seeds, even a wholesome glass of black carrot juice, get whi­pped up in super quick time. Kishi’s bespoke chocolate goodies are a real seller too.

After graduating from a culinary school in the US, Kishi, 33, got into food consulting here in Delhi before starting Mama K Treat, a gourmet tiffin service, along with her mother Kanan Bala. The meals are wholesome, nutritious, calorie-crunching and, well, a tad exorbitantly priced (Rs 500 for a moderate-sized dabba). “We don’t want to over-commercialise, it would become  a burden...so we take just 8-10 orders a day,” says Kanan, who says she started cooking at 14. Like any of today’s suave mom-turned-entrepreneurs, she combines indigenous ingredients with whatever the modern palate craves. Cooking with a twist, as they say. Ever heard of a veggie purifier? Mama K Treat uses one to clean fruits and veggies for 30 minutes meticulously before they hit the pan. And soon, the kitchen is lined with little dabbas of amrood ki chutney, edible flowers in appetising desserts, paav bhaaji with brinjals and freshly picked veggies from the home garden, and myriad dips and sauces. Of course, all made using freshly-ground spices.

Dip in Kanan Bala and daughter Krishi. (Photograph by Jitender Gupta)

In Mumbai, macrobiotic nutritionist Shonali Sabherwal rustles up a fancy 90 per cent organic tiffin that’s dairy-free, sugar-free, yeast-free and even maida-free. SoulFood, started in 2008, is all about catering to the fussy urban consumer. “After many years of practice, trial and error, I perfected the way to monitor fats and nutrients in a meal. It’s entirely home-made, even the sau­ces,” says Shonali, who’s had actors like Jacqueline Fernandez, Neha Dhupia, Esha Deol, Shekhar Kapoor and Katr­ina Kaif line up for her treats. There’s a separate menu each day—from Moro­ccan, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Bur­m­ese to fancy desi fare. Even as the modest dabbawala in Mumbai charges Rs 50 a lunchbox, a typical Italian lunch at SoulFood costs Rs 500 a box.

So is this the latest twist to urban gastronomy—the gourmet tiffin? Well yes, if the many takers for it are to be believed. Vismaya Firodia Bakshi, 40, who works with a travel company in Mumbai, finds Shonali’s tiffins healthy and innovative. She signed up for it when she wanted to drop post-baby weight five years ago. “I realised that eating healthy is a long-term goal. If I can go for Burmese and skip to Chinese in the subsequent meal, or stick to a healthy paav bhaaji or a low-cal biriyani, what more can anybody want from lunch?” True, and with the growing business, experts are also taking note: Arjun Sawhney, founder of online food group Eat Treat, scours the web for the healthiest finds. He says, “It’s the future. Delhi and other cities are so polluted that the food supply is poisoned. Org­anic food is a revolution in the making at this point. Among today’s health-conscious youth, organic and macro diets are increasingly popular. They want more than daal-roti...and it helps that they can afford such services.” A nutritious meal earlier meant labouring in the kitchen for hours. Now a handful of home-based services are catering to the finicky “tiffin crowd”.

Bangalore’s Tapan Kumar is CEO of ITiffin, a new calorie-conscious, scientifically designed wholesome food ser­vice with macro and micro diet nutrients. These meals, which cost less than the gourmet tiffins in many other cities, go for Rs 800 a week. “You cannot make this food at home,” Kumar assures you. “Our meals are hygienic, fresh, conveniently packed and low on calories.” Tapan’s venture is more ambitious too; his food is cooked by the 20 chefs on his rolls. Meanwhile, Tarani Kapoor, a textile des­igner based in Delhi, started tlc Kitchen in 2013. She categories her meals as oriented towards “weight management, a diabetic-friendly, healthy heart programme” which is “calorie-controlled”. The usp is customised meals put together by some 20 chefs and nutritionists. “ceos, housewives, fashion designers, they have all fallen in love with our food,” she says. The gourmet dabba has indeed put the zing back into lunch-hour.