Shaheen will tell you enthralling stories about the history and culture of her home region and you will get to taste the recipes that are influenced by both Maharashtrian and Mughlai cultures,which have been passed down through the generations in her family. You will enjoy a meat-centric meal prepared with homemade spice mixtures and cooked using a method of slow cooking called dum’ ka khana that gives Shaheen’s food its rich flavor. Your meal might include solkadhi (a coconut milk and kokum drink), meat kebabs that have been shallow fried, yakhni pulao (her signature rice dish cooked in mutton stock), pandhara rassa (mutton soup), mutton curry made from a special family recipe and phirni (a creamy dessert made from rice and milk).
Please note that this is a cooking demonstration, not a hands-on cooking class. You will join Sama in the kitchen to watch her prepare 2-3 authentic Muslim dishes that you will eat along with other prepared dishes eaten with rice and Indian breads.
Rashida has been conducting personalized and exclusive tours of Mumbai for well-traveled clients for more than a decade. She shares a unique perspective of Mumbai through her city tours and expertly guides you through the city. You will be picked up from your hotel in South Mumbai in a chauffeur driven car and then begin exploring Mumbai's bustling markets giving you some of the truest glimpses of the city’s inner workings. Your tour can be completely customized based on your interests. You will visit Crawford Market, one of Mumbai’s main markets, built in the days of the British Raj, where fresh fruits, vegetables, poultry and spices are for sale. <br> Once your city tour is complete, you drive to Rashida’s beautiful old world apartment, located on an upmarket residential street in South Mumbai.
Simeen and Amish offer a dining experience that brings to the table a mix of traditional Parsi and Gujarati cuisine. The meal starts with popular Gujarati farsan (savory snacks) such as dohkla (a light cake of fermented rice and chickpea flour), patra (colocasia leaves filled with batter, rolled and steamed) and khandvi (bite-sized rolls of gram flour and yoghurt). <br><br>The main menu includes Parsi dishes such as mutton sali boti (goat curry topped with fried potatoes), dhanshaak (lentils and vegetables perked with spices), chicken farcha (Indian fried chicken), patra ni macchi (fish cooked in green chutney wrapped in banana leaves) and traditional Gujarati mains such as fansi-dhokli (tangy dish made with French beans and gram flour) and batata nu shaak (potato combined with sesame seeds, curry leaves and ginger-green chili paste, topped with coriander). You meal is accompanied by Gujarati or Parsi dal, served with chapattis and rice. Finish with a Parsi custard and Indian sweets.
Join Nina in her kitchen and learn how to make 2-3 of the dishes such as sookhe matar with badam (almonds with peas in a cashew gravy) and jeera pulao (cumin-flavored rice). You can expect to be cooking for 1 hour before you share the meal you helped prepare over conversation with your host
A typical lunch with lunch would start with a cold aubergine salad, followed by selection of dim sum, tofu in black bean sauce, Sichuan style fish, Macanese chicken curry, garlic stir fried vegetables and egg fried rice, with sago Melaka for dessert. The beautiful thing about Tejal is her attention to detail. She offers a varied selection of flavors, colors and textures to make up the entire meal.
Yakuta will prepare a typical Bohri Muslim meal which includes a refreshing kokum sherbet drink (traditional Indian summer cooler great for curing acidity) followed by staple celebratory meal called khuddal palidoo or dal chaval palidoo (lentil rice served with a curry) served with bengan bhartha (roasted eggplant, mashed and cooked with spices) and chana bateta (chickpeas and potato in tamarind sauce) followed by a traditional Bohri dessert called thuli made of sweetened cracked wheat. <br><br>Yakuta can also offer a typical Parsi meal of mutton sham aak or masonry ma gosh (mutton curry and rice) or saace ni machi (fish cooked in a tangy white sauce). If you are looking for a Maharashtrian meal with a twist then Yakuta is the one! Try her teesrya, shellfish cooked in fresh coconut with greens and pickles.
Traditionally, the meal begins with a pinch of salt on the tongue, followed by a sweet dish, such as a peach soufflé. This would be followed with savory dishes, such as fried chicken, then another sweet dish like halwa, and then another savory dish, like leg of lamb served with a special naan. This leads to the main course, perhaps her mutton curry with rice, served with a salad, pickles and chutney.
Overall my experience was really great. Shilpa and her husband were really welcoming and we had some great interactions. The food was really amazing and Shilpa seemed really dedicated at showing off Indian Punjabi food.
Malvika and her dog will greet you at the door of her apartment. Once you settle in she will offer you a refreshing welcome drink made with cumin seeds and served with boondi (crisp, fried gram flour balls). As you snack on appetizers suck as pakora (fritters) or dahi bhalla (lentil dumplings in yougurt sauce) Malvika will tell you about her culinary and cultural background. She might tell you about how her father gave her a cooker for her birthday when she was learning to cook, or how her marriage into a Maharashtrian household and her new life in tropical Mumbai introduced her to Konkani cuisine, which she has completely integrated into her culinary repertoire. <br><br> Malvika can cook both an authentic Punjabi and Maharashtrian cuisine for you. Your meal will be served in a silver thali and may include butter chicken, amritsari chole (chickpeas in a brown curry), bhindi masala (okra), dal makhni (lentils), missal pav (a spicy curry usually made of sprouted moth beans served with a bun), pav bhaji (vegetable curry served with a soft bread roll), prawn curry and shrikhand (a sweet made of strained yogurt). She also makes some seasonal pickles and chutney that complement the meal.
Mumbai Magic Tour organised a driver to collect us from our hotel. Our dining hosts were delightful and very knowledgeable on nutrition and traditions. As we attended on a Hindu festival day, they prepared special food. It was very relaxed, good conversation and tasteful lunch. Thank you!
An absolutely amazing experience! Food was amazing and Reshma was knowledgeable and very friendly and kind. Would definitely recommend doing this.
This culinary experience was amazing! We are not vegan but wanted to learn more about plant based meals. The dishes we made were hands down some of the best meals I have ever had! They were so simple and we felt amazing after them. But the flavors were an explosion of goodness. The hosts were truly inviting and was wonderful talking and getting to know them. Would recommend this to everyone especially those who enjoy flavorful food !
You will be greeted by Nithya, Jaideep and Duke, her Labrador, at their apartment in the centrally located neighbourhood of Dadar. Nithya is a Tamilian Brahmin and her food and cooking style and are heavily major influenced by the Iyengar community in south India. As you sip on your welcome drink she will tell you how the cooking of the Iyengar community is largely rice-based and is traditionally prepared without any onion and garlic. They use a wide variety of legumes such as lentils, parrupu (pigeon pea), ulundu (black gram) and kadalai paruppu (split chickpeas) and, like all south Indian food, there is also the use of coconut. <br><br>A traditional Iyengar lunch/dinner might include two to three varieties of rice, such as coconut rice, tomato rice or yogurt rice which are be eaten with kuzhambu (lentil and vegetable stew), saturmadu (a tangy soup seasoned with spices), vegetables in coconut gravy, or china urilakizhangu (small roasted baby potatoes) and paruppu usili (french beans). No south Indian the meal complete without appam (a pancake made with fermented rice) and poppadum (thin crispy wafers). To finish you’ll enjoy a sweet rice pudding called payasam. Despite the numerous restaurants in Mumbai that serve south Indian food none can compare to the taste of traditional home-cooked meal like this one!
Abi was our guide/host. She has an Interesting background- started in banking and, after many years, has switched paths now focusing on her passion for cooking!The market was fascinating. My daughter (11) and myself enjoyed seeing so many different fruits and veggies. We also popped into a local store to see all the different dried lentils and beans they use. Abi had a driver that made it super convenient to get around between market and her home. Once in her home, which was beautiful and a perfect glimpse inside daily living, we cooked a few dishes together. Abi had also prepared food ahead of time so everything ran very smoothly/was well organized. We had a traditional meal and even got to eat it on banana leaf “plate.”I highly recommend this experience for anyone interested in learning about Indian cultural and cuisine.
Mahrukh welcomed me into her home and taught me about a variety of Parsi dishes. She was a very gracious host, and always made sure I was enjoying myself. First we went to the local market, to see where Mahrukh buys her meat, fish and vegetables. Then we returned and made 3+ Parsi dishes. I even had a go at making a very wonky chapati! Mahrukh and her family were very attentive and it was very interesting to hear about their background and life in Mumbai. Would absolutely recommend!
Join your host Rachna in her kitchen and learn how to make 2-3 of the dishes you will be eating. You may learn how to cook either her famous kebabs or a curry and vegetable dish. You can expect to be cooking for 1 hour before you share the meal you helped prepare over conversation with your host.
You will be welcomed by Deepak and Tamanna into their simple but artfully decorated home. Deepak collects antiques and you’ll see artwork and crystals displayed around their home. They are perfectly matched as Tamanna loves to cook and Deepak loves to eat! Deepak handles the marketing and promotion of their catering business while Tamanna focuses on the cooking. <br><br>As you enjoy a welcome drink, perhaps angoori lassi, a grape drink often prepared in Tamanna’s home city Delhi, and a snack of samosas (just try to figure out the secret ingredient!) Deepak will tell you how they got the idea to use bitter gourd in one of India’s most beloved dishes, the biryani. Her method takes two days to prepare and requires an intensive process of boiling, drying and roasting the bitter gourd to get rid of the bitter taste. <br><br>Tamanna hails from Delhi in north India and her cooking has a strong Mughlai influence. In addition to her famous biryani, you’ll get to taste some of her other signature dishes perhaps including her meltingly tender mutton shaami kebabs, anari shaami kebabs (vegetarian kebabs made of pomegranate seeds), chicken rezala (chicken curry), gobi gosht (cauliflower and mutton), lagan ka paneer (a vegetarian take on the famous Hyderabadi chicken dish), dry fruit kheer (pudding) or sheer khorma (vermicelli pudding). You can be assured that in every meal there will be a surprise dish with a secret ingredient from Tamanna’s innovative kitchen!
Faiziya will welcome you into her traditional home and will greet you with a refreshing drink called rooh afza, a fresh lime soda with a mint garnish. She will tell you about the Cutchi Memnon cooking style and dishes she has been preparing for over 20 years. The cuisine is meat-centric and is famous for using slow cooking techniques and liberal use of spices like saffron. <br><br>At the dining table you will receive a written menu of the dishes will be served. The meal will be presented on chinaware and served in courses. You might start with mutton harissa (goat stew with cracked wheat) followed by mutton samosas or kebabs, a whole stuffed chicken or nalli nihari (slow cooked lamb stew) all served with bread and biryani. Top it off with a sweet dish, possibly Faiziya’s khubani ka meetha (apricot, custard and cream).