Ramzan food special: Mumbai eateries serving iftari from Kerala

A portly middleaged man thunders even as he gasps for breath while climbing up to the first floor of Fortrsquos Hotel Deluxe ldquoWhere is my meen adardquo And before the 22yearold restaurantrsquos 58yearold coowner manages a reply he hollers ldquoI ordered 20 piecesrdquo As Abdul Naseer assures him that his parcel is on the way restaurant manager CH Basheer assures us that therersquos no fear of a brawl The man says Basheer is an old friend Yet theyrsquod rather not delay the parcel After all where the meen ada is concerned passions tend to run highDeluxersquos coowner Abdul Naseer and the restaurant manager CH Basheer remember the simple iftars back home in KeralaThe meen ada mdash fish masala coated with rice batter wrapped in banana leaf and steamed in a cooker mdash is among many dishes that have over centuries become peculiar to Keralarsquos iftar menu Luckily they now find place in the cityrsquos kitchens serving food from Godrsquos Own CountryDid any one say Mohammed Ali RoadPeppered with Arab influenceBy the fourth century Arab trade marked by the lust for spice on the Malabar coast was flourishing Ammini Ramachandran a culinary educator who has taught at New Yorkrsquos Institute of Culinary Education writes in Zester Daily an online food magazine that Arab traders would leave their shores in July heading to Kerala ldquothe heart of the pepper countryrdquo While some returned with the cargo many would stay on overwhelmed by the monsoons settling down and marrying local women This is how Islam was introduced to the state and Arab influences crept into local cuisineThe meen ada a snack made with ground rice and fish masala is steamed in an idli steamerInvestment banker Aneez Adam who spent four years studying the history of Keralarsquos food to prep for his Ramzan special popup store in Calicut explains that along with foreign traders came the knowledge of new food like dried fruits and cooking methods ldquoDuring their stay here the Arabs hired locals as cooks who soon became experts in the cuisine The culture spread slowlyrdquo says AdamThe kunji pathiri is made with steamed miniature pathiris made out of crushed rice and boiled meatFor instance Alissa a popular delicacy comes from Yemen ldquoIt is a semiliquid meat and wheatbased dish The dish was a revelation to a crowd that was used to having wheat only as a kanchirdquo he adds Another example he continues is the kheema ldquoWe have adapted the kheema to suit our tastes by adding coriander powder Today our iftar snacks such as erachi pathiri and kozhi pathiri are stuffed with kheemardquo he adds Even the small triangular Kerala samosa is similar to the one consumed by Arabs he adds ldquoThe main difference is that we have made them spicierrdquo he saysThe spread at Bombay Restaurant for iftar includes mutta pathiri chicken ada prawns ada unnakkaya and vegetable samosa PicsSuresh KKWhen Portuguese explorers arrived in Calicut now Kozhikode in 1498 piloted by Vasco da Gama they tweaked the local palette further ldquoThe Portuguese East India Company had trade relations here and they introduced a special breed of banana called the nendra pazham which is used to make the unnakkayardquo explains Abida Rasheed a Malabar cuisine expert who works with the Taj chain of hotels as freelance food consultantAn insiderrsquos treatIn the steamy nearly 200 sq feet kitchen at Deluxe head chef Jayaprakash Valabhan clad in a saffron lungi is busy preparing one of Keralarsquos most popular iftar snacks mdash kunji pathiri With a flourish he scoops up chopped tomatoes from a bucket placed near his station He adds these to a cooking pot thatrsquos already lined with onions green chillies and a generous dollop of ginger and garlic paste He sprinkles curry leaves salt spices and pepper When hersquos happy with the mix he adds boiled mutton and steamed miniature pathiris mdash breads made with rice In another corner of the kitchen a steamer whistles the one with meen adas for attention The waiters pop in shouting parcel orders and cracking jokes to save the staff from the pressure cooker momentBetween Deluxe Rehmaniya Taste of Kerala and Bombay Restaurant all in Fort there are six kinds of Kerala iftar snacks to choose from not including the meat variants However you wonrsquot find them on the menu Itrsquos only a select few who know they can ask for it during RamzanValabhan who has headed the restaurant for 14 years starts cooking at 12 noon aiming to finish by 5 pm They look at an order of between 100 to 150 pieces of snacks every day ldquoWe make small quantities as they require elaborate cooking The pathiris have to be rolled into small flat shapes and steamedrdquo explains CH BasheerCulture on a platterKeralarsquos Muslims says Sneha Nair founder of the popup Poppaddum break their fast with eethappazham pori or date fritters ldquoThere is also thari kachiyathu which is roasted semolina cooked in milk and the karri kanni a porridge made with milk water and dry fruitsrdquo Main course includes erachi and pathiri ishtew puttu mutton curry ghee rice or biriyani For suhur or the prefast meal before dawn most opt for light meals such as kanchi rice soup ldquoVariations include wheat or badam kanchi to prevent gastric issues Some have dried fruitbased drinksrdquo adds RasheedaMoidu the 65yearold owner of Bombay Restaurant located close to Ragunath Dadaji Street still recalls the first iftar that his restaurant hosted ldquoIt was in 1981 the same year that we opened the restaurant People came from all across the city for a Malayali iftar and we didnrsquot expect a large crowd People waited in long queues outside the restaurant But we somehow managed the showrdquo he laughsItrsquos 719 pm Outside a small crowd has gathered eager to dig in As the bell rings announcing the end of the fast we chat with Abu Bakr a Pune resident who is here after friends suggested he drop in ldquoI had come to Mumbai for a dental appointment and when I realised I would be on the road during iftar I decided to come hererdquo he says biting into an unnakkaya