Mumbai five-star wants to serve you homemade Maratha Warrior fare

Draped in a pink shade of magenta that matches her bindi chef Sugandha Polke greets us at the Bandra Kurla Complex Sofitel hotel An aching knee has left the 62yearold with a slight limp but her eyes shine behind her goldrimmed spectacles Her hands in a namaste she takes seat on a sofa at the Pondicherry Cafeacute on the hotelrsquos ground floor Her 40yearold daughter Varsha sits next to her patting her in affectionSugandha Polke 62 and her daughter 40 were invited to create the menu for Pondicherry Cafeacutersquos ongoing Great Maratha Warrior Food Festival This is the first time the Vashi residents cooked commercially PicsSameer MarkandeFor the next eight days the mother and daughter will be in charge of the threeyear restaurantrsquos 240squarefoot kitchen Their brief To offer diners a spread of authentic Maratha Warrior fare Along the lines of what they make at homeVashi residents Sugandha and Varsha are home chefs and this is their first venture outside their home kitchen into a commercial enterprise The restaurantrsquos chef de cuisine Milind Dhonsekar says the hotelrsquos general manager Biswajit Chakraborty learnt about the duo through a common acquaintance ldquoThus when we decided to hold the Maratha Warrior food festival he suggested that we invite herrdquo says DhonsekarSugandha Polke prefers to use a mortar pestel to mash chillies instead of using an electronic blender Maratha Warrior cuisine is categorised as the food eaten by Maharastrian farmers 300 years ago The farmers from the Mawala community formed the army headed by Shivaji in 1670s The food is characterised by its lightness mdash think the opposite of the rich Mughlai food Think bhakri roti made of jowar and bajra lassoon garlic kanda onion thecha powdered garlic chutney The Maratha kingdom was spread over coastal Malvan and ghati plateau regions and covered Sangli Pune Kolhapur and Solapur from where Sugandha hailsHome to the hotelSugandha and her daughter however arenrsquot the first home cooks to don the chefrsquos hat in a fivestar kitchen They are not even the first to do so at Sofitel ldquoLast year wersquod invited a home chef to curate a Malvani food festival last yearrdquo says Dhonsekar What the motherdaughter duo represent is the increasing comfort that hotels seem to have to home chefs because ldquoit is a great way to offer authentic traditional fare to guestsrdquo ldquoWhen it comes to simple homecooked fare we canrsquot beat home chefs It gives us an opportunity to learn and gives them a wider outreachrdquo he says admitting that getting Sugandha to agree to be a part of the festival was a task in itselfTry the bharli vaangi and mutton ukad prepared by Sugandha ldquoBada kaam hai khaana banana Hotel mein banana risky hota hairdquo Sugandha admits While she can speak in Hindi she is more comfortable in Marathi Once in a while when we are unable to decipher some words Varsha steps inSugandharsquos journey in the kitchen began at the age of 12 under the tutelage of her mother The next year she got married ldquoMy motherinlaw was very particular about food and I have taken several scoldings to master our cusinerdquo says Sugandha who has not yet shared the family recipe of ghati masala mdash a mix of jaiphal nutmeg jaivitri mace lavang clove tej patta bay leaf haldi turmeric methi fenugreek and jeera cumin mdash that is used to spice up the dishes with anyone Not even Varsha ldquoIt will be passed on to us only when she is on her deathbed While we know the ingredients the process remains a secret She makes it when we are not at homerdquo laughs Varsha who is a school teacher at a BMC school and on leave for this as the project needs them to present from 9 am1 pm and 3 pm9 pmIn May Powais Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel invited 12 home chefs from Secret Indian Recipe a blog for home chefs across India for their Sunday brunch Home chefs restaurants say offer a peek into traditional fare Without revealing any secrets however Sugandha has managed to get help from Varsha to create a menu for that boasts of bharli khari vangi suke chicken mutton ukad bombil chutney basundi and puran poli Dhonsekar says the restaurantrsquos chefs first had a tasting session with the duo which was followed by a briefing after which the two were taken through the workings of their kitchen ldquoMost home chefs are used to cooking for a maximum of 10 people Our staff helps them out with quantity planning sourcing ingredients and cookingrdquo he addsReservoir of recipesIn May Sandeep Pande executive chef at Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel invited 12 home chefs from Secret Indian Recipea blog for home chefs ldquoNone of them had any professional training Yet each of them created a lavish spread for our Sunday brunches The idea is to offer guests a taste of quaint recipes which give a hint of a homecooked mealrdquo says Pande who brought his own signature to the dishes ldquoWe had matkecha usal which is usually served in a bowl To this we added a crispy khichya papad chilli oil chopped onion and dried chutney In the end it looked like a laksa or a khowsueyrdquoSome times the homechefs leave behind more than a happy memory Pande incorporated a Bengali kofta recipe provided by one on his menu ldquoThe meaty dumplings were made of Kalia fish and the gravy was high on mustard Today it has become our bestseller On the other hand we took inspiration from a coconut jaggery and cardamom modak and turned it into an Indian pancake Home chefs are a treasure trove of micro cuisines that date back generations This is how we can peep into their tattered diaries with semi torn pagesrdquo he addsOpportunity on a platterThe relationship is symbiotic Where the hotel gets a new cuisine in its repertoire the home chef gets the stage to showcase hisher skills Money can either come in a lumpsum or a profitsharing module which could range from anything between Rs 5000 to 20000Last October food blogger and consultant Saee KoranneKhandekar curated a coastal Koknastha and central Maharastrian Deshastha thali festival at Four Point Vashi Sheraton Khandekar who ran the show for a fortnight created the menu trained kitchen staff for three days and even shared recipes ldquoBharli vaangi and ratalyache kaap are my specialty I supervised the staff through all the dishesrdquo she smiles The festival Khandekar adds has been a boon ldquoI bagged another consultancy project and received inquiries for teaching and menu curatingrdquoBut can a restaurant bring them on permanently Delhibased chef Ritu Dalmia has her reservations Always on the look out for home chefs for her Diva restaurants Dalmiya says ldquoThe only problem with home chefs is that there is no longetivity in their commitment If their maid bunks they will not meet the orders either Thus this trend of inviting them for popups and festivals is idealrdquo