“Over at Suman Khan’s AchchaKhana.com, Shia and Bohri specialities are cooked fresh daily as per orders placed 12-to-24 hours in advance. Khan claims she grinds all the spices herself, a practice she picked up from her Punjabi mother and grandmothers growing up in Lucknow while her husband Irfan, also a Lucknow native, shops for fresh vegetables, meat and seafood for her every morning.
We highly recommend her dum biryanis (from Rs.800/kg) for iftar parties. Get the mutton dum biryani unless you have no choice but to compromise for a chicken or vegetarian version. A kilo is served in a gigantic aluminium foil box with a large tub of garlic, aloo (potato), doodhi (bottle gourd) or boondiraita and is good for a family of six to eight. Her melt-in-your-mouth galouti kebabs are easily on our top five in the city as are her vegetarian shammi kebabs, all cooked and smoked with desi ghee.
Chicken biryani
The mains are equally lip-smacking: There’s Bhuna Mutton Kheema, Chicken Shahi Korma, Mutton Dal Ghosht, Haleem, Khichda and Nargisi Kofta for the meat-eaters and Kashmiri Dum Aloo, Paneer Korma as well as other Punjabi gravies for the vegetarians at your party. Other star dishes include Mutton Chops, Malai Kebabs, Seekh Kebabs, Nargisi Kebabs and fish starters served with home-made tartar sauce as well as Chana Kebabs (falafel), Paneer Skewers, Dahi Ke Kebab, Hara Bhara Kebab and Soya Seekh Kebab.
Another reason to love AchchaKhana.com is that even their rotis andparathas travel really well across the city. If you must do breads, surprise guests with saffron and milk-infused Sheermal, Peshawari Katlamba Paratha or the Kheema Paratha.
All the food is packed in leak-proof plastic and aluminium foil containers and delivered in insulated bags. At a house party a couple of weeks ago, we fed our extended family of 20 and it was probably the only time we didn’t cook and serve anything but papad, which was made at home, to our guests. Compare this to a Chinese, kebab or pizza take-out for any other night of catering to guests at home and you’ll have to go shopping for chips, julienne veggies, whip up a dip, boil rice, roll out chapatis or assemble other easy appetisers at the very least. The Khans do a really good job of sending you everything you might need for an impromptu party (including cutlery if you ask nicely). Don’t forget to order dessert and shop for some vanilla or dried fruit and nut ice cream; it goes really well with Suman Khan’s warm home-made Pineapple Halwa or Shahi Tukda. If you want to play it safe or offer party guests more variety, there’s also Rawa Halwa and Kheer.
AchchaKhana.com, seewww.facebook.com/AchchaKhanaKhao for more details or call 90299-51961 to place an order. Both home chefs only cater and deliver within Mumbai city limits.
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