MEAT MEETS GHADA
Manju Velkar’s household is always brimming with exchanges about food. The chef, who co-owns hospitality brand, Greedy Foods, feels ‘home-cooking’ is the lynchpin; it binds the family. “Bhogi chi Bhaaji is our annual customary comfort food. It transports me to my Pune days,” she says. “I was indoctrinated into this mélange of vegetables after our marriage,” adds Manju’s husband Soumitra. “We use fresh harvest — carrots, drumsticks, green gram, tender flat beans and brinjals are cooked in a mellow spice blend. We serve it with bajra bhakris (round unleavened breads of millet),” Soumitra, also a trained chef, explains. “The other indispensable dish is ghada, a typically Pathare Prabhu cuisine preparation I grew up on,” he says. The Ghada is a pot curry made with tubers and brinjals. The couple calls it a “cross between the Gujarati undhiyu and the Parsi umbariyu with the addition of prawns and ghol.” This year, the duo plans to supplant seafood with pork and can’t wait for their diners to experience the difference in taste. For the Velkars, Sankranti is less sugary and more meaty.