Sundays on #FinelyChoppedTV are #foodocracyforher days and in this episode, I speak to Mumbai based Parsi home chef, Mahrukh Mogrelia who runs Mahrukh’s Kitchen. Mahrukh’s food talks of the times of yore and has a certain rustic flavour that one does not see in the Parsi food of Mumbai today. This made me order from her weekly menus Sunday after Sunday for my wife who is Parsi. She loves Mahrukh’s food, as do I. I am Bengali of course. In this chat Mahrukh, who hails from Navsari in south Gujarat, talks about how the migrant Parsis opened their kitchens to local culinary influences and adopted local produce to create a cuisine of their own which is distinct from that of their forefathers who lived in Iran before they migrated to India. It’s not all food in this episode, as Mahrukh tells us about various other Parsi traditions such as the gara (a Chinese embroidery which is used for weddings and other special occasion clothes) and the chalk (the Parsi version of the rangoli). She also tells us about her fascinating entrepreneurial journey from running her mom in law’s beauty parlour in Mumbai to making Parsi winter food delicacies for sale to introducing international travellers to Parsi food at home to creating Parsi weekend menus at home post the lockdown. ‘Stay creative and challenge yourself’, is Mahrukh Mogrelia’s words of encouragement and advice to all battling the adversities of the pandemic world. You do not want to miss this one!
