DIY food kits on a platter

The spurt in people selling these food kits mean a gourmet meal is no longer out of bounds for novice chefs

Hyderabad: Lockdown made many chefs out of people who had previously not even yielded a knife, let alone entered the kitchen for anything beyond Maggi. However, as offices began to open, and families got back to their usual routine, time once again became sacrosanct. After the grind at work, going into the kitchen to rustle up a wholesome meal after all that disinfecting routine is a pain for many. That’s where savvy entrepreneurs saw a demand and soon, there was a spurt of DIY food kits being rolled out one after the other. With such kits, all one needs is a pot/pressure cooker and they can create a gourmet meal in just 15 to 20 minutes.

Quikish

Launched in December 2020, Quikish sticks to what its name suggest – you really do get a meal pretty quickly. A butter chicken kit comes with pieces of luscious marinated chicken, along with the gravy and spices, all you need to do is open the pouch, empty the contents and it’s ready. Some of their ingredients like lemon sauces come from Sri Lanka, tomatoes from Italy and basa fish from Vietnam. “Our USP is the premium ingredients and no preservatives. In our chicken tikka kit, you get 12 pieces of chicken, at a restaurant, you would get just six pieces,” says Rishikesh. Their fast-moving items are lemon garlic wings, Korean wings, butter paneer, Madras chicken curry, Chicken ghee roast. Quikish which is FSSAI certified and they opened a branch in Delhi and soon plan to open another one in Bengaluru. With over 31 items on the menu, the team plans to add more options in their vegetarian line. Contact: 7406114488.

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Kitchen Stories

Churning out a range of North Indian, fusion, Lebanese, Thai, Italian, and dessert DIY kits and gourmet sauces is the Kitchen Stories started by three enterprising ladies – Manju Dugar, Rekha Bhandari and Pallak Sancheti who wanted to bring global cuisine into Indian kitchens. They offer a range of sauces like pesto, chilli garlic schezwan, sriracha, penanh curry pastes and kits for making khow suey, pav bhaji fondue, alfredo and arrabiata pastas, paneer butter masala and toppings like nut crunch, caramel sauce, strawberry compote for desserts.

“The recipes have been tweaked by our chief food officers – Manju and Rekha. The ingredients are sourced locally and everything is made in-house and on order basis. The sauces last for 30 days in the fridge. If someone wants a Thai green curry, we provide the Thai green mix, cornflour and coconut milk, you just need to add vegetables or meat,” says Pallak. Their clientele is a mix of families who want a change of taste for a Sunday brunch or have guests coming over and bachelors who want to experiment. Contact: 9000881705.

Cook It Yourself

If you have a craving for Hyderabadi food, but don’t fancy ordering from a restaurant, there is always the delight of whipping up an authentic Hyderabadi dish at home. There is no need to worry about rustling up the ingredients as Cook It Yourself (CIY) has you sorted. Founded by Anam Mirza, CIY also came out of the pandemic and helps elders, bachelors, and busy-bees cook recipes. What you get in the kit are instructions to cook khatti dal, bagara baigan, Shaadi ka red chicken, talawa gosht, double ka meetha, sheer khurma, etc. Contact: 916304017855.

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