Market Tour & Parsi Home Cooking Class in Mumbai

What your day looks like

Host Bio: Mahrukh lives with her husband, son, and daughter in their ancestral home in the old-world Ness Baugh, situated in South Mumbai. By day Mahrukh runs a beauty parlor, but cooking and feeding her friends and family has always been her passion and she jumps at the chance to serve authentic Parsi food to travelers from around the world! Mahrukh first started cooking at the age of 7, when was so tiny that she needed a step stool to reach the gas burner. Her biggest fan has always been her father, who was always delighted to eat whatever his little daughter cooked with happiness and pride. She learned all of her cooking techniques from her mother and grandmother and delights in keeping old family recipes alive. Meal Description: Mahrukh lives in an old Parsi colony giving you a feel of the community's unity and strong bonds. Before you enter the house you will notice that the doorstep is decorated with beautiful rangoli designs. Rangoli is an art form in which decorative patterns are created on the floor in living rooms or courtyards using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals. Mahrukh will welcome you with a warm smile into her apartment that has been decorated with her daughter’s beautiful sketches and other artwork that reflects the creativity and artistic nature of the people who live in this home. Later, join Mahrukh and her family for an authentic Paris, meat-centric meal. Your meal might include dishes like saria and lagan nu achaar (rice crisps served with homemade date pickle), tam tamata prawns (prawns in a spicy, tangy sauce), jardalu na gosht (tender lamb, slow-cooked in an intense apricot gravy topped with crisp salli), roast chicken, and finally lagan nu custard (a dense, luscious baked caramel custard topped with nuts and served with vermicelli and sweet yogurt). Cooking Description: Together with Mahrukh learn how to prepare two of the dishes you will be eating. You might learn to make some of Mahrukh's signature dishes like akuri (Indian scrambled eggs), patra ni macchi (steamed fish topped with chutney and wrapped in a banana leaf) or chicken pulao and daal (chicken with basmati rice topped with browned onions and lentils). After you've finished cooking sit down together to enjoy your meal, which will also include a variety of other dishes that Mahrukh has prepared in advance. Market Tour Description: You will be greeted at Mahrukh's home with raspberry soda, which is an integral part of every Parsi meal. As the saying goes “Parsi is raspberry, and raspberry is Parsi.” You’ll then be taken to the Grand Road Market, where Mahrukh will show you how she buys all her fruits, vegetables, meats and fish.