Feast on season’s specials in Iftar food kits made by home cooks in Thiruvananthapuram

It is that time of the year when all roads leading to mosques are filled with vendors selling fresh eats for those breaking the day’s fast after prayers. In addition to the ubiquitous fruit juice, samosas, vadas and cutlets, on sale are a bewildering array of eats, especially snacks soaked in the flavours of Malabar.

Iftar kit from Sheeba La Fleur
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Over the years, enterprising home cooks have begun offering Iftar kits for sale. Get the Iftar kit of your choice delivered to your doorstep. Thanks to home chefs in Thiruvananthapuram who have launched Iftar kits comprising juice, cut fruits, kanji (gruel), Malabari snacks, biriyani, bread and desserts, there is a lot to choose from this Ramzan season.

Iftar kit from Kolamass Kitchen
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Special Arrangement

Fruit juice, slices of fruits, dry fruits, breads like chapathi, orotti, pathiri, parathas,ghee rice, ottada, idiyappam, curry and biriyani are included in most kits. So also thari kanji, a semolina-based milk broth garnished with shallots sauteed in ghee. In addition, each home chef has the season’s specials in their kits.

La Fleur

Sheeba La Fleur offers two types of kits — a big spread with 13 dishes for three people and a smaller one with six dishes for two.

Sheeba La Fleur
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“A special is the sweet dish prepared with scrambled eggs, banana and dry fruits sauteed in ghee. It is often made in Muslim households of north Kerala for ‘puyyappla salkkaram’, (when the bride’s family spreads out a lavish meal for the bridegroom),” says Sheeba, who has been selling iftar kits since 2018.

The kits are available on alternate days of the week. On days the kits are not available, she sells haleem. Rate of the kits are ₹1,500 (big) and ₹550 (small). Contact: 9995288457

Kolamass Kitchen

At Priya Kolassery’s Kolamass Kitchen, the number of eats in the kit will go up from five to 10 next week. Among them is kuska rice, plain rice flavoured with onions, spices, herbs etc.

Priya Kolassery who runs Kolamass Kitchen
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Kits are served on alternate days. Or enjoy made-to-order West Asian desserts such as baklava, basbousa and kunafa, umm ali (Egyptian bread pudding), and muthabaq , a mini parcel with chicken and egg filling.

“Some dishes such as kozhiyum pidiyum which has rice dumplings in chicken curry, are prepared only if there is an order of at least 10,” For instance, kozhiyum pidiyum, which has rice dumplings in chicken curry. Mine is a dry version of the same,” says Priya. Rate: ₹550 (for big Iftar kit). Contact: 8138965577.

O’Roti

Malabar snacks are the highlight of the mini kit from home chef and entrepreneur Nabila Shanavas. “We have a big range of traditional snacks and three of them are served every day — while one is a sweet snack, the other two are spicy ones, mostly non-vegetarian,” says Nabila.

Nabila Shanavas who runs O’Roti
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Samosas itself come in 10 variants, ranging from dates, banana and dry fruits to chicken, prawns and meat to soya chunks. This is the time to indulge in different types of pathiris — the layered and deep-fried varieties of the traditional flatbread made with rice flour — such as athishaya pathiri , sweet adukku pathiri, dates pathiri, pazha pathiri and erachi pathiri, pola (pan-baked cake) varieties such as carrot pola, apple pola, sweet bread and Irani, chicken envelope, kalmas (shallow-fried snack with meat or fish filling), mutta surkka (deep-fried snack made with egg).

The kit can be collected from her restaurant, O’Roti at Kuravankonam or will be delivered through Swiggy Genie. Rate of the mini kit is ₹99. Contact: 9497828211

Yummyspot

Home chef Najiya Ershad of Yummy Spot has introduced Iftar kits for the first time and of the seven items in the kit, she talks at length about the masala kanji.

Iftar kit from Yummyspot
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“It is prepared just the way we used to make it at my home in Kottarakkara; we would call it arachuveezhthiya kanji. Nearly 30 ingredients go into it. Kaima rice is slow-cooked for several hours by adding a fine paste of coconut, spices, shallots, garlic, biriyani masala and turmeric powder among other things,” says Najiya.

Najiya Ershad
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She adds: “At least 80% of the customers order the kits to gift to their colleagues and friends.” Rate: ₹290. Contact: 7012523636

Baked N’ Cooked

Assorted Malabari snacks in the Iftar kit from Baked N’ Cooked
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Shahina Saif of Baked N’ Cooked has been selling Iftar meals for a few years now; this time she has an Iftar kit and a dinner kit. “The highlight of the Iftar kit is four types of Malabari snacks along with thari kanji, masala kanji and fruits. The dinner kit is a heavy meal to be had after Iftar, with four types of breads (chapathi, paratha, orotti and idiyappam), vegetarian and non-vegetarian curries, ghee rice and a dessert,” says Shahina.

Shahina Saif of Baked N’Cooked
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Rate: ₹199 (Iftar kit), ₹299 (dinner kit), ₹399 (both kits). Contact: 7012847606.