Kobi Chi Vadi

Patkar was born and raised in Kemps Corner. She was only 13 when she made her first batata (potato) bhaji. "I grew up in a typical Maharashtrian family, and was always passionate about cooking. While we had many cooks at home, I would enjoy experimenting. This is something I learnt from both my maternal and paternal grandmothers," she shares. After the Maratha girl got married into a Gaud Brahmin family, her passion for cooking grew by leaps and bounds. "Finally, I got the kitchen to myself, and I began using it to fuel my passion. I used to go to people's homes for lunches and dinners and come back and make notes of the things I liked. Then I would add my own twist to the dishes and make my husband and daughter taste it."

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Last year, with her daughter having finished her Std X exams, Patkar's husband told her to take her cooking seriously. Her brother, who works in the event industry, started putting up pictures of her home-cooked Malwani food on social media , and her Instagram account suddenly drew attention. "If I am cooking for a few people at home, I might as well make an extra portion for those who liked my dishes. So I started catering, but the biggest boost was my first-ever pop-up in February this year." At Grand Peninsula, Patkar's one-week-long pop-up was extended to one month. All thanks to the guests, who loved both her vegetarian and non-vegetarian Malwani dishes.

Rashmi Patkar. Pic/Ashish Raje

"There is a Mahesh Lunch Home for authentic south Indian food, but where do you get restaurants serving coastal cuisine? I thought I should explore and expose everyone with this food in Mumbai. At this pop-up, I served bharli vangi, solkadi, kharvas, usal and poha and batata papad. For non-vegetarians, there was crab curry, prawn curry, and almost anything that would make you feel you are eating at a Maharashtrian home," she adds.

So in May this year, her catering page—The Dabbawali—came into being. Subsequently, Patkar did her first cross state pop-up, in Kolkata. "Bengalis loved my Malwani food and in fact found similarities with their homestyle cooking. For us, it's prawn curry, and they have something like a malai curry. Here, we make kobi (cabbage) vadi, and there they make it without the veggies, but with besan (grand flour)."

While she loves the colour of her recently-made pomfret curry, her favourite invention is a vegetarian dish—mirchi chi amti (chillies in coconut curry). "It looks as good as a prawn curry, minus the prawn. Yesterday, I got a call from a friend who had my food, and said, 'I don't need to go to Gajalee anymore'. I think it is the best compliment I have got so far."

If you want to attend her next pop-up, write to her at rashmi.pat25@gmail.com

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