With carols, lights, Santa-inspired decorations and general merriment in the air this holiday season, there’s one important element that ties all the cheery Christmas spirit together — food. From a traditional Pork Roast lining your dinner table to those delectable bits of marzipan sweets you swipe away from the kitchen, this season brings with it a variety of mouth-watering goodies that are all exceptions to all your dietary plans, because they’re simply too good to resist.
While a lucky few in Mumbai might have the good fortune of a home-cooked Christmas feast, most are left craving that special holiday season meal to no avail. But don’t fret if you belong to the latter half of that equation, because this year, we’ve got you covered.
These seven Mumbai-based home chefs mirror your Christmas spirit, empathise with your culinary cravings and whip out authentic and traditional Christmas dishes of your desired feast alongside a large helping of merriment. From a traditional plum cake to glazed ham and even a crackling suckling pig, these Christmas home chefs are gifts from the food Gods to satisfy your December dining desires. Santa Claus himself couldn’t have concocted a better list of festive feasts, so scroll on for your Christmas meal options, and chalk out your weekend plans this holiday season. Happy holidays to all our grumbling stomachs!
I. Christina Fernandes’s Turkey and Ham
If you missed eating Turkey on Thanksgiving Day or even if you didn’t, it doesn’t really matter once you’ve discovered Christina’s spicy and succulent Turkey, which is a must have for your Christmas feast. With a generous stuffing of minced pork meat, chopped veggies like carrots and beans, chicken sausage, fruits and nutmeg, pecan and Macadamia nuts, the South Mumbai home chef serves her turkey brushed with wine gravy, a side of roast potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce and a dash of cinnamon. Christina’s Turkey is an old family recipe but takes into account her client’s demands and taste palate.
She also makes delicious, moist leg of ham that comes glazed in two varieties : The rich, pineapple and rum and a tangy bourbon and honey will keep you finger lickin’ till it’s time for dessert of course. Out with your stretchy sweatpants already.
Cost: Stuffed Roast Turkey (Rs 7,500), Leg of Ham Glazed In Rum And Honey Bourbon(Rs 6,500).
To place order call: 91 98209 28420
Pick Up: Cuffe Parade
To read more about Christina Fernandes, click here.
II. Leah Drego’s Moist Fruit Cake
The talented homemaker turned baker is known for her absolutely sinful moist fruit cake that softly crumbles in your mouth leaving a sweet, fruity aftertaste. The recipe for this Christmas Special fruitcake is more than six decades old and has been handed over by the men of the family, generation to generation. Having learned cake-making from her father and brothers, Leah’s Gourmet cakes are wonderfully done. The Moist Fruit Cake is a must have this Christmas season but do check out her designer gourmet cakes as well and you wouldn’t need an occasion to dig into her cake. For a merrier celebration, get a customized cake. Leah also makes delicious Jujubes, Marzipan and chocolates.
Cost: Rs 1,200 a kilo
Call: 9870209669
Pick Up: Military Road Andheri East, Marol, Mumbai
III. Genevieve D’Souza’s Special Christmas Sweets
Known for her lip smacking East Indian preparations (she has even appeared on many Marathi and Hindi food shows), and drool worthy three tier wedding cakes, but delicacies like marzipan, date and walnut rolls, cherry blossoms, jugips, thali sweet and the moist rich plum cake are just some of her specialties. Genevieve races against time in December to complete her special Christmas Sweets List Order, but makes sure everything she makes is prepared meticulously with quality ingredients and lots of love and Christmas merry. Though she mentions that her order taking capacity is almost full, she might just make an exception, if you are lucky.
Cost: Starting at INR 1600/per kg.
Call: 9819457635
Pick Up: Vakola, Santa Cruz
IV. Jordan D’souza’s Turduckin, Crackling Suckling Pig and Turkey
There’s Christmas special Turkey, there’s a Christmas Special Chicken and there’s a Christmas Special Duck, and you probably can’t have it all unless you are Hulk......or can you? If it is all in one? Jordan D’Souza of JB Martin, Mumbai’s Number 1 Roast Masters have the answer to this in their Turduckin (read the name twice to get it) which quite a monstrer, that you’d love feasting on. Turduckin is a deboned Chicken stuffed with Tenderloin or pork or any other meat as per the client’s choice, which is then stuffed into a deboned Duck & then stuffed into a deboned Turkey.(1kg stuffing, 2kg chicken, 3kg duck, 6kg turkey). Are you daring enough to try this? Think again. They are the only ones who do it in India.
If you still think you can’t do it, then settle for their Crackling Suckling Pig, stuffed or unstuffed that is marinated to glory with either Traditional (BBQ, Honey Mustard, Cranberry, Plum), Med spicy (Goan, Blackbean) , Spicy (Chillibean, Schezwan), plattered with Exotic Veg or Simple Veg salad.
Jordan’s Turkey is absolutely delicious, no doubt, but it’s the variety of sauces that he offers with it that you lose your heart to. There’s the classic traditional roast sauce alongside the spicy Chinese, the piquant Mexican and the eclectic Continental. His turkey, stuffed with sauteed bread, potatoes and a variety of vegetables is his great grandmother’s authentic Anglo Indian Recipe that he cooks right before the customer arrives so that it stays succulent and juicy till it’s consumed.
Cost: Turkey(Rs 1,100 per kilo; depends on weight of bird); Turduckin (Rs 19,000); Suckling Pig (Rs. 7,500)
Call: 9819913114
Pick Up: IC Colony, Borivalli
V. Mani Vinaik’s Classic Christmas Rum Cake
Their ain’t no Christmas without a Classic Christmas Rum Cake. There ain’t no Classic Christmas Rum Cake like Mani Vinaik’s, who claims to soak her raisins in rum and wine for two months to extract the best taste out of them. Her initiative, ‘Through the Food Door’ has been spreading merry across households in Mumbai. The baker known for her traditional Christmas sweets makes her own recipes. The cherry on top (quite, literally) are the multiple flavours such as those of blueberries, apricots, cranberries that are put in. If you think you are not worthy of the entire cake, then you can choose to order Christmas loafs that are small on size but big on quality and taste.
Cost: Price of a one kg plum cake Rs 1600; Christmas loaf (weighing about 350 gm) is about Rs 400.
Call: 9987090418 or Email at manisaigalvinaik@hotmail.com.
Subject to Availability
Check out her Facebook page here.
VI. Shradha Agarwal’s Gingerbread men cookies
A perfect man: he’s rich, he’s sweet and if he misbehaves, you can bite his head off. No christmas is complete without a love affair with gingerbread men cookies, the best ones baked by Shradha Agarawal who makes them fresh and fluffy. Meticulously made and generously iced with egg white and sugar, she adds a pint of ginger and nutmeg to balance the sweet. What’s more? They come packaged in cute festive boxes. So Run, Run as fast as you can else you wont catch the gingerbread man,
Cost: 750 for 6 pieces
Call: 9930398884
You can check out their Facebook page here
VII. Katy’s Kitchen’s Full Traditional Christmas Meal
Though popularly known for their Parsi food, Katy’s Kitchen, now run by her son, whips out quite a feast on Christmas with their Full Traditional Christmas Meal that comprises of Florentine Fish, the East Indian delicacy of Pork Vindaloo, Irish mutton stew served with parsley buttered rice and stuffed roast chicken with buttered vegetables. Round up your meal with the sweet, fruity Laganu Nu Custard. We recommend ordering Katy Dalal’s signature Brandy Butter Christmas Pudding. This one is crammed with booze soaked fruit, almonds, candied ginger and grated apples served with a Hard Sauce, also known as Brandy Butter.
Cost: Check out their Facebook page here for cost of meal options
Call: 09820136511
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