Mumbai’s Mohammed Ali Road-Bhendi Bazaar area becomes a Mecca for food lovers during the holy month of Ramzan. While a group of devotees offer Tarawih, special prayers in the sacred month, at the iconic Minara Masjid and other mosques in the densely populated locality, hundreds fill the restaurants and crowd at roadside eateries, eating smoky kebabs, piping hot payas, simmering nalli nihari, spicy chicken changezi. Those with sweet teeth sample sugary, mouthwatering malpuas, crunchy jalebis and succulent firni.Not all these delightful delicacies, though, have been prepared by the local khansamas, bhatiyaras or cooks and chefs. Some of them have been cooked by chefs and cooks from outside Mumbai. Not just from predictable places such as Hyderabad, Delhi and Lucknow, but also from small towns and kasbas such as Moradabad, Sambhal, Amroha, Indore and Surat.Since Mumbai is home to several large restaurants and catering houses, many of the cooks get hired by the proprietors for a month.Take Mohammed Chand from Hyderabad. Famous for preparing haleem, pather gosht (baked on hot stone platforms), Hyderabadi haleem, biryani and nihari, Chand has been visiting Mumbai during Ramzan since 1991. Son of Mohammed Ahmed, a cook employed in the royal kitchen of the Nizams, Chand says he carries a rich legacy created in the culinary craft.“It was the late Jaffer Bhai Mansuri of the Jafferbhai’s Delhi Darbar who would invite my father annually in Ramzan. I have offers from different places but prefer to work with Jafferbhai’s son Hassan as we have developed a bond,” says Chand.“Chand Bhai is like family. We hire him mandatorily during Ramzan,” says Hassan Jaffer Mansuri of Jaffer Bhai’s Delhi Darbar Catering Division. “He accepts whatever we give him as remuneration,” adds Hassan.At the tiny Mughlai Paratha-Galouti Kebab joint at a corner of Khadak near Minara Masjid, Saad Qureshi and Islam Qureshi from Lucknow are busy rolling and baking parathas while the galouti kebabs get pan-cooked. Proprietors Parvez Koradia and Saad Pattanwala are busy selling them.“These boys are very efficient. We pay them Rs 1,000 daily each plus free lodging and food,” says Koradia. “Ek mahine mein 30,000 bahut hai (Rs 30,000 in one month is enough),” smiles Saad.“Look at these hot parathas and the galouti kebabs. The parathas are not oily and the kebabs are so tender they melt in the mouth,” gushes Amin Parekh, a local resident.A few shops away is Ali Hashmat’s famous ‘Ali’s Biryani’ and ‘Barah Handi’ joints. Popular as Ali Bhai, Hashmat says he established his business in 2001 soon after Covid. “We are originally from Murdabad but honed our skills at a family-owned restaurant in Kaliya Sharief near Roorkee. I did not have to attend any cooking class to learn it as we learnt while we worked, experimented and innovated,” explains Ali Bhai. “We are three brothers and six bhanjas (nephews) engaged in cooking and selling food,” adds Nazir Ali, Ali Bhai’s younger brother.The ‘mamus-bhanjas’ run Barah Handi restaurant is an iconic 1897 establishment which Ali Bhai bought a couple of years ago after it remained shut for some time. Though it sells different dishes including chicken changezi, seekh kebabs, malai tikka and kaju keema, its Moradabadi biryani outshines all in taste and reputation. Local MLA Amin Patel hosts many close friends over Ramzan dinner at a friend’s office at Mohammed Ali Road. Among a dozen dishes that the guests comprising bureaucrats, journalists and politicians, in batches, enjoy at Patel’s dawat, Moradabadi biryani from Ali Bhai’s kitchen earns huge applause. “He uses authentic masala and the right proportion of meat and rice in the biryani. This has become a Ramzan specialty,” says Patel whose Ramzan treat is eagerly awaited by friends.
