Today me and my mom decided to get lunch from Pinstove, since we both are recovering from a stomach infection and so home-cooked meal is a much safer option when compared to most restaurants… So, this time, I went for the PinChef Namita and chose her Simple Veg Meals… In addition to that we went for a few extra curries and a Payasam as well… This is the 3rd time I am ordering from the PinChef Namita as the past two experiences with her food has been great for us… This is primarily because of two reasons:
- Both me and my mom liked how her vegetarian food tasted as usually even in restaurants, we have been finding it difficult to get good tasting vegetarian kerala meals as they all tend to focus mostly on the non-veg stuff and the veg parts end up being there for namesake… I find this chef to be an exception there…
- As I have mentioned before, us being from Thalassery, culturally our eating habit is such that we eat more of the side dishes than how it is here down south where people tend to eat less side dishes and more rice… So, again its another difficulty we face all the time where when we buy meals from outside, we get a lot of rice, enough for all 3 of us in one portion but hardly enough side dishes to have even a morsel of rice with and buying 9-12 portions for the 3 of us is not practical as we will have too much left over rice than what we would know to do with… So, here too this PinChef is an exception where we find that the quantity of the side dishes are satisfactory for us…
So, having liked PinChef Namita’s meals from before, when we saw that her menu is available today, we went for the same… So, what we ordered this time is what she calls her Simple Veg Meal which consists of Rice, Chammanthy, a Pickle, one Curry and a Thoran, and then along with it, we ordered a few extra side dishes including Sambar, Potato Mezhukkupuratty, Cabbage & Carrot Thoran, Aviyal and then for dessert, the Ada Pradhaman Payasam… It all came well packed, delivered by PinStove staff, as shown in the pics below…
So, first, lets talk about the Simple Veg Meal… As per the menu, it consists of Rice, a Chammanthy, a Pickle, an Ozhichucurry (a loose curry to mix the rice in) and a Thoran… The individual item thats given keeps changing on a daily basis and so, today, we got along with the Chammanthy, a Mango Pickle, the less spicy one which we call as the Maanga Curry, a Mooru Curry (a slightly thicker version of whats known as Pulissery) and the thoran was made with Beetroot as shown in the pics below…
First of all, the rice was the Chemba Rice and was cooked perfectly… The Chammanthy was perfectly balanced in terms of flavours with the flavours of the Chillies (green and dried red), Curry Leaves and Ginger very visible along with the coconut… The level of spice was just perfect for me… The Maanga Curry was also at the perfect level of spiciness for me… The mango pieces were indeed crispy… The Mooru curry, I was a bit skeptical as usually in most places it tends to be too sour for me… But this time, again, it felt perfect… Its a bit thicker than most places and again the flavours of the turmeric, the slight hint of the chilly powder, along with the flavours of the fried onions, the curry leaves, etc felt really well balanced… The Beetroot thoran, once again, felt absolutely clean with the flavours of the beetroot and coconut coming thru quite well… Altogether, its an incredibly good tasting meal that to me is definitely one of the best I have ever had…
As I said, before, the quantity of the side dishes were perfect for me… Me, my mom and my grandma ended up sharing this meal and we enjoyed this meal very much… Now, as I mentioned above, and as shown in the pic below, we did also get a few extra side dishes as well… It was with the hope that we’ll use them later, but seeing them all together, we simply couldn’t resist having all of them together… So, essentially, what was supposed to be a simple meal, ended up being almost a sadya (feast) in itself… 🙂 🙂
So, as mentioned before, in addition to the Simple Veg Meal, we got the Sambar, Potato Mezhukkupuratty, Cabbage & Carrot Thoran, Aviyal and then for dessert, the Ada Pradhaman payasam… So, they came as shown in the pics below…
First of all, the Sambar was simply amazing… Even though, slightly on the spicy side it was indeed incredibly flavourful… Flavours felt to be indeed well balanced with the taste of each and every vegetable used detectable in the gravy itself… Great flavour of the coriander and mustard seeds as well along with the richness of the lentils used… The surprise for me was the presence of Potatoes in the Sambar which is not something I expected to find, but still, I liked it… The Potato Mezhukkupuratty felt clean… Perfectly cooked potatoes flavoured with red chilly flakes, turmeric and mustard seeds… The Cabbage & Carrot thoran was no different either with the flavours of teh Cabbage, Carrot and Coconut with Curry Leaves coming thru really well… The Aviyal has always been my favourite vegetarian dish… This version is definitely one of the best I have had… Again, great balance of flavours of the vegetables used along with the mango, cocnut and curry leaves… The vegetables remained crunchy which is exactly how I like it in an Aviyal…
Finally, for dessert, it was the Ada Pradhaman payasam… Once again, I liked it very much… The ada as well as the Poppy Seeds was cooked perfectly to an al-dente… The incredible flavour and fragrance of Ghee was very much visible in this payasam… Really good presence of Cardomom as well… The amount of Jaggery used was again perfect and in no way overpowering…
So, altogether as I mentioned above, this turned out to be an incredibly indulgent meal or rather Sadhya (as can be seen in the pic above) for me as well as my mom and grandma… It is incredibly rare to see my grandma wipe the plate clean and I did see that happen today… So, kudos to the PinChef Namita for providing us with this meal that all of us enjoyed to the core… This is currently our favourite Kerala Meals option out there and we are looking forward to the next time we get the same…
