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Lip smacking secrets from the streets of Mumbai to your plates at Karachi Eat

Lip smacking secrets from the streets of Mumbai to your plates at Karachi Eat

Arun Perwani is sharing food from his childhood with the rest of the city through his new venture K Pav Karachi.
11 Jan, 2022

While everyone else was whipping up Korean style iced coffee and two-ingredient chocolate cakes during pandemic-related lockdowns, ad man Arun Perwani too found solace in food. A foodie at heart, he started recreating memories of his childhood summers spent in Mumbai, then Bombay, a popular destination when it comes to street food.

Despite being a hardcore advertising/media person he always nursed an ambition to start his own food business. “For about 20 years, I have shied away from doing so, perhaps because I was living in the comfort zone of a nine to five job,” says Perwani. “And when I finally gathered the courage to get out of my comfort zone, the pandemic began.”

Spending time at home during lockdown presented Perwani with an opportunity to experiment with his favourite recipes used in his home for eons. “I made a few tweaks here and there, and once the lockdown was over, my recipes were ready to be tested and tasted,” he says. “I organised some tastings and based on reviews and the feedback that I received, the recipes were fine tuned.”

The pandemic solidified Perwani’s goal of starting his own food business K Pav Karachi. “Signing up for Karachi Eat just pushed me in to a corner where I had no choice but to showcase these homemade recipes,” he grins. “I could say that the pandemic goaded me to spring to action.”

Perwani attributes his foodie inspiration to his mother. “An exceptional cook, she would cook for all my friends and the unanimous response from everyone was always be that this food needs be to accessible to all.”

Vada Pav
Vada Pav

He chose to showcase Bombay street food because he believes that the Bombay street food palette is very close to the Pakistani palette. “Yet the bold distinct flavours of Bombay’s street food and the one of a kind dishes offer an extraordinary experience to this food crazy metropolis,” says Perwani.

He plans to introduce Mumbai’s most popular native dishes such as the Vada Pav, Bombay Sandwich and Frankie, at Karachi Eat 2022. Isn't launching vegetarian items to a meat-loving nation a tad risky? “It’s purely co-incidental that the dishes being introduced at Karachi Eat are vegetarian,” he says. “But as we start expanding our menu, there will be plenty of non-vegetarian options to choose from.”

Among these veggie delights from the streets of Mumbai is the vada pav, a not-so-distant relative of our much loved bun kabab. “Vada in Hindi means cutlet or patties or a dumpling and pav means bread,” explains Perwani. “It consists of a spicy deep fried round ball of a potato cutlet in a soft bun, accompanied by special spices and three different chutneys giving it a distinct flavour. It is served with fried green chillies and the balance of flavours, accented by kari patta is sublime.”

The Bombay Sandwich
The Bombay Sandwich

The Bombay Sandwich, a classic Bombay street food, is what Karachiites would remember as the good old flying saucer from the 70s. A chilli-cilantro chutney and Perwani’s secret masala gives the flying saucer grilled sandwich a desi twist. “It is grilled to perfection, thanks to a generous amount of butter while the substantial filling is made of curried potatoes, thinly sliced tomatoes, onions and cucumbers,” says Perwani. It is topped with more of that mouth-watering chutney some crunchy nylon sev.

“The Frankie is this distant cousin of our locally loved kabab rolls, but its flavour is distinctly different because of the blend of tamarind and chilli-cilantro chutney and another secret home-prepared masala,” says Perwani, talking about his third entrée being introduced. The Frankie comprises of a paratha, fried with an egg and a masala potato patty complimented by chutneys and special masala.

The Frankie
The Frankie

All the ingredients for Perwani’s street food treats are locally sourced and easily available. “The feedback on the tastings has been overwhelming,” he says. No wonder that he is very excited to introduce it to the larger audience at Karachi Eat through K Pav Karachi.

Comments

Dr Jamil Ahmed Jan 11, 2022 01:24pm
This food is full of carbs and processed meat. This is absolutely unhealthy no matter how tasty it is. People are paying huge price for the taste of the food that they enjoy briefly. Please stop promoting disease.
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Amazed Jan 11, 2022 01:58pm
@Dr Jamil Ahmed - " This food is full of carbs and processed meat." Doc it would have been nice had you read the article before commenting. All dishes discussed here are vegetarian.
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Dan Jan 11, 2022 02:20pm
@Dr Jamil Ahmed it is vegetarian.
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Khurram Kasim Jan 11, 2022 02:59pm
@Dr Jamil Ahmed It’s all vegetarian! What meats? Did you even read the article?
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Fouzia Nasir Jan 11, 2022 03:03pm
@Dr Jamil Ahmed It is vegetarian food, so there us no question of processed meat!
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Jo Original Jan 11, 2022 03:07pm
Love the concept of all vegetarian food.
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Sharjeel Syed Jan 11, 2022 03:09pm
Lets try this new taste
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Dr Jalil Jalaldin Jan 11, 2022 03:27pm
It’s healthier than most other street food that is being made and sold on the street and it’s hygienic.
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Ismail Jan 11, 2022 03:28pm
Good luck, I have tried pav bhaji and found it bit ok for me , for others it depends
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Dr Jamil Ahmed Jan 11, 2022 03:47pm
It is not surprising that those involved in the food industry will invent reasons to prove experts wrong. It happens in the west, where the fast food and sugar-sweetened beverage industries are hell-bent on proving that it is not fast food but a lack of exercise that is causing obesity. Here in Pakistan, I can see that people are calling this highly starched, oily fried food "vegetarian food." Unfortunately, this is not healthy even if it does not contain meat. The presence of fried breads is made from highly processed flour from which the bran husk is removed, and packing only a small amount of vegetables between two breads full of carbohydrates does not make it any healthier. Healthy food is comprised mainly of recipes consisting of vegetables, small amounts of unprocessed meat, beans, nuts, grains, etc. No matter how much you call this healthy, it is not healthy by any dietary standards.
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Dr Jamil Ahmed Jan 11, 2022 03:57pm
@Amazed Sorry I thought it has meat. This makes it even more unhealthy since it lacks even the proteins derived from processed meat.
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SHAHID SATTAR Jan 11, 2022 04:10pm
At least nobody in Pakistan raises any voice about these being traditional Bombay (now called Mumbai) dishes unlike India where they agitated against a bakery with a name of Karachi and forced the owner to change the same.
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Nasir S. Jan 11, 2022 05:18pm
sorry but the photography is so poor. does not do justice to the foold. looks ragged and jaded.
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Dr Ali Jan 11, 2022 05:38pm
@Amazed - deep fried vegetables will still kill you, no matter how healthy the veg is. I see numerous patients who are vegetarian but have heart issues due to the way food is prepared. See ingredients again, paratha, deep fried potato etc.
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mukul Jan 11, 2022 06:17pm
@Dr Jamil Ahmed as if Pakistani food is full of great healthy nutrients
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mukul Jan 11, 2022 06:19pm
@Dr Jamil Ahmed as if unhealthy food is new to you
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Fiza Jan 12, 2022 12:41am
@Dr Jamil Ahmed All kinds of meat is unhealthy whether processed or unprocessed and can cause several diseases that can kill you.
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SecondPilot Jan 12, 2022 01:06am
@Dr Jamil Ahmed This is street food. Hardly what you can call a "diet". It is for people to snack on once in a while. One understands your point, but let's not make a mountain out of a molehill. Lahore, Karachi are famous for their street food - I'm sure you would not call that the "diet" of the residents of these cities.
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Sidc Jan 12, 2022 01:29am
@Dr Jamil Ahmed Don’t like it don’t eat. Other thing Dr in front of your name doesn’t mean you are the brightest person about food.
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Salim Jan 12, 2022 04:07am
Awesome job my friend, how about masala dosa and idli please.
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Kublai Jan 12, 2022 04:42am
@Amazed He is not a doctor.
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Kublai Jan 12, 2022 04:43am
@Fouzia Nasir He is a fake. Not a doctor.
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ramu ramakesavan Jan 12, 2022 07:19am
Wish I could travel to Karachi to eat this food!
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Tadka Jan 12, 2022 08:11am
All doctors suddenly landed here lol
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Tadka Jan 12, 2022 08:12am
@Nasir S. Yes presentation wasn't doing any justice to the taste or looks
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Chocochm Jan 12, 2022 09:35am
@Dr Jamil Ahmed it's vegetarian.
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bharat Jan 12, 2022 10:35am
@SHAHID SATTAR You are right.
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Saleem Jan 12, 2022 11:07am
Why is there no reporting on how a Arun Perwani from Bombay ended up in Karachi?
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Aiza Jan 12, 2022 02:03pm
@Amazed And vegetarian food does not have carb?
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Aiza Jan 12, 2022 02:03pm
@Dan Yes and full of carbs!
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Aiza Jan 12, 2022 02:05pm
@mukul Yes, fresher and less spicy and deep fried. India has the highest rate of heart attacks in the world, even among younger men!
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Factsmatter Jan 12, 2022 10:01pm
@Dr Jamil Ahmed Well said. Most street food are full of salt, fat and sugar. Diabetes and cardiovascular disease is running rampant in South Asia. One does tastes good is not necessarily good for you. Stay away from processed food both meat and meatless.
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Factsmatter Jan 12, 2022 10:02pm
@Amazed Wrong. Processed food can be meat or meatless.
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Factsmatter Jan 12, 2022 10:09pm
@SHAHID SATTAR There is a Karachi bakery in Hyderabad, India. Their cookies are sold even in stores in US. Stop generalizing.
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Factsmatter Jan 12, 2022 10:10pm
@Dr Ali Well said. Fried food contains chemically transformed cooking oil.
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Asfar Jan 13, 2022 08:43am
Goodone
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