Fitness Tips

Eeshaan Kashyap, Delhi

Chef and restaurateur

Kashyap starts his day with an amla shot — with fresh turmeric (which he brines) and aloe vera — as recommended by a friend’s grandmother. But it is the Delhi lockdown that’s given him a recipe he hopes to add to the menu of his Goa restaurants soon. “I wanted to make a prawn bake, but I didn’t have raw mango. So I tried amla, and the recipe was a winner; just full of flavours,” he says.

A fresh, citrus take on butter garlic prawns, the grated amla soaks up the butter, chilli, and kokum from the marinade, imparting a unique tanginess that balances the dish well. “I will try this again with a fillet of red snapper or even whole baked potatoes,” he says. For vegetarians, mix grated amla, salt, and butter, and rub on to charred corn. “It’s healthy, fresh, and perfect for children who dislike eating the fruit by itself.”

Bani Nanda, Delhi

Chef-founder, Miam Patisserie and Café

A few years ago, Nanda introduced the tart fruits at her patisserie as gooseberry pies. But they didn’t sell well. “I think it’s because many don’t like the fruit [and so didn’t want to experiment]. Or maybe they are too common — they don’t celebrate it as they would blueberries or strawberries.” However, in 2019, an order of gooseberry macarons for a wedding (which was also sent out as gifts) found favour. “I made gooseberry jam first, and then a butter cream with it. Its tanginess balanced out the sweetness of the macaron shells, and for some crunch, I sprinkled poppy seeds on top,” she says. Nanda, who is now concentrating on seasonal and local fruits — bringing down lemons and apples from her farm in Himachal, and blueberries from the hills — is planning to reintroduce gooseberries to the Miam menu. Macarons available on order.

Nidhi Nahata, Bengaluru

Founder, Justbe

Amla features in most of Nahata’s smoothies. But at the whole food, plant-based resto cafe, it is her Desi Salad that’s the winner. “A simple, fresh, mixed Indian salad, I use boiled peanuts and channa, along with lashings of grated amla for tanginess, and lots of coconut, topped with a dry roasted tadka,” she says, adding that before they temporarily downed shutters recently, this was a popular home delivery order.

Payal Shah, Bengaluru

Founder, Kōbo Fermentary

Shah calls herself a “shepherd of microbes”. Fermenting for the last 20 years, she now conducts workshops and consults for restaurants. And amla often pops up in her ferments. “I lacto-ferment gooseberries [this works for all vegetables and fruits], but I also add different spices and salts to it. For instance, I do one with jeera and black salt, which adds a sulphurous flavour that goes really well with amla,” says Shah. Fermentation makes nutrients more bioavailable (easier for the body to absorb it), and there are many ways you can incorporate it in your diet. “I recently made an amla kashayam — with lemongrass, ginger, turmeric and spices, fermented in honey. Sweet and sour, I have it with hot water. I also flavour my kombucha with it,” says Shah. Another favourite: dehydrate fermented gooseberries that she then uses in milk kefirs. “I also made gooseberry vinegar recently. Smooth with an acidic bite, it is very floral.”

DM @kobofermentary to sign up for Shah’s workshops. Starts from ₹2,500-₹3,000 for a three-hour session.

Nandita Iyer

Author and blogger at saffrontrail.com

Gooseberries in brine are “the easiest way to preserve amlas when they are in season,” writes Iyer, in her book Everyday Superfoods. “The tart fruit gets an added salty flavour, which makes it a welcome addition to salads and raitas.” All you need is 250 gms amla, one teaspoon turmeric, and two teaspoons salt. Pressure cook with just enough water to cover the amlas (turn it off when the pressure builds up for the first whistle, so they don’t overcook), and then store in an airtight container covered in the cooking liquid.

There is a lot one can discover over dessert. As I plunge my spoon into a gooey chocolate cake, my palate is surprised by what lies beneath: shreds of coconut, coated in luscious Belgian chocolate.

Keeping me company is a soulful Nepali track — a recommendation by the Sweet Spot team. It came written on a neon sticky note, attached to the neat box laden with brownies, tarts and cookies. Sweet Spot, started in April by Zeeshan Anees, Ahad Anaikar, Mohamed Faraaz, Pooja Reddy and Mohamed Samee aims to give home bakers a platform to promote their products.

The desserts are sold under the label of the person who created them, explains Samee. The idea is not to monopolise the dessert market, but to even out the playing field. And along with the goodies come song recommendations from the team. These include: ‘Hataarindai, Bataasindai’, ‘Parchaiyon Main’, ‘Heat Waves’, ‘100 words’…

“The idea came to us during the last lockdown, when we noticed an increase in home bakers. We were ordering a lot of desserts from them,” says Samee. Soon, they transformed a small space, in the same compound as the old Nolita (in Nungambakkam), into a dessert parlour.

The team put all interested home bakers through a series of quality checks, filtering out what did not work for them. “Earlier, the concern most clients had with home bakers was, they had to order two days in advance or buy a full kilogram of cake, even if all they wanted is one slice,” says Samee. Now, these wrinkles have been ironed out.

Empowering the homebaker

On an average, the boutique features items by 15 home bakers, the number goes up to 20 during the weekends. Each bakers typically stocks two to three of her creations. “Sixty to 70% are products by our anchor brands such as Meltz by Aishwarya, Whisk by Safra, Serendipia, Chef Srishti, Coucou, Baked by Faz, Zoya’s bakes, and the rest are from upcoming bakers,” says Samee.

The best-sellers include milk chocolate salted caramel cake, baklava tart and dark chocolate cheesecake. The latest entrant on the menu is sheer shahi kurma. They are trying to bring in variety with Indian desserts as well as savoury snacks like quiches and cream cheese-filled Korean buns.

On weekends they sell out. Their clients order from as far as ECR, Chrompet, Madipakkam and Velachery. The number of orders range from anywhere between 70-100 a day.

Order via their Instagram page, @sweetspot_chennai.

When Anju Kushan’s husband, Kushan Prakashan, VFX and animation expert, recovered from COVID-19 in October 2020, she remembered something she had heard in the film Virus.

“Fumigation — they mention how it works against the virus. It stuck in my mind. When both Kushan, and his brother Lavan, recovered we got it done at our homes and office,” says the Kochi-based film subtitler. At the time there were few agencies in Kochi offering the service; they turned to Peepal Oxycare, a Kochi-based company that supplies oxygen concentrators, nebulisers, ventilators and similar equipment.

“Sanitisation and disinfection are not our core area. We have a small hand-held machine, with a capacity of 300 ml used for fumigation, which we rent out to people we know personally. We recently acquired a larger machine — 200-litre capacity — to fumigate larger spaces such as malls and schools. There has been a surge in enquiries for and companies offering fumigation and sanitisation services,” says Peepal manager, Manoj R.

With COVID-19 patients quarantining at home, there is a rising demand for sanitisation and disinfection services. , Several companies offering these services have mushroomed in Kerala over the last year. Services include sanitisation of rooms, surfaces, bedlinen, curtains and clothes worn by the patients.

The process of fumigation involves releasing a fumigant gas in a sealed environment for a fixed period of time, after which it is ventilated so that none of the gas remains. Chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide silver nitrate are used for the process, usually done to kill pests and harmful micro-organisms. Cleaning and disinfection protocols of the World Health Organization (WHO), Central and Kerala State Governments do not recommend this, yet people have been getting their homes fumigated post-Covid.

“After my husband and I recovered, we wanted to sanitise the house for the sake of my son and mother-in-law who tested negative and also for any visitor to the house, so that they don’t feel unsafe when they come over,” says Athira Diljith, a public relations professional. The couple home quarantined after they tested positive, and a week after they turned negative, they got their house and surroundings fumigated.

She hired the services of Nirved Sanitizing Services, North Paravur on the outskirts of Kochi. A four-wheeler mechanic, Mruthul Shine started the agency during the lockdown last year after he lost his job in West Asia and returned home. . “I had been planning a cleaning service, then the lockdown happened and a demand arose for post-COVID-19 sanitisation/disinfection services,” he says. He works with his wife and has been getting eight to 10 calls daily, some directed through the local ASHA workers.

But is fumigation necessary?

The World Health Organization (WHO) website identifies ‘high touch’ surfaces (also known as ‘touchpoints’) in non-healthcare settings such as the door and window handles, kitchen and food preparation areas, counter-tops, and railings as priority disinfection points in order to prevent virus contamination. Rather than spraying, it recommends wiping down surfaces with disinfectants from the cleanest to the most soiled areas.

Cleaning and disinfection protocols recommend ‘wet mopping’ and suggest avoiding aerosols. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website states that while ‘it is possible for people to be infected through contact with contaminated surfaces or objects (fomites), but the risk is generally considered to be low’, pegging the figure at ‘less than a 1-in-10,000 chance of causing an infection’.

However, people like Anju and Athira say they feel safer after fumigation.

“Fumigation and wet-fogging are not recommended but in some cases it is unavoidable like when trying to sanitise vehicles. In rooms there are nooks and corners you cannot get to. The key then is to be careful and ventilate the space before entering it,” says Jinraj Kothoor, of Protect and Disinfect INC in Kochi. Enquiries have been coming his way through ward councillors.

Last year, Kothoor’s company voluntarily disinfected Kochi’s public spaces such as the KSRTC bus stand and railway stations upon approval from the Health Department. Launched during the pandemic, the company works primarily with banks and now, residences.

“Usually we are called to disinfect the room the patient has quarantined in. Then, it invariably extends to the entire house and sometimes, even the exterior,” says Nirmal SS of Wype, a deep-cleaning and disinfection company based in Kozhikode. Nirmal, who used to work in the housekeeping department of a hotel chain, started the company with a few friends during the lockdown.

“A demand for sanitisation services presented itself and we gave it a shot. We work with hotels too; the process is more or less the same. The surfaces and space are different,” he says. The company has been getting 10-20 inquiries daily.

Demand from patients home-quarantining

Jino V Manohar, who runs Autowhite, a mobile car wash and cleaning services company in Thiruvananthapuram, says the situation this year is different. “During the first wave, our services were required to disinfect or fumigate office buildings, shops and business establishments. This year, we have been getting more calls from homes with patients opting for home quarantine,” he says. Jino provides free service to economically backward families.

Rates are calculated per square-foot area, ranging from 75 paise per square-feet to ₹3.5 per square-foot. It takes around 30 minutes to an hour to disinfect a 1,200 sq ft house, after which ‘touchpoints’ are wiped with a sanitiser solution. The staff is either dressed in PPE kits or wear gloves, masks and boots. Jino’s customers sponsor PPE kits for his staff.

Since these services are comparatively new, there are few regulations, and the field is wide open. Rates vary from firm to firm and there are organisations that do cleaning and disinfection for free. But the flip side is that customers could be taken for a ride by some firms.

WHO prescribes that ‘in non-healthcare settings, sodium hypochlorite (bleach/chlorine) may be used at a recommended concentration of 0.1% or 1,000 ppm (1 part of 5% strength household bleach to 49 parts of water) and alcohol at 70-90% can also be used for surface disinfection’.

Most of the agencies claim they adhere to WHO guidelines but the lack of experience in handling the chemical solutions could be harmful. For instance, indiscriminate spraying of bleaching powder solution could damage home appliances and furnishings.

Juby Benoy of Smart Clean Services points out that it is important to use the right solution and proper machines to carry out the cleaning and disinfection. She adds thatpeople often opt for deep cleaning as they would not have cleaned the house properly for days. While we have a fixed rate of ₹4,500 for spaces up to 4,000 sq ft, we give a discount for those who can’t afford the amount,” she says.

Despite the business, the entrepreneurs admit that they cannot wait for things to go back to normal. “The revenue has gone up but I would prefer to stick to what we used to do — car wash and cleaning services. Even though we take all precautions and use safety gear while at work, there is an underlying fear,” Jino says.

There is a cost for the workers. As we speak, a few of Kothoor’s employees have tested positive for COVID-19. “It is an occupational hazard,” he says.

When Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association (KHRA) launched Rezoy, the Kerala-based food delivery app, the intention was as much to support restaurateurs as much as customers, says Azees Moosa, Ernakulam district president of KHRA.

What makes Rezoy unique is that it is one of the country’s first food delivery apps by a restaurant association. The app, available to both iOS and Android users, has been developed by Ludhiana-based developer Jungleworks for KHRA.

Although the beta version was available in December 2020, it was finally formally launched in May, in Kochi. For now, the app’s reach is limited to parts of Kochi; the plan, however, is for it to be available across Kerala.

Going online was inevitable since doorstep delivery became a reality, a lesson learnt during the lockdown. “We are increasing our geo-fencing to cover a wider area. Although the app is available in Thiruvananthapuram, Malappuram and Thrissur, Rezoy does not have delivery executives there yet. We are working out the logistics and payment gateway. For now, the restaurants in these cities use their own delivery staff,” Azees says.

Working through the lockdown

Lockdown restrictions and containment zones in Kochi have thrown a spanner in KHRA’s expansion plans. “It will take time, but we are committed to this app and making it work. So far we have 300 listings [of hotels and restaurants] in Kochi . We don’t have the financial resources of the large food aggregators; our growth is bound to be slow in comparison,” he adds. Business owners have invested in developing the app and get it running, he says, adding that contributions vary based on how much a business owner can afford.

Rezoy charges a 10% commission from restaurant owners, towards salary for delivery staff and expenses incurred on delivery.

Since it is one of the first in the country, all eyes are on it. “We are the first food delivery app launched by an association such as ours, hence we have been getting enquiries from peers in neighbouring states about how it works,” says Azees.