Kerala’s sadya, the traditional vegetarian festive meal on a banana leaf, has a wide fanbase. Have you heard of UnSadya? Dished out by the team of Mumbai-based home chefs, Nair on Fire, the ‘UnSadya’ features an array of non-vegetarian dishes, served along with the regular vegetarian dishes, both traditional and contemporary.
‘Nair on Fire’ is a team that consists of homecooks Sara Jacob, Vindo Nair, along with Toral Sanghvi. While Sara and Vinod hold fort in the kitchen, Toral takes care of the brand marketing and business. Along with Vinod and Sara, Toral plans the menu and dishes.
Established in October 2019, Nair on Fire (NoF) showcases home-style Kerala cuisine. The expertise of the NoF chefs is brought to the fore in the curated menu they offer through their central kitchen at Mahim and delivery outlets in Mahim and Bandra, in Bombay.
NoF’s clientele ranges from Hindi cinema A-listers to cricketers — Anushka Sharma, Hrithik Roshan, Nayanthara, Vidya Balan, Gauri Khan to Ravi Shashtri, Sanjay Manjrekar, Ayaz Memon, Faye Dsouza, Benny Dayal and Shankar Mahadevan, to name a few.
The trio of Nair on fire | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
They are currently in Hyderabad for a weeklong pop-up at The Westin, their first in the city. Explaining what goes into NoF’s food, Toral says, “Our goal is to find the perfect balance between innovation, luxury and creativity while being true to Kerala roots. Our menu has been developed using heirloom recipes passed across generations and families. We want our diners to experience a bit of Kerala in every morsel. Our food promises flavours from the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram, through the backwaters of Alappuzha to the hills of Munnar, the Kadas of Thiruvananthapuram, rustic by lanes of Kochi and the gentle sea breeze of the Malabar coast.”
The trio’s tryst with food started with Sara’s cooking. Toral added “For our birthdays, Sara would say ‘My gift for your birthday will be I will come and cook for the party.’ Her food became a hit among friends, and friends of friends. She is a self-taught chef who likes to stick to traditional food and not compromise on flavours... Sara’s story reminds us that culinary greatness isn’t always born in the classroom but in the embrace of traditions, the stories from mothers and the passion to explore and experiment.”
Nair on Fire’s food presentation | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Vinod comes from a successful marketing and PR agency business. Pursuing his passion for food, he went to Kerala for years and learnt authentic Malayali home cooking in the kitchens of his mother and other family members. Finally, he fine-tuned his culinary skills under the tutelage of Chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Chef Ranveer Brar.
Fish curry and rice | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Sara’s and Vinod’s food became so popular that apart from sending food to friends and colleagues on order, they actively worked towards creating a brand, even quitting their jobs to push Nair on Fire. Toral says during the COVID-19 lockdown, they wondered how to move forward. That is when they decided to start sending food for friends. “We didn’t even want a review, all we said was spread the word. Luckily for us, that worked like magic. We did whatever orders came in and from a lull we got busy,” says Toral.
NoF’s first pop-up was at a restaurant called Thangabali. Recollecting the first experience in a restaurant set-up Toral laughs, “Everything you can think of went wrong. It was a mess backstage. Our orders were running late but at the end of the day, we pulled it off. After the first day, we learnt our lesson and with some experience, we were ready to take up more pop-ups; there was no looking back after that.”
Nair on Fire was in Hyderabad for a special food pop up at The Westin.
