I like the way friends and family are devoting their time and energy to an important issue – what can I eat that is healthy, yet tasty. A few days ago, my friend Harsh came home with some very nice air-fried chicken kababs. They were almost like the seekh kababs you get in restaurants – nice and spicy – but prepared with very little fat. They had not been fried but had been cooked in an air fryer. Seekh kabab usually needs some fat to bind the meat together, but in this case, very little fat was used.
Appealing to young
I enjoyed the kebabs, and was happier still to know that they were being prepared and sold by a young friend, Nikhil Aggarwal, a trained chef. He has started a food business called s Ira's Food & Beverage. For the present, it delivers and caters to the University area in north Delhi, but is working on ways to deliver the food to other parts of the city. Because his clientèle consists mostly of students, the menu is the kind that would appeal to the young. The prices are also low. And since the young are also health conscious, Ira’s focus is on healthy and tasty dishes.
I had a few of Ira’s dishes a few days ago. I had some of the chicken kababs, and thought they were rather nice: a bit hot, meaty and crisp. I enjoyed the chicken tikka pizza (₹149). This had pieces of chicken tikka on it, along with onions and capsicum. They use light mozzarella cheese on the pizza and the crust is deliciously thin. Their vegetarian pizzas (₹99) include the classic margherita and a BMT (basil-mozzarella-tomato). The chicken blast pizza (₹179) has a topping of tandoori chicken, chicken sausages, grilled chicken, jalapenos and shallots. I was quite impressed by the fact that the burgers column includes an air-fried chicken burger.
Their salads (₹ 99 for the vegetarian ones) are rather good, too. The cous cous and grilled vegetable salad is moist and well flavoured. I was happy to find on the menu a dish called Chuchun Uncle’s Potato Salad. I am the Chuchun Uncle mentioned there, and though I am not sure which of my potato salad recipes Ira’s has on the menu, do try it out. If you like it, it’s mine.
Maggi moments
For those who like their Maggi (we have some Maggi fiends at home, so I know there is a big Maggi lovers’ club out there), there are various kinds of noodles – with vegetables, chicken tikka, chillies, butter and so on. The prices range from ₹29 to ₹69. They serve breakfast all day long, too. On the menu are Parsi akuri (₹ 49), bun maska and chai (₹ 59), choice of omelettes with toast (₹ 59), chicken/bacon omelette (₹ 89) and a classic American breakfast for ₹ 249 which consists of eggs, toasts, baked beans, chicken sausage, bacon and hash brown/grilled tomato.
That’s my kind of a breakfast, though I would have liked the sausages to be pork ones.
Nikhil runs a professional kitchen and gets his ingredients from the best of places. That means its profit margins are low right now, but Nikhil believes that he cannot cut corners when it comes to the quality of food. The place is shut on Tuesdays, and for a minimum order of ₹ 100 they provide a free home delivery service right now to a distance of up to 3 km. Their numbers are 9871950119 and 7982837171. You can WhatsApp your order to 9871950119. The working hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
I am told their drinks are greatly popular with the young crowd in the university area. They have shakes, coolers, teas and coffees. A ‘De-Stresso” coffee is prepared with roasted coffee and a spoonful of Nutella, and there is even turmeric milk (“Mom’s Magic: The perfect therapy to cure cold,” it says).
Ira’s (pronounced Aira’z) is just what the doctor ordered. And for once, the palate and the wallet agree.