Manohar prepares curry of 1,500kg organic vegetables

Nagpur: The air in Vishnuji Ki Rasoi smelled of aromatic spices being roasted, it was buzzing with hurried activities as celebrity chef Vishnu Manohar was prepping to cook 1,500kg of vegetables in curry on Sunday.
What was more special was all the spices, oil and raw vegetables used in the preparation were organic and acquired directly from the farmers. As chief guests, Girish Vyas and Hemant Gadkari were present who distributed the curry free of cost among public.

“Even after toiling for months our farmers don’t get sufficient economic benefit of their produce. To promote healthy and organic produce we procured vegetables from them and prepared this curry,” Manohar told TOI. “Organic produce tastes deliciously different as well,” he added.

The preparation included 1,300 kgs of vegetables like spinach, methi leaves, carrots, potatoes, onions, black chana, tomatoes, carrots, eggplant, coriander leaves, curry leaves, ginger garlic paste and drumsticks.

Spices and oil constituted remaining 200 kgs. Cooked in organic groundnut oil, the curry was cooked in a vessel of 2000kg capacity and was lip smacking good by popular demand.

“I had come earlier when he was still cooking, then I came back again to take it home for my husband. We didn’t prepare lunch at home when we came to know that vegetables are all organic. It tastes just delicious,” said a homemaker R Laxmi as she put lid on steaming hot ‘dabba’ of curry.

The vegetables were made available to Manohar by a food delivery group ‘Farm2Fridge’ that promotes organic farm produce and eco-friendly things.

“We have tied up with farmers who provide us with organic produce from their farms, which we then deliver door-to-door after booking done on our mobile app,” said the city business head Pallavi Pandit.