Choreography
NICOLAS HUCHARD
Direction
SOPHIE TRACY MAY
Vidhi Gandhi of Good Chaat and Makda Harlow of Lemlem Kitchen invite us to supper
update to full film on vimeo
The red wine is flowing gently. The conversation is equal parts intimate and convivial. The mid-summer sunlight is falling in shards across a chequered table cloth, upon which sits morsels of Dahi batata puri andAfro tacos. Welcome to Vidhi Gandhi and Makda Harlow’s veryspecial supper club for Nataal.Hosted in Gandhi’s south London home, the two women have invited a mix of friends old and new to come and relish some oftheir moreish signature plates.
Gandhi and Harlow, the former working in music manage-ment, the latter with a background in fashion retail, met five years ago and were instantly drawn together through their mutual love of telling stories through food. Since then, Gandhi has followed her passion and launched Good Chaat, a supper club offering her take on Indian snack food.
“Chaat literally translates to ‘licking your plate’, from the Sanskrit word cātnā, because everyone who eats it wants to lick their plate afterward,” Gandhi explains.“You have a fried crispy bread that you top with chilli-coriander-mint chutney, tamarind chutney and sweetened yogurt and embellish with anything you want. I stuffed mine with mung beans and added cucumber and pickled onions. Then you eat it all in one bite. If you were in India at chai time (5pm), you’d be stood in front of the street vendor with a palm leaf plate, and it’s a race whether you can eat it sooner than the vendor can make you the next one!”
Similarly, Harlow has established LemLem Kitchen, a street food stall-turned-restaurant infusing classic Eritrean flavours into staples such as wings and fries. Her signature is Hilbet — a disc of injera korosho (crisped fermented flatbread) topped with a cream of fava beans, lentils and fenugreek and silsi, a berbere-spiced tomato sauce.
The pandemic forced both cooks to pause their endeavours and, like most of us, they were left yearning to come together to laugh and love over good food once again. So, this evening, their first time ever devising a menu together, is not only an exploration of how Indian and Eritrean cooking compliment and influence each other, but is also a long overdue communal feast.
“Tonight is the story of London, more than Bombay or Asmara,” says Harlow.“What we’re doing here is building bridges through heritage, food and culture, and that’s why I love to be in this city. It’s why we have to encourage the next generation to believe that their identity is their own individual experience. This roller coaster of life is both good and bad so to have the opportunity to share a dish and spread the word is a blessing on its own.”
Join us by watching this film whereGandhi and Harlow explain the origins and flavours behind their fusion recipes, allinspired by their mother’s home cooking (hello Priti and Elsa!) and their journeys from their birth homes to the UK.
Visit GOOD CHAAT
Visit LEMLEM KITCHEN
Listen to VIDHI GANDHI’S Spotify playlist for NATAAL
