When someone says the words “Let’s make life easy in the kitchen’, I am always the first in line to find out the details. So when I got the opportunity to review ‘Chefcap’, a new service in town that promises to do just that, I was excited ! The service provides ready to cook fresh ingredients all packed in a box that save you from the hassle of cutting, chopping and even measuring the ingredients.

Each box is said to be enough for 2 people and comes with 5 semi cooked rotis. The menu is not too expansive but whatever was on it, seemed to be put together with the thought that the customer should get a nice homely meal. So from whatever I saw I ended up ordering the below!

1. Bhindi masala (Rs. 149)
2. Dal tadka (Rs. 149)
3. Paneer lajawab (Rs. 209)
4. Pindi chana (Rs. 209)
5. Vietnamese pepper paneer rice (Rs. 229)

Order placed I waited with gleeful anticipation for my meals!

The boxes were delivered very well packaged (sturdy cardboard boxes sealed perfectly with plastic covering).

The ingredients inside were also well packed and came with a step by step, simply explained recipe card. All the spices from salt, chilli, mustard seeds, fresh coriander and even a lemon wedge seal packed in tiny zip lock bags. The ‘paneer’ was packed with mini cooling bags to maintain freshness. The liquid ingredients were packed in spill proof plastic containers and the semi cooked ‘rotis’ were packed in foil. So full marks to the packaging and delivery methodology as once I opened the boxes there was no spillage or topsy-turvy situation.

Then I got down to the actual cooking. So here’s the update on the final dishes.

Bhindi masala: Turned out tasty and managed to put it together in flat 5 minutes with another 5-7 minutes for the cooking time. Though I found the final quantity to be too less to be a meal for 2 people. Also the chopped onion was mentioned in the recipe but was missing in the cook box.

Dal tadka: Really enjoyed this dal and it was decent in quantity too! It came with a very nice and innovative recipe and with a little cheating in the ingredients I managed a lip smacking dish. The fat content provided for the tadka was oil but as no one in my ‘royal’ household will deign to eat a dal with an oil tadka, I used ghee for the tadka instead and the result was wonderful. The recipe mentioned cooking of this dish to be done in a pan but I felt it needed bit more cooking so I pressure cooked it.

Paneer lajawab: Reasonably good in taste as well as in quantity. A slight overdose of too many masalas made the flavours confusing in the dish but the quality of paneer was very good and it turned out soft and juicy.

Pindi chana: Very nice and tasty dish with just the right texture, flavours and decent quantity. The ‘Chefcap’ chana masala was aromatic and made a good addition to the dish. An enjoyable dish.

Vietnamese pepper paneer rice: This dish had me a tad bit confused as when I had read the name I had visions of something very different but the end result was more of a Paneer fried rice albeit very tasty. The quantity was also ample. The name of the dish in the recipe was Vegetable spicy paneer rice and if looked at with that in mind, it was a great dish.

After trying all the dishes, I gave feedback to the owner and he accepted all suggestions very positively especially the one for changing the name of the rice dish and giving ghee instead of oil for the dal tadka.

The biggest positive I feel in this model is the amount of time saved while cooking and yet getting fresh and home cooked food with minimum hassle. With a few tweaks this could work wonders for working couples, working singles in the city and even family people who are sick and tired of maid/cook nakhras.

Disclaimer: This review was done on an invitation from the restaurant to taste their food, and no bill was presented to the author. While the author assures you of objectivity, the review may be influenced by the personalized attention received.