08/05/2026
Pooja Parida invited two strangers to lunch and fed them like family.
She didn’t have to do all of this. But she did. And that’s the whole story really.
Arnab is from West Bengal. Ashwini is from Kerala. Pooja is from Odisha. Three people who grew up near water, eating fish, arguing (lovingly) about which coast does it best. Put them in a kitchen together and what you get is not a recipe ; it’s a conversation that’s been waiting to happen.
Pooja cooked. And cooked. And cooked some more.
Kerala Roast Prawns first with curry leaves, ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, finished with coconut shavings and pan fried in coconut oil until golden and just a little crisp at the edges. Then the Mustard Prawns with coconut, poppy seeds, green chillies, ginger, garlic, everything ground into a fine paste, the prawns coated and pan fried in mustard oil. Same prawn. Completely different conversation.
For the main, Meen Moilee. Pomfret in coconut milk with curry leaves, mustard seeds, chopped onions and green chillies, the whole thing cooked in coconut oil. Soft, fragrant, the kind of thing that tastes like it was made by someone’s mother. And then Pomfret Paturi, the same mustard-coconut-poppy paste from the starter, now coating the fish, wrapped in banana leaf, steamed low and slow, and finished with a drizzle of mustard oil. Punchier. More assertive. The fish suddenly had opinions.
And through all of it, food on every surface, oil on every pan, the three of them just talked. About how Odisha and Kerala and West Bengal are basically the same place in different clothes. The sea. The rice. The fish that has to be fresh or it doesn’t count. The lunch that isn’t optional, it’s sacred. The absolute non-negotiability of rice at lunch. The way everyone from the coast has a grandmother whose fish curry cannot be replicated, only chased. And the post lunch mandatory nap.
Six dishes. Three coasts. One very long, very happy lunch.
Thank you , for the generosity, the food, the stories, and for making your kitchen feel like the warmest place in Bengaluru that Saturday.
This is Kadai Conversations 01.
📍 Domlur, Bengaluru
