Now you can whip up a near gourmet meal, with minimal cooking time. Pumpkin Tales in Alwarpet, Chennai recently added a list of of DIY meal kits to their takeaway menu - with bestsellers like pizza, pomodoro pasta, burgers and Burmese-inspired khao suey.
And since, they began this service a little over a week ago - customers have been going gaga. After all, how often do you get to enjoy home-cooked lunches whilst doing absolutely no peeling or chopping and little to no standing time lingering by that hot stove! "I think with this lockdown, folks have had their fair share of cooking and are looking for some respite," says Bhuvaneshwari Ja, one of the restaurant's three partners. Which is why, with these meal kits, quite in contrast to portioned raw ingredients, most of the work has already been done for you. Think par-baked pizza bases, ready-to-go sauces and homemade mutton patties or vegan sausages that come with their increasingly popular burger and hot dog packs (four buns and sausages at INR 990 upwards).
The restaurant has also seen a rise in demand for their freshly-baked sourdough and multigrain and wholewheat bread, a great side to their range of frozen soups - which are ready to serve after just a minutes in your microwave. Expect wholesome flavours like a Minestrone, Herbal Chicken, Roasted Fennel and Tomato and of course, given the name of Pumpkin Tales - their signature pumpkin soup! Also, look out for their quick 'n' easy Spaghetti Bolognese (INR 990) (the kit includes spaghetti, bolognese sauce, chopped vegetables and cheese) and shakshuka sauce (INR 585) which serves up a fab breakfast with just the addition of eggs from your home pantry.
Prices: INR 520 to INR 2,000 approx.