KARACHI: Kavita Solanki, a young Hindu woman who worked as a marketing executive for many years, quit her job in October last year to sell two popular Indian street food dishes in the Cantonment area of Pakistan’s financial capital Karachi. I decided to start a food cart selling food.
Karachi is considered the food capital of the South Asian country and you can find all kinds of food and delicacies at thousands of restaurants and street food stalls, but finding Wada Pao and Pav Bhaji is not easy was.
Vada pao is a bread sliced in half, with fried potato dumplings and chutney inside. Pav bhaji is a rich and spicy vegetable curry served with soft buttered bread rolls. Both dishes originate from the Indian state of Maharashtra.
“Earlier, I used to Google where to buy pav bhaji and vada pao,” Solanki said while passing plates of food to customers at his stall, which has come to be known as “kavita didi ka Indian khana” (sister). I was searching for something,” he said. Kavita’s Indian Cuisine, or simply Kavita Didi’s Cart.
“So I thought I’d start by looking at things that are hard to find in the city.”
Kavita Solanki (center) interacts with customers at a food cart in Karachi, Pakistan, on April 20, 2024. (Kavita M. Solanki/Facebook)
According to Solanki, the stall started attracting large crowds within a short period of time after opening.
“If you say, ‘Okay, I’m going to have nihari today,’ you’re going to go to Zahid Nihari,” she says, naming Karachi’s most famous restaurant for its slow-cooked beef stew dish. . “For a vegetarian option, people will recommend Kavita Didi. Then go to Kavita Didi’s stall.”
Solanki said people were drawn to her stall not only because vada pao and pav bhaji are difficult to find elsewhere in the city, but also because of the authenticity and taste of the food. he said.
“We’re giving them proper homemade stuff, not artificial stuff,” she said. “We bring what we eat at home here.”
Solanki, who has never been to India and is ethnically Gujrati, said she learned how to make pav bhaji and vada pao from YouTube videos.
“We tried it at home and loved it. So we were making this ourselves at home like every weekend.”
This stall is also popular with vegetarian alternatives and those looking for a change of taste from meat-based dishes. And her customers include people of all faiths, the entrepreneur said.
“These are some unique dishes they offer, very clean, very tasty, very nice,” pharmacist Maha Ahmed, a loyal customer, told Arab News.
Sikandar Ali, who works for a private company, said he was attracted to Solanki’s store opening after watching a video on YouTube.
“When I came to Didi’s house, I had a strong desire to taste vada pao. That’s why I decided to come and eat vada pao today,” she says after hearing about the street food from her mother, who immigrated to Pakistan from India. Ali said growing up.
“I have to say it tastes really great. I had a strong desire to go to India and eat vada pao. It tastes just like the one I found in Karachi, Pakistan.”
