The looming threat of LPG scarcity has pushed the hospitality industry to the wall, forcing menu cuts and the removal of time-intensive dishes. Working women are increasingly opting for quick-fix recipes to fill tiffins, while homemakers who once spent hours in the kitchen are now hyper-cautious with every turn of the gas knob.
Those living in apartments have no other option than to rely on LPGs, induction, or microwaves to meet their daily cooking requirements. But Shobha Naik is lucky to have a backyard. “I boil drinking water on an induction instead of a gas stove and use fire for boiling bathing water and cooking using coconut shells, paper, cardboards, etc. as fuel,” she said.
Radha Anvekar from Gogol lives in a row house and has the luxury of having a barbecue party in her compound, even as others are struggling to get a gas cylinder. “My children being foodies, we often cook outside, for get-togethers, birthdays, and festivals. As slow cooking is a must for khatkhate, kheer, etc., I do it outside my kitchen. I am not much worried about the hype that’s being made about the shortage of cylinders in the coming months. We have been cooking on fire for a long time now. And, to be frank, the food tastes better compared to that cooked on a gas stove.”
Resourcefulness has become the primary ingredient in many Goan homes. Leena Sambari from Raia surprised her family by making ragi, jowar, and bajra dosas instead of using the regular rice-urad dal mixture. “The millet flours do not have to be soaked overnight or ground in a mixer. And they take half the time to get roasted as compared to normal rice-dosas. Thus, I am saving both electricity and cooking gas,” smiles Leena.
Meena Bhobe has likewise simplified her menu, replacing upma and shira with poha and bread omelets to save fuel. “I am saving gas in little quantities daily, so that I can celebrate Gudi Padwa with our favourite puranpoli dish, which takes a lengthier cooking procedure. I have stopped making parathas and theplas. Fulkas take less than a minute, so I am sticking to the light menu of fulka-bhaji for dinner,” she adds.
Every woman has her own technique to save cooking gas. A homemaker from Ponda, Surekha Joshi, has been using a bio-cooker, which runs on coal. It is fumeless and smokeless. “We place it on the balcony, and three things get cooked at a time – daal, rice, and one vegetable kept on top of the other gets cooked slowly. The food also remains warmer for long hours, if kept on coal, which is cheap,” says Surekha, who uses LPG only for making tea-coffee. She boils milk and roasts chapatis on coal. All her friends keep calling her to get the address of this bio-cooker with an inbuilt arrangement for keeping coal beneath.
Even professionals are feeling the strain. Internationally acclaimed chef Sarita Chawan admits that she had to cancel her order for 30 people due to the unavailability of LPG. “I told the family to postpone their naming ceremony until the supply becomes smooth. And to save gas, I myself have begun my home cooking on an electric coil heater. I use a rice cooker, and warm the food in the microwave, though I hate to do so. Somehow, we have to survive until the crisis ends,” said the chef-cum-caterer.
Noted chef Rohan Parish comes out with tips for recipes that take less time to cook – one-pot dishes like khichadi, jungle pulao, sambar rice, different flavoured rice, pongal, curd rice, pressure-cooked biryani, etc. “Yes, I have had to implement many innovations and adaptations,” he said while speaking on the current LPG shortage scenario. I changed the menu to more LPG-efficient dishes, removed items that require a long cooking process, added tandoor and electricity-friendly items, introduced induction cooktops and wood-fired burners in all the kitchens. I removed all the fancy dishes and kept the fast-moving and top-selling items,” said Rohan.
The commercial LPG seems to be currently out of stock. The deliveries are also restricted and hampered. So do the domestic ones. Many restaurants across Goa have cut down their menus, and notices have also been put up regarding that. Small hotels in Margao have hiked their prices of tea-coffee, mirchi, samosa, vada, and bhaji pao by Rs 5-10, and meals by Rs 20-50. “My last cylinder will be getting over by 4 pm. I have sent my man to the gas agency to bring the next cylinder. If I get it, I will fry bhajias; or no bhajiya today. And I have stopped adding chapatis to veg thali. I may stop papad too,” said the owner of a popular café in St Inez.
Many opine that the current hyped shortage is created to mark up prices and facilitate a few pockets of people who will benefit from it. The market is never completely out of stock, be it food, fuel, or any other item. It’s just that people panic and start overbuying, storing in the fear of future non-availability. That’s where the paucity is felt, and prices soar.
