The Charlottesville 29

Fathima Raheema Mohamed Jawfer and her husband Minhaj Akthar have long dreamed of opening a business serving the food they love. Thanks to an innovative rentable shared kitchen space, that dream is now a reality. This is great news for Charlottesville diners.

Growing up in Sri Lanka, Fathima fell in love with food and hospitality at her father’s restaurant, which served both Sri Lankan and South Indian cuisine. With Mint Kitchen, she and Minhaj have now brought that love to Charlottesville. “Cooking together has always been something we enjoy,” said Minhaj. “Whenever we had free time, we would invite friends over and cook for them.” They longed to turn that experience into a business, but there are hurdles to opening a restaurant, financial and otherwise. Then they learned of Beacon Kitchen, a lease-able shared kitchen space whose mission is to create an “environment where chefs, food entrepreneurs, and culinary enthusiasts can come together to unleash their creativity.” Without the overhead of a restaurant, their dream could become a reality. Mint Kitchen, now open, offers takeout and delivery Friday through Sunday, with plans for additional hours.

Mint Kitchen: South Indian Food To-Go in Charlottesville

Ever wonder why most Indian restaurants in the U.S. seem to have the same menu? With 1.5 billion people, India is the world’s most populous country, and yet the same collection of dishes recurs on Indian restaurant menus again and again. The answer is imitation. Much like Chinese restaurants, Indian restaurants’ growth in the U.S. resulted from entrepreneurs seeing what worked and doing the same. They followed the menus of early successful restaurant menus, which drew from one region of Northern India: Punjab.

Consequently, South Indian food can be difficult to find in the U.S.. One example are dosas — savory crepes popular in South India and Sir Lanka but rare in the U.S.. Dosas were a specialty of Fathima’s father’s restaurant in Sri Lanka, and she and Minhaj follow the same traditional method she learned there. It’s a multi-day process that involves soaking rice and urad dal, grinding them, and allowing them to ferment naturally overnight. They are then blended to form a batter.

The key is to use the right proportions of rice and dal, as each lends different qualities to the texture of dosa. To prepare, the batter is poured onto a griddle and cooked like a crepe.

Mint Kitchen offers traditional dosa fillings like spiced mashed potato or keema – minced goat or chicken. There’s also a dosa stuffed with Nutella – a Silk Road mock-up linking India and Italy. On my first visit, I ordered the keema dosa, with spiced minced goat. When Minhaj handed me my order, he said: “Eat it as soon as possible!” I did as I was told and ate it straight away. With a pleasant tang from the overnight fermentation and a delicate ethereal texture, it was outstanding. For comparison, I also tried one after the drive home, and, while it had lost some of its texture and aroma, it was still delicious.

A cousin of dosa, idli are small cakes made from a similar but slightly thicker batter of fermented rice and dal, which is steamed instead of griddled. The steaming gives them a soft fluffy texture. Like dosas, idli are naturally gluten-free. Mint Kitchen also offers curries and one of India’s most beloved rice dishes, Hyderabadi biryani. Follow along on Instagram and Facebook.