KARACHI: The aroma of chilli sauce and vinegar with the puffs of steam that escape from the sides of the lid covering the pot of soup in the vendor’s cart hits the spot. Mazhar Hussain knows it as he smiles while going about his work at Saifi Chicken Corn Soup in the Pakistan Chowk area.

It is after 9.30pm and they still have customers lined up. Some want it plain, some with sliced boiled eggs and some with papri, or chilli chips. A plain bowl of chicken corn soup costs Rs30 and each addition adds Rs20 more. The owner of the little outlet, which also has a vendor’s cart parked outside, says he also sells plain broth, or yakhni, for Rs20 a serving.

It was during Ayub Khan’s regime that Mazhar Hussain thought of starting his soup business in Karachi.

“Our family has been in the sherbet selling business for over 100 years now. We used to sell sherbet in India, too, before partition. But cold beverages don’t sell well during the winter months. That’s when I noticed this fellow from Gilgit-Baltistan selling chicken corn soup in Nazimabad. I thought I could do the same, so here I am,” he says.

“Chicken corn soup is such a good seller during the evenings. We open shop at 5pm every day and sometimes my son has to go back home to get more soup two or three times when we run out here.”

Since the soup is so popular in Karachi in winter, there are many other vendors selling the same all over town. They don’t sell any other soup such as mushroom, tomato, onion, spinach, mulligatawny, etc. It’s just chicken corn soup.

Nadeem of Mohammad Nadeem Qadri Chicken Corn Soup says that if you want any other soup, you can always head to any of the big and posh restaurants but on the roads it is only chicken corn soup as it is easy and quick to prepare as well. “Then other soups people haven’t even heard of much, but China is our friendly neighbour and the soup coming from there adds to its charm,” he says.

The vendor has his own way of serving. He only makes plain corn soup from broth, sweet corn, corn flour and egg. The boiled chicken he keeps shredded separately and only adds if asked to do so for which he demands extra money. “Plain corn soup is for Rs30 a serving. Plain soup with an extra boiled egg is for Rs50 and if you want it with shredded chicken, it’s Rs60,” he says.

All soup vendors usually do business from December to the beginning of March. Once winter is over, all turn to selling sherbet and gola ganda.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2015

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