A management consultant, Mandira Sarkar, the creative force behind Surrey Spice, worked in the public sector for many years helping organisations become more productive. After her last large project with Guildford Borough Council ended, Mandira felt it was time to try her hand at something creative and more hands on.

A love of her family’s traditional cuisine and treasured handed-down recipes inspired her to launch a calendar of pop up supper clubs. I was invited to one of the first Mandira hosted with some other local food writers. Her supper clubs are all themed by festivals and ours for the evening was Holi, the festival of colours. We were treated to a fabulous evening of Indian food and storytelling with dishes that were pure bliss: no overpowering chilli hit, absolutely no puddles of oil, just fragrant, aromatic spices and complementary textures. Desserts were amazing too.

However, whilst the food was as good as anything I have eaten in Singapore’s Little India (perhaps even better), it was really the delightful rhetoric from Mandira during the meal that made
the evening sparkle.

A natural host, Mandira embellished the evening with background information on each dish: a family party, watching her mother in the kitchen or a snippet of information about the festival. Holi commemorates the victory of good over evil, which culminates in the burning and destruction of a female demon named Holika. Holi got its name as the ‘Festival of Colours’ from Lord Krishna, a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu, who liked to play pranks on village girls by drenching them in water and coloured powdered paint. The festival is always held at the end of February or early March which also marks the start of summer season. By the end of the evening, as the food entwined with vivid descriptions, we almost felt we had been there ourselves. If Dev Patel had danced into the room, none of us would have been at all surprised!

This was in February 2015 and I have followed Mandira and her company Surrey Spice on social media as the business grew. Supper clubs, while great for guests, are hard work and difficult to make a living from, but they are great for having your expertise recognised. Mandira had also started to offer take away food for pick up on Fridays from her home in Guildford. Surrey Spice supper clubs have popped up at local award-winning distillery Silent Pool with Bollywood-themed evenings and at Cellar Wines in Ripley, boutique wine shop and deli with a full events’ calendar. Cookery courses and bespoke catering are also on offer. In fact, this entrepreneur has been so active she has also been a finalist at the Surrey Life Food & Drink Awards for Food Innovation.

More recently, Mandira decided the time was right to sell Surrey Spice freezer-ready meals to farm shops and delicatessens. Making these fresh to order, she delivers either fresh or ready frozen and already has a keen following. There are so many Indian ready meals in supermarkets that Mandira fully supports her retailers by offering tasting events. These are a huge success, as once bitten it’s difficult to resist the charms of these authentic dishes. After trying them myself, I was delighted to have the opportunity to see them being made and hopefully learn some trade secrets.

I arrived on a cold morning to watch the magic happen in Mandira’s Surrey kitchen where she has managed to find a lady from Goa to help prepare her wonderful dishes, and another helper
was on hand to pack.

On arrival, the kitchen was in full production, huge wooden spoons were used to stir giant pans of dhal and Dhania Kaju Murgh (chicken with cashew nuts and coriander). A curious machine was whirring on the work surface and from the aroma I could tell I was in curry nirvana. I was astonished at the amount of detail that goes into the dishes. No jar of Balti curry paste has ever been welcome in this kitchen. Instead the dishes are all authentic regional recipes made exactly as they would be in Indian homes. Mandira explained that dishes such as tandoori chicken masala don’t exist in India, but her dishes of Xacuti chicken and Meen Moilee do.

Mandira’s chicken curry

This elegant curry is easy to replicate providing there is an electric food blender or food processor to hand. The blended onions, ginger and garlic form the base of this aromatic dish and naturally thicken the sauce. Serve with steamed Basmati rice and fresh coriander for a satisfying dinner.

Ingredients
Two to three tablespoons vegetable oil
One inch cinnamon bark
Four cardamom pods, cut down the middle to release flavour
Four cloves
Two mild onions
One inch fresh root ginger
One whole garlic, skin removed
One teaspoon ground cumin
One teaspoon ground coriander
One teaspoon red chilli powder; for a hotter curry, use more
One teaspoon turmeric powder
Eight boned chicken thighs, skin removed and each chopped into four to five pieces
Four to five potatoes, cut into quarters
One teaspoon salt
Half teaspoon sugar
Half teaspoon garam masala
Two fresh tomatoes, chopped
Half cup water

Fresh chopped coriander to garnish

Method
• Heat two to three tablespoons of oil in a large, heavy based pan and add the cinnamon bark, cardamom pods and cloves. This may sputter, but it’s important to release the flavour from these spices. Once an aroma starts to emerge, add the blended onion, ginger and garlic. Stir fry this mixture until it starts to brown slightly: if it starts to stick, add a teaspoon of water.
• Add the cumin, coriander, chilli and turmeric stirring continuously. Cook for a minute and add the chicken pieces.
• Cook the chicken in the spice paste until it starts to brown and is coated all over.
• Now add the potatoes and pan fry for another two minutes.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil. Simmer with a lid on the pan for 15-20 minutes until the potato is cooked through and the gravy has thickened.
• Serve with rice and garnish with fresh coriander.

Shirlee Posner, www.eatsurrey.co.uk

I watched the Dhania Kaju Murgh created from chopped, skinless chicken thigh meat, fresh coconut and coriander. Thigh meat is a preferred cut for traditionalists as it’s more tender and juicy than chicken breast (a sentiment I found when I lived in Taiwan too). The curious whirring machine it turned out was a stone grinder for spices. Used in modern Indian kitchens and powered by electricity, Mandira had the grinder brought to the UK by a friend in her suitcase. The only recognisable part of this machine is the name Prestige, but it is essential for the texture it creates when grinding ingredients. In the machine I witnessed fried onions being ground with fresh coconut with the resulting pulp seasoning and thickening the gravy. Using fresh coconut is essential said this chef, whose attention to detail was apparent.

After this dish was made, a second went into production – Chicken Xacuti – for which a whole bowl of Kashmiri red chilli had been steeped in water and ground with coconut. A batch of Lehsuni Dal (yellow lentils cooked in caramelised garlic) was ready to portion up, but first we sampled a small bowl each. Satisfying, spicy, smooth and aromatic, it’s a delight to find such brilliant Indian food being made locally. Mandira sources her ingredients from a local Indian food retailer who also has a butcher’s counter, so Surrey Spice supports other local food businesses too. Currently there are ten dishes available in Surrey Spice’s ready meal range, one of which is a Paneer (Indian cottage cheese) cooked in spinach which is the best I have ever tried.

I highly recommend these new freezer ready meals. They are beautifully cooked in small batches in a spotlessly clean kitchen. The effort and expertise that goes into their production is hard to beat and the recipes are totally authentic. In addition, these Surrey Spice meals are all gluten free and contain no preservative. It’s just really good food!

Mandira’s amazing food is currently for sale in several farm shops in Surrey and a full list can be found on the Surrey Spice website.

Shirlee Posner

essence info

Surrey Spice
Telephone: 07876 135096
Email: info@surreyspice.com
Websites: www.surreyspice.com and www.eatsurrey.co.uk

Shirlee Posner is a food writer and blogger at www.eatsurrey.co.uk and provides social media management, web copywriting and food photography.