Anuradha (Anjali) Thatal is the queen of spice in Perthshire.
She spent months grinding spices with a small mortar and pestle by hand to meet customer demand before finally investing in a grinder that has now cut her time making spices considerably.
It takes her days to prepare her homemade Indian food that customers rightfully rave about, and since launching during pandemic in July 2020, her business, Anjali Nimto, has grown from strength to strength.
She runs her operation from her home in Auchterarder with her husband, Swayam Roka, while looking after two young children.
Anjali moved to Scotland just nine years ago from Sikkim in India in 2013 where the food is very light spiced, features more soup-inspired dishes and has Chinese influence.
Nimto means ‘invitation’ in her regional language and Anjali Nimto is an invitation to sample a range of dishes from across the country. Anjali calls it her “curry tour of India”.
Staring with 12 customers, Anjali and her husband now cater to 20 people per week with demand growing daily. Customers have to book in quick if they want to sample the food.
“Each week I pick a region, like Mumbai (or Bombay as it used to be called) and I do everything that week themed around it. From the starters right through to the desserts.
“I’ve always struggled to get a good Indian meal so I wanted to showcase my culture and show what Indian food actually is. I think that’s why people stay with us.
“I’ll also share the story of the curry and where its influences come from.
“We’ve had people say they’ve never tried anything like it before, and some have even questioned if it is an Indian meal as they aren’t used to this style of cooking.”
Running a set offering every week the menu is released on her Facebook page on Monday morning and orders must be in by Friday afternoon/evening. Customers then collect their orders on Saturday from 4pm until 7.30pm.
The set menu, which varies in price from around £17 to £20 features starters and a main course with rice, and dessert, sides or additionals like poppadoms can also be added to orders at an extra cost.
Sides usually feature bread, salad, riata and more, and Anjali says it takes her days to prepare the food. While she hasn’t been able to support as many local businesses with her venture as she had hoped due costs, everything is made fresh and hand cut.
“We make our own spices which takes a lot of time. Everything is hand cut and we don’t use anything frozen.
“My husband helps me in the kitchen. While he isn’t a chef he worked in Gleneagles for 10 years, so he’s got a good eye for detail.”
Dishes on previous menus have included a burger-style vada pau with spiced potato and red and green chutney, kholapuri chicken which has been marinated in various spices for 24 hours, Persian salli boti lamb dish, shahi murgh korma and sungur ko masa which is a pork belly dish slow cooked in red dry chilli and tomatoes.
Starting to cook for her family at home the age of 12, Anjali has always been passionate about her roots.
With her siblings and father out working and her mother overseeing their house build project, making sure the household was fed was left in Anjali’s hands.
“Feeding people is something I love to do. I’ve made a lot of friends in Scotland over food,” she added.
The 39-year old now also works at Capability Scotland’s Upper Springland’s day centre where she has run multiple Bollywood themed days.
It was the clients and staff who persuaded Anjali to start her own business after sampling her curries.
Anjali has a burning desire to bring as many people together over good food.
Popping up in local venues including The Smiddy Haugh in Auchterarder for kitchen takeovers, her dream is to own her own Michelin starred Indian restaurant and put the cuisine on the map in Fife.
“The main motive behind doing these events is that I really want people to sit and experience the meal.
“My aim is to have a Michelin star Indian restaurant and I want people to really enjoy the food. That will take a long time, but I would love that.
“We’ve had a few offers to do more events like these in the area. We’re hoping to do one in August and maybe July if we have time.
“We might even look at doing more Indian street food, too.”
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