Curry queen Maunika Gowardhan

Jun 26 2009 by Jane Hall, The Journal

Later she met Bharat and moved to Newcastle to be with him. It was to be a turning point in Maunika’s life. While British Gas was anxious to keep her on its books and was willing to tailor-make a job for her, another door opened. For years she had been denying where her true love lay: food.

“I am a self-taught cook,” she explains, as she rustles up on her domestic stove the surprisingly quick-to-prepare prawn pulao she teaches in her cookery sessions. “When I was at university I used to eat ready meals and baked beans, but when I got married I wanted to recreate the food of my mother and that is how all this began.

“When my mum cooked in India she would insist I stand and watch.

Indian mothers always say, ‘it will come in handy one day,’ not as a career, but for when you are married and have a family of your own.

“I think my mum and dad were very surprised when I decided to make food my career.

“Coming to Newcastle gave me the chance to take a new path.”

Utilising her business skills, she saw a gap in the market in the North East for a bespoke Indian catering firm, which has led on to the cookery classes. She has found the North East people to be welcoming and very receptive to her style of cuisine. And she has nothing but praise for the region’s homegrown produce.

“I have found people here to be passionate about food and the produce available here is brilliant. I love going to farm shops and I love using local ingredients.

“Initially, I admit, I had trouble finding everything I wanted. But even in the last eight years, the supermarkets have begun stocking more spices and more unusual ingredients like okra.

“I use local where I can, but otherwise I love going to the Brighton Grove store. I love the way you can feel the food and touch it and see what you are getting.

“When it’s pre-wrapped you can’t tell what is what. I can remember when I was younger going to the markets in India. They aren’t like here, you literally have a vendor for each vegetable or spice, you haggle over the price and you can feel everything you are buying.

“My motto is: if you can’t feel every vegetable, don’t buy it.”

Maunika, whose husband has an English mother and Indian father and was brought up eating roast dinners, is enjoying experimenting in the kitchen with Indianising British food. “At Christmas I added cumin seeds to the roast potatoes with the turkey, and quite often I will marinade a chicken in Indian spices or add an Indian twist to the mashed potato.”

Maunika is obviously relieved she has passed muster in the North East. But as she tucks in to a plate of her deliciously aromatic prawn pulao, there is one judge above all others she is pleased to have impressed – her mother.

“She has tried my starters and she loved them, which was wonderful.”

To book Maunika Gowardhan for a cooking session call 07771 564 330. For more information on Starters and Spice go to www.startersandspice.co.uk

Maunika will be conducting more children’s cookery classes for seven-14-year-olds at the Trinity Centre, Gosforth, Newcastle, on July 15, August 5 and 12. Each session costs £12 per child.