Genuine Gujarati

13/Feb/2012

Urvesh Parvais of Gujarati Rasoi talks about bringing genuine family food to lovers of Indian cuisine.

How did Gujarati Rasoi come about?
I realised that the Indian food in restaurants was very, very different to what I would eat at home. I often thought, "Well that's not a patch on what I have at home!" It made me realise that what I was taking for granted was actually something very special.
I came to the conclusion that the reason it's special is because the style, the method and the tradition were being preserved. When people move, they try to hold onto something from home, and I have inherited those values and traditions.

How is Gujarati Rasoi unique?
The food that we make is almost like travelling through time, because it's so important that we hold onto all those things that represent home. In your local curry house you have a menu as long as your arm. There are dishes on there that are completely invented, and it's not necessarily what the chef or restaurateur will eat when they go home. Our modus operandi is to create food which we would then eat at home – it's as simple as that.

How did you come up with the name?
Our food is essentially quite humble and honest, so we thought we should be like that with our name as well. "Gujarati Rasoi" translates directly to "Gujarati cooking". Although it sounds exotic, it's quite to the point.

Your mother is your partner in business. How do you make the relationship work?
We have our moments! But essentially I come from a culture which looks after their parents. To have her so close and to have her part of my existence and my working life is comforting for me and I think it's good for her too. It's a wholesome experience working with my mother; it feels natural. And that's what our business is like as well; it's the tradition we're keeping alive, so this feels right.

What is she like in the kitchen?
She's a complete natural. She's not had to write anything down ever in regard to her recipes. She knows them off by heart and understands her toolbox of flavours the way an artist would their colours.

You initially launched five years ago and you arrived at Borough in 2010; how did the business evolve?
At first my mum was cooking from my sister's kitchen – it was a real family effort! And I was running my design business and helping out on a Saturday. All of us were juggling to see if we could get this thing off the ground. After a year of doing it we thought, "You know what? It's going somewhere." We'd saved up a few pennies and we went for it. We found a unit not far from Tower Bridge. We've been there four years.

What are your bestsellers?
Customers tend to ask for spinach and potato curry, mung bean dahl and samosas, which they absolutely love. Those are the top three in terms of the hot food. The other products we sell are the four cooking sauces, and we have apple chutney and the date and tamarind chutney.

What's different about the sauces?
The sauces are designed in the way that we cook. We'd never cook with one generic set of spices for everything. We have one that's for dhal, one for meat and poultry, one for fish and seafood, and one for vegetables.

What staples might one find in the Gujarati Rasoi larder?
We've got green cardamom, black cardamom, cumin, coriander seeds, ginger, garlic, chilli powders, garam masala with a blend of eight spices , white pepper, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, curry leaves, sesame seeds, onions and tomatoes.

What's the highlight of your job?
There's a generation of Indian people who were born here who actually didn't learn the recipes, and those skills are starting to get lost. We're managing to hold on to those recipes and share them. The best is when people say, "It tastes like my grandmother's cooking," and I'm like, "Yes! That's exactly it." Those sorts of things are really important and for me personally. That's high praise.