Chaula's curries flavour across
Sussex
Providing an authentic taste of Gujarat, Chaula's in Station
Street is not your average Indian take away, serving a mixture of
chilled and frozen dishes taken from authentic recipes as eaten by
Gujurati families at home with a few dishes invented by owner
Chaula Patel.
Chaula's meals and snacks are mostly vegetarian or vegan (although
there are chicken, fish and lamb options), free of artificial
additives and gluten, and made using local ingredients whenever
possible, all of which makes them a touch more virtuous than an
Indian takeaway!
Guajarati cuisine relies on a wide variety of herbs and spices to
accentuate rather than mask natural flavours. The shop (now with
limited seating for diners), like other establishments on Station
Street, is quite easy to miss as you puff and pant your way to the
High Street at the top of the hill. However, this enterprising
business run by Chaula and her husband Janak is probably one of
Lewes' biggest success stories.
Chaula, herself a vegetarian, started making her meals and snacks
nine years ago from the convenience store she runs with her husband
in St Pancras Road. Chaula said: 'We took over the store n 1994 and
built it up to a good business. The idea for the curries came in
1997 and I was surprised at how successful they were. The curries
are very different to the general idea people have of Indian
cooking. I use traditional recipes and techniques taught to me by
my mother and grandmother and I use traditional
ingredients."
To begin with, Chaula started with the more familiar recipes from
Punjabi restaurant menus and transformed them using the expertise
for cooking vegetables for which Gujaratis are famous.
The venture was a victim of its own success - Chaula found the
queue to collect an average of 250 curries stretched down the road
and became
unmanageable, so she then decided to branch out in a more
practical way.
Popular among the vegetable dishes is Bhindi Kadhi - chunky okra
pieces in thick yoghurt spiced with turmeric, chilli and curry
leaves. There is also the Dudhi Ghana, a mild creamy curry made
with gourd, yellow split lentils and spices, stuffed baby aubergine
filled with peanuts, sesame seeds, jaggery from sugar cane, garlic,
cumin and coriander, and Muthia curry, which blends several flours,
millet, rice, gram and wheat with spinach, fenugreek leaves,
potatoes and spiced tomatoes.
For non vegetarians, Chaula recommends the Pista chicken, invented
by her and her husband, which involves spices and pistachio nuts,
fish curry made with codfish in coriander, ginger, garlic and
spices, and lamb curry with mint and spicy tomatoes. Recent
additions include home made kulfi (ice cream) in pistachio, fig,
mango, mawa and original flavours. The range of delicious sweets
and savoury snacks goes well beyond the usual samosas, Bombay mix
and halwa, and is probably the most extensive you'll see anywhere
outside of London and other cities with a sizeable Indian
community.
In addition to St. Pancras Stores and her shop on Station street
-which opened in September 2003 and now has seating for added
convenience - Chaula's curries are also available from around 40
other outlets across Sussex, including Lansdown Healthfoods in
Cliffe High Street, Brighton's farmers' market and various village
shops.
Chaula's is also able to cater for meetings, parties and weddings
should you want to give your special! event an extra touch of
originality!