Lifestyle

Parveen Ashraf: The Spice is Right!

Private chef Parveen Ashraf started Amaani Spice Box to make it easy to cook curry at home. The venture has launched her right out of the kitchen and onto the television screen. Here she reveals her recipe for business success to Shannon Denny

WHERE DID YOU GROW UP AND HOW DID YOU LEARN TO COOK?
I grew up in Bradford. There were seven kids in my family, so mum was always cooking. Always! She tried to teach me as a teenager but I just didn’t want to know. She said ‘How are you going to find a husband if you can’t cook?!’ She insisted, and then I found I loved being creative in the kitchen. When I got married at 21 my husband asked me ‘Can you make samosas, Parveen?’. I made some and he just loved them. Everything I cooked for him he loved. That fuelled my passion for cooking.

SO IT SOUNDS LIKE YOUR MOTHER KNEW A THING OR TWO.
Well, what inspired her to cook was her husband. My dad was in the British Army in India. He was always away a lot – in Burma, in Germany, all over. So when he got home she would make him a kilo of lamb bhuna and he would devour the lot! Her passion stemmed from feeding her man.

WHAT WAS YOUR DREAM JOB WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP?
I wanted to be an actress! I said to my mum ‘I want to be on the stage.’ But my mum said ‘Don’t be silly, you’re Muslim!’ So I did what was expected of me – I left school, got married and had children. I have three. They’re 24, 22 and 17 now.

FROM COOKING FOR YOUR FAMILY, HOW DID YOU START BRINGING YOUR COOKING TO A WIDER AUDIENCE?
I used to host a lot of dinner parties at the house when our children were young. My husband had business meetings with clients who he needed to wine and dine. But he said ‘Every time I go to a restaurant, I’m disappointed.’ So he started to invite clients to the house. The dinner parties became quite famous. I would make good food, and people appreciate good food.

MEANWHILE, YOU WERE WORKING OUTSIDE OF THE FOOD INDUSTRY, IS THAT RIGHT?
I was in marketing and sales, then I ran a nursery and then I became an Ofsted inspector for nurseries. But seven years ago I had a serious illness – it really makes you reassess your life. I was ill for about a year. When I recovered my husband said ‘No more stressful jobs for you – do what you love doing.’ I said ‘I love cooking, but I can’t do that for a living.’ And he said ‘Why not?’

AFTER YOU LEFT YOUR HOSPITAL BED, HOW AND WHERE DID YOU BEGIN ON THIS NEW CAREER PATH?
First I got a job teaching cooking at a local college, then at a regional college and also at a cooking school. I’ve now been teaching for about five years.

YOUR COMPANY SELLS KITS CONTAINING RECIPE CARDS AND ALL THE SPICES NEEDED TO MAKE DISHES LIKE CHICKEN MASALA, TARKA DAAL, PILAU RICE, LAMB BHUNA AND ONION BHAJIS. HOW DID THAT BRANCH OF YOUR BUSINESS GET GOING?
My son left to go to university five years ago. He rang me and said ‘Mum, I’m really missing your cooking.’ He didn’t miss me – he just missed my cooking! I sent him some recipes, but it just didn’t work because the spices he used were all wrong. So I ground up some spices and posted them to him. He said ‘This is a good business idea!’. It then took me a year to develop the Amaani Spice Box.

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME?
‘Amaani’ is Arabic for ‘hope’ and it’s also my daughter’s middle name.

SO IT SOUNDS LIKE BETWEEN CATERING, TEACHING AND RUNNING AMAANI SPICE BOX YOU’VE GOT YOUR HANDS FULL! WHAT’S THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE TO RUNNING A BUSINESS LIKE YOURS?
For me, advertising and marketing is so expensive. That’s why I started thinking I needed to get myself out there and why I applied to be on Come Dine with Me.

DID YOUR FIRST FORAY INTO TV AFFECT YOUR COMPANY?
Well, Channel 4 is not allowed to advertise businesses, so every time I mentioned what I did for a living they had to cut it out. But it did give me a taste for TV! I think there is a real shortage of Asian women doing Asian food on television. I look okay for my age, I can cook and I can talk for England and Pakistan put together, so I thought why not?

WHICH LEADS US TO YOUR NEXT TV APPEARANCE, WHICH WAS ON THE IDEAL WORLD SHOPPING CHANNEL…
Ideal World is based in Peterborough, so about five years ago I contacted a buyer there and they were interested. I did three shows, sold 100 boxes in ten minutes and got live TV experience. But I was quite nervous, so that’s why in the last four years I’ve done lots and lots of teaching. Now I feel I can teach anybody to make a curry – anybody – using my techniques, my methods and my spices.

AS FAR AS TELEVISION GOES, WHAT’S NEXT?
I’ve learnt my trade and I’m confident, so now I’m ready for QVC. I met an agent about a year ago and she is approaching QVC with my new Amaani Spice Box for summer, which includes recipes and spices to make chickpea salad, tandoori chicken, lamb sheesh kebabs, cumin roast potatoes and cucumber raita.

WHAT ELSE ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?
When my mum was teaching me she never cooked from a recipe. It was ‘a pinch of this, a pinch of that’ so everything was by eye. So now I’ve written a cookbook with over 60 recipes, which are all six or seven steps and easy to follow. Every recipe has an introduction that shares a story from my family or childhood. It’s quite autobiographical. I’ve got the book proposal ready but it’s a difficult industry. I’m just waiting for the right publisher now!

CAN YOU SHARE WITH US AN EXAMPLE OF ONE OF THE PERSONAL STORIES THAT YOU’VE INCLUDED?
I make a chickpea, pepper and potato masala. It is my daughter’s favourite from when she was going through her vegetarian phase, which was just after her Goth phase. Her favourite way of eating it was on spaghetti with cheese – not very Indian! Now that she’s at university, when she comes home I make it for her. She packs it in Tupperware and takes it away.

WHAT’S THE BEST MEAL YOU REMEMBER FROM YOUR OWN CHILDHOOD?
During the power cuts of the seventies we’d come home from school and mum would make us onion bhajis. We’d sit on the floor, all seven of us, and we would have them by candlelight. It made it so secretive and magical. Of course, I would get two slices of white buttered bread and make onion bhaji sandwiches with ketchup, because this was Yorkshire! Then she would make hot chai and we would get all cleaned up. Because of the power cuts, we had hot water bottles and blankets. We used to cuddle up and play Ludo, the whole family together.

THESE DAYS, DO YOU EVER GET TIRED OF COOKING?
Absolutely! Last night we had fish and chips. I never go out for an Indian though – I’m too difficult to please. On Come Dine with Me they called me Picky Parveen. So if we eat out, it will be fish and chips or pizza.

WHO IS YOUR PROFESSIONAL INSPIRATION?
Someone said to me ‘You’re like the Asian Nigella.’ If I could be like Nigella then I would aspire to be nothing more. I think she’s flying the flag for women who are 50-plus. On screen, I’m mesmerised by her. She’s my girl crush.

HAS THERE BEEN A LOW POINT SINCE STARTING THE BUSINESS THAT YOU CAN SHARE?
I did an outdoor party for 100. A gust of wind came and blew over a huge tub of yoghurt. I got covered head to toe. I had to complete the catering covered in yoghurt! But if I hadn’t had the bad parts, I couldn’t appreciate the good parts.

WHAT’S THE BEST PART OF YOUR JOB?
My favourite part is teaching other people about my culture. It’s about breaking cultural barriers – food breaks down so many barriers it’s unbelievable. I’m an Asian woman, I’m in business, I’m a mum. As a former Ofsted inspector I’m a real fan of equal opportunities. I’m a normal Muslim Pakistani woman but I’m also very British: I queue, I drink tea, I’m polite. I’m an amalgamation, with northern roots, Asian culture and British upbringing. It’s a mishmash – a bit like kedgeree!

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR DESERT ISLAND INGREDIENTS? IF YOU COULD ONLY TAKE THREE KITCHEN ESSENTIALS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
Sea salt, chilli powder and a potato. I love potatoes! I’m from the north, so I have potatoes with everything.

FINALLY, WHAT’S YOUR DREAM FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
I want Amaani Spice Box to be in delicatessens, Harvey Nicks, Waitrose. I want people to cook my recipes and I’d love to have a TV show. I’d call it Bollywood Nights!

Find out more:
Email or visit www.amaanispice.co.uk

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