Sometimes you meet people who are so interesting and inspiring it reminds you to love what you do, or where you live, or even what you eat. Jasmine from Maha Masala Spice Company is one of those people.
I approached her through the Maha Masala Facebook page (which you can find here) to see if she’d be happy to talk about all things spice and cooking with me after I’d seen (and smelt!) her stall at the Falmouth Street Food and Real Ale Festival. Almost immediately I was invited over for lunch and a chat.
Jasmine and her husband, Ben, run Maha Masala Spice Company from their home in Penryn, here they combine their love of cooking, Indian food and authentic ingredients to create a really amazing experience. As soon as I arrived I was greeted by Jasmine and the most mouthwatering aromas drifting from the kitchen. Their company is primarily to import the freshest spices from India, which they then blend to create different masala blends (they currently have six) which they sell with a recipe attached to help you experience it to it’s fullest potential. To promote this they also host a secret restaurant, have stalls at food festivals and hold cookery classes.
The fist thing I wanted to know was why they’d started up the business.
Jasmine is from Rajasthan in India and Ben is a Cornish boy, they have both traveled extensively and have a love of Indian cuisine (and having tasted some of Jasmine’s cooking I can see why!) However Jasmine found that Indian food in restaurants was very ‘angilsised’ – traditional dishes that had been changed to suit the English palate and that fresh, fragrant spices she used in her home cooking were either not available locally or processed and stored for so long they’d lost some of their aroma. So they set off to India to source organic, good quality spices direct from the supplier to bring over to Cornwall because they’d discovered something else… People here wanted authentic Indian food, they wanted quality spice and to learn about another way of cooking. When I asked Jasmine if she felt like she was educating people a lot of the time she smiled and said ‘all the time’ but thats one of the main reasons for the business, unlike a lot of chefs Jasmine wants to share her recipes. At their secret restaurant events Jasmine and Ben love to get into conversations with the guests explaining and discussing recipes and ideas. ‘After all, isn’t that how recipes were developed?’ she mused.
The first thing Jasmine showed me was her spice rack, a reclaimed bible shelf from a local church (another example of the blending between Cornwall and India she explained).
It was nothing like any spice rack I’d ever seen, but by far the most beautiful, Jasmine took down pots letting me sniff and taste different spices, some I was familiar with and others I’d never heard of before. One thing that struck me was the difference in appearance – I didn’t even recognise the cinnamon, instead of the tightly curled sticks you see at christmas this almost looked like bark. That’s the difference, and what Jasmine had been telling me – these spices are authentic.
One particular bug bear Jasmine has with Anglo-Indian food is the onion bhaji – they’re too big and dense. So the fist thing she made for us to eat was a spinach and radish pakore, which she explained was similar to an onion bhaji but had a different name as it’s from a different state.
As Jasmine chatted and prepared the food I tried not to get in the way (working from a home kitchen means there’s that much space so every inch of child locked cupboard space is crammed with ingredients). Just as the pakore were finished there was a knock at the door and an unexpected guest joined us for lunch. I have to say his timing was perfect and Jasmine is the ultimate hostess, you never feel like you’re intruding into her home, she just welcomes you in in, arms wide.
I’m also not a massive fan of onion bhaji’s so was very excited to see what a fresh, authentic alternative would taste like. Well, it was light and fragrant and if you’re a fan of the bhaji I’m going to suggest you don’t have these (I’ll have them all) because you’ll never be able to eat a bhaji again without thinking longingly of this instead.
The pakore were made with fresh spinach and radish from their garden, which lead nicely onto another question I’d wanted to ask, whether Cornwall has influenced the business in any way. At first I thought it probably didn’t – Jasmine and Ben’s recipes are very clearly authentic Indian affairs, so her answer surprised me. It does. They are passionate about using good quality, low carbon and organic food where possible. They buy all their fish and meat from local fishmongers and butchers and grow as much salad and herbs as they can. Buying from butchers, Jasmine explained, ensures they know where the meat has come from and that the animals have had a good quality of life, a principle you can’t help but admire in a sometimes seemingly uncaring food industry. They also cook seasonally, with lamb dishes featuring in Spring and Summer and turkey around Christmas.
Then Jasmine served up the main dishes and I’ll let you just enjoy the view (and yes, they tasted even better than they looked).
Altogether we tasted Lamb Laal Maas, which was beautiful, if a bit spicy for me. I’m not a fan of spiciness for the sake of it but this was so tasty I tried to handle it so I could taste more of the deliciousness! Raungi (black eyed peas) I’d never eaten black eyed peas before but I will definitely be trying them again. There was also a Cucumber raita which, as it was yoghurt based, really helped cool my mouth and bring another favour to the table. This was especially helpful when I tried the spicy garlic and chilli chutney and immediately understood what Jasmine had meant when she told me it was nothing like English chutney – this was salty and strong and HOT, back to the yoghurt! The butter chicken was delicious, especially when you ate it off the buttery paratha bread but my favourite was the saag made from radish and spinach top, it was coconutty and subtle and tasted so good I ended up just spooning it out of the bowl. It’s traditional to have a sweet with the meal so Jasmine gave us rose laddoo, sticky sweet nuts wrapped in rose petals (an excellent tradition in my eyes).
By the way… the crockery (can you even call it that?) Can we just take a moment to appreciate the beauty of these plates and bowls? I could easily eat every meal off of them!
During the meal we spoke about food (obviously) but also so many other things – Jasmine’s childhood in India, travels and chai. I went to India a few years ago and one thing I’d loved but never been able to recreate or find in the UK was chai. And Jasmine made me some cardamom and ginger chai, just like that (with added ginger for my cold).
To me that sums up the lunch, for three hours I was welcomed into someone’s home and passions with so much kindness and warmth – now I can’t wait to order a masala or two for myself and try out the recipes.
If you want to try out Jasmine’s cooking for yourself she is cooking at the Penryn Picture House screening of Queen on the 14th July, or book onto a secret restaurant dinner!
Cornish Food Baby 