Tower and Town, March 2017

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100 Chai Street

We always had a dream to do something like this - running an Indian Tea Room and Home Food Cafe specialising in traditional Indian home-cooked and street food with a twist - and after having spent almost two decades in the corporate world we took a leap of faith and followed our hearts, as it is never too late to do that.

Five years ago we moved with our two young girls to the United Kingdom from New Delhi, India, and after three years in Swindon we arrived in Marlborough in 2015. Aarti comes from the Punjabi community but was born in Assam in North Eastern India, while Sudip, although a Bengali by birth, is from New Delhi. The common thread twining us both is our love of food! During her growing up years, Aarti was inspired by all the amazing cooks in her family, be it her mum, aunts or her grand mum, and this ignited her passion for cooking as well.

Having travelled all over the world and savoured global cuisines, when our search for the perfect Indian flavours came to naught in the South West of England, we decided to give flight to our dreams by opening 100 Chai Street in the summer of 2015, believing that although Marlborough is home to a number of coffee shops and eateries, ‘100 Chai Street’ can offer something unique - a smorgasbord of fresh clean and simple flavours with a global influence.

Despite no formal chef qualifications, we carried on undeterred as we were very confident of our simple and authentic flavours, and knew for sure that Marlborough was ready for what we had to offer. Today while Aarti is the sole chef at 100 Chai Street, Sudip is the perfect ‘front of house’. What we hope to achieve for those visiting our restaurant is something akin to visiting our home, with all the informal hospitality that that implies.

Paneer Makhani Curry
250 gm Paneer cheese cut into squares
500 gm passata or 500 gm tomatoes, blanched and pureed
2 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp oil 1½ tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi), dry roasted and crushed
½ tsp cumin seeds, 2 tsp coriander powder, ½ tsp garam masala powder, ½ tsp cayenne pepper
3 tbsp cashew nuts, soaked in warm water for 10 mins and ground to a paste
1 tsp salt to taste ½ tsp sugar ½ cup water ½ cup of milk ½ cup cream

Take about a tablespoon of oil in a non stick pan and lightly sauté the paneer cubes by tossing the pan, taking care not to break the pieces - put them to one side. Heat the remaining oil and butter and add cumin seeds and let them splutter. Bring to a medium heat and add ginger garlic paste, cook for a minute or two, add the tomato puree/passata, then add the ground spice masalas, cayenne pepper, salt and sugar. Mix well and cook till the oil starts to separate .

Add the cashew paste and stir well. Cook for a few minutes on a medium heat taking care not to let the paste stick to the bottom of the pan, add water and simmer on low heat for 4-5 minutes. Add the paneer cubes and bring to a simmer.

Turn off the heat and add the milk and cream, then bring back to a gentle simmer on very low heat, till the desired thickness of the gravy is achieved. Sprinkle with crushed kasoori methi, garnish with a swirl of cream and fresh coriander leaves, and dig in with a crisp and flaky nan or paratha on the side..... Yumzzers!!

The paneer can easily be substituted by chicken, or even mushrooms for a Vegan Curry (by omitting the dairy products).

Sudip and Aarti Roy