Takeaways will offer taste of Sat’s heritage
NEW VENTURE INSPIRED BY MOMMA’S HOME-COOKING
THE homemade Punjabi food top chef Sat Bains grew up on will be sold as a takeaway in a new venture - with his mum.
The Momma Bains menu, celebrating the recipes of 72-year-old Tarsem, will launch on Saturday, starting off with samosas, chickpea curry and tamarind chutney.
In coming weeks lentil dhal, auberigine sabji and aloo gobi will be added to the menu which has been in the pipeline for seven months.
The recipes, all vegan, are as authentic as they come and have given Mrs Bains a new lease of life, said the celebrated chef.
Sat, whose Nottingham restaurant closed in March, and again in November for the second lockdown, said: “This is the genuine home-style food my mum makes.
“It’s exciting times. My mum said the tamarind chutney, the filling for the samosas and chickpea curry is better than she makes - she’s blown away by the consistency and the quality.
“She is so proud, it’s incredible. These are dishes I grew up with. This is my Punjabi heritage.
“I’ve had 50 years of mum’s food so it’s the truest
I can get it. It’s not like my version of a scallop curry that I do sometimes in the restaurant that’s my interpretation of a Michelin star dish. This is the dish as it comes from my mum’s repertoire.”
Sat, has steered away from running a home delivery service of his tasting menu served at his acclaimed Lenton Lane restaurant during the pandemic, unlike other Michelin-starred chefs across the UK.
“I wouldn’t even consider it. We can’t translate what we do in a box,” he said about the intricately crafted dishes that have won praise from critics, celebrity chefs and diners alike.
“But homely Punjabi food that you’d have at weddings and celebrations is the most perfect thing. It’s real comfort food.
“This climate is terrible but you’ve got to think outside the box. You have got to diversify.”
He has no idea how popular Momma Bains will be but added: “This is the one thing the pandemic has taught us, you’ve got to roll the dice and I do know it’s delicious.”
The Indian dishes will be sold at some of the UK’S top chippies, including the award-winning Cod’s Scallops’ shops in Wollaton, Carrington, Long Eaton and Market Harborough.
“Instead of curry sauce I like to put the chickpeas over the chips and you can put it over fish which is incredible. The tamarind chutney is quite tart. It goes really well with samosas. I don’t like my samosas too hot so my mum used to put mine in the fridge and then I’d have them cold,” said Sat.
Rick Stein’s Cornish chip shops and Galton Blackiston’s chippy in Cromer will also be introducing customers to Momma Bains’ delights.
The recipes have been upscaled by Truefoods in Yorkshire, a company which makes sauces and stocks for high end restaurants to the chefs’ specification.
Sat and his mum have visited the site in Ripon every Monday for the last four weeks to work with a development chef and taste each component of the menu to check for consistency.
“When you’re at home with your family you don’t measure anything, it’s all by the eye and smell so we’ve had to systemise mum’s recipes so now we’ve made two batches, 200kg and 100kg, and it’s incredible. It’s so consistent and that’s what we’re after so we know we’re getting the product right each time.”
“It’s been really hectic as we’ve been working on this.
“If this becomes half decent it’s going to take pressure off the restaurant and hopefully bring some income in,” said Sat, who estimated that the restaurant is losing around £25,000 a week.
The samosas and chickpea curry will cost £3.50 each and the tamarind sauce 70p a pot at the Cod’s Scallops. Owner John Molnar said: “I’m addicted. It’s probably the best samosa in the world - it has been made by a two-star Michelin chef.”
Momma Bains’ samosas are set to feature on James Martin’s Saturday Morning on ITV tomorrow at 9.25am.
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