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An award-winning mother-daughter team bring Punjabi cuisine to your kitchen

Confined to our homes, many are looking at how they can develop their skills in the kitchen, so how about enhancing your knowledge of regional Indian cooking?

Surinder Hothi-Bellamy, the co-founder of Pure Punjabi, learned to cook traditional northern Indian dishes with her mother from the age of seven, and began cooking for the whole family when she was 11. In more recent years, Surinder sold spice blends at markets, then, in 2013, launched a cookery school based at her home with daughter Safia, teaching the regional cooking skills passed down by her mother.

Surinder explains that although many associate Indian food with lots of spicy sauces, that doesn’t characterise traditional Punjabi staples. “The world is evolving for the better, with increased understanding of cultures and cuisines. Punjab is an agricultural region – a land of farmers. Pulses, grains and vegetables were the standard diet.”

She adds: “It’s predominantly vegetarian. The daily diet is different types of dahls and roti, and sabji (any sort of vegetable curry). I’d encourage people to learn to make old-school Punjabi food. It’s nutritionally complete, filling, sustainable and environmentally friendly.”

Among the workshops on offer, Surinder and Safia teach breadmaking, how to cook a three-course Indian meal and North Indian street food. But they’ve also found ways to bring people together during the pandemic. “We knew that people were feeling isolated in lockdown, so we had the idea of offering free cook-alongs with our dinner kits, which have been fun.”

You can find vouchers for Surinder and Safia’s cookery workshop or meal kits on their website, purepunjabi.co.uk.