I need a style. I looked like a walking cheddar on TV
MOWGLI RESTAURANT FOUNDER NISHA KATONA TALKS TO MARION McMULLEN ABOUT HER SPICE FOR LIFE
‘YOU’RE only as good as your last curry,” laughs Nisha Katona.
She gave up a 20 year career in law and used all her savings to open her first Mowgli restaurant in Liverpool to bring authentic Indian home cooking to diners.
“It was my dream. I was still going to court in the morning, then rushing to the restaurant and waiting on tables in the evening. I did that for three months and then I noticed people were queuing to come into the restaurant and they were enjoying the food. It was an amazing feeling. It was like this juggernaut. It was a risk, a massive jeopardy, but I had to do it.”
The self-confessed curry evangelist has seen the success of Mowgli expand over the years and Nisha, 47, is currently co-presenting new BBC 2 series Top Of The Shop with Tom Kerridge championing other food entrepreneurs.
She has also brought out the Mowgli Cookbook packed with some of her favourite recipes.
“How do I find the time to do everything?” she chuckles, “well, if I had an hour spare I would start thinking about another business. I’m even thinking of getting a puppy so I can start toilet training. I’m always doing something, always thinking of recipes and ideas. It’s the curse of the entrepreneur. You have these ideas in your head and you can’t let them go. Even last night I was picking out new menus.”
Nisha’s recipes turn conventional curry stereotypes on their heads and convey the truth that real Indian food is healthy, often vegan, and always packed with fresh flavour.
“We still get the occasional person coming into the restaurants and asking for a korma or poppadoms, but people have embraced Mowgli. You would very rarely see Indians in a mainstream curry restaurant because that wasn’t how they’d cook curry at home.
“Mowgli is an Indian home kitchen. It is like stepping into my home kitchen and the amazing staff are my family.” Nisha’s next challenge now is to find a fashion style she feels comfortable with. She jokes: “I’ve reached the age when I’m trying to avoid looking like lamb or mutton. I was dressed in black and looked like an undertaker for many years when I was a barrister so I don’t want to do that again. “I’ve started dressing like a 13-year-old boy, but I need to find a style that works for when I go to business functions. I looked like a walking cheddar on TV the other night. I’ve even tried stylists, but I ended up looking like a brown Mary Berry. They want me to look like a lovely lady on TV, but that’s not me.” She laughs: “I’m going to have to work on that one.”
Mowgli Street Food is published by Nourish Books. RRP £25
Catch Nisha on Top of the Shop with Tom Kerridge, Wednesdays, BBC2 at 8pm