Spice girl from Smethwick shows a taste for business

Mar 12 2009 by Richard McComb, Birmingham Mail

WHOEVER doubted that mother knows best?

I am sitting down for lunch with Nina Uppal, Smethwick’s own Spice Girl, tucking into a delicious chicken curry cooked by her mum, Surjit. The dish is accompanied by Surjit’s chickpea curry – which is a meal in itself – delicate spicy rice and a fantastic spicy yoghurt with bundi (little balls of fried gram flour).

With food like this, I am surprised that Nina ever left home. Now aged 41, she is the boss of a burgeoning spice and snacks empire – customers include the Queen’s grocer, Fortnum & Mason – and is now based in Barnes, London. However, she still comes back to her West Midlands roots. An awful lot, in fact.

“Even if means a 60-mile detour, I will make it for my mum’s curry,” says Nina as she finishes off some chapatis on the naked flame of the gas cooker. The former pupil at Churchfields High School, West Bromwich, owes a huge debt of gratitude to her Indian-born mum.

After a busy career in retail buying – working for the likes of Liberty and Selfridges in London – Nina decided she wanted to go it alone and be her own boss. She’s got a fierce entrepreneurial spirit but just couldn’t pin down the way she wanted to take her career.

“I knew I wanted to set up my own business. I just didn’t know what it was going to be. I ended up sitting on the sofa for months, thinking about what I could do,” recalls Nina.

“Then my mum said, ‘You are passionate about food. You always have been. What about garam masala? Your friends are always asking for it.’”

Ever since she could remember, Nina’s friends had asked her for small bags of her mum’s unique garam masala, based on an authentic Punjabi blend. Whenever they tried ready-mixed bottles of masala from supermarkets, her mates were disappointed, but they found that Surjit’s aromatic mix transformed their homemade curries. Nina was getting almost daily orders for her mum’s masala – Surjit used to dry out the spices in their back garden during the summer – and thus was the idea of Magic Masala born.

Magic Masala duly became the showcase product in Nina’s new range of spices and snacks, launched by her company, New York Delhi, in September 2006, just weeks after Surjit’s suggestion. Once Nina’s got a hot idea, she doesn’t hang about.

The name New York Delhi is a clever play on two of the great loves of Nina’s foodie life – the delicatessens of New York and Delhi, the city evocative of her Indian heritage. With fusion cooking becoming ever more popular, the merging of the cultural influences is bang on the money.

Nina says: “The name was a real Eureka moment. It must have come from the angels. I love New York and I love Delhi – and New York Delhi was born. I thought, ‘This can be a global brand.’”

“You’re very modest,” I tell her jokingly. “You have to believe in yourself,” she says with a determined smile.

New York Delhi’s product range includes some wickedly spicy Bombay Mix, which is nothing like the ubiquitous yellow peril found in most shops. It has a mellow orange colour, which comes from the superior chickpea flour used in India. Bog-standard Western-style Bombay Mix uses cheaper rice flour and lacks the subtlety and punch of Nina’s version. “It is the disco-in-the-mouth effect. It is buzzing,” she says as we munch our way through a packet.

The mix, which is far less oily than mass-produced varieties, uses Nina’s Spice Salt, which comprises 50 per cent spices including Magic Masala. Spice Salt works as a lively alternative to table salt and is a knock-out when sprinkled on cheese on toast and cauliflower cheese.

The Bombay Mix comes in original, hot and sweet and spicy varieties and goes brilliantly with a pint of ale. So, too, do New York Delhi’s VIPs – Very Important Peanuts. If the fiery chilli nuts are a little too robust for your tastes, chill out with the gentle masala nuts. Both The Oval and Twickenham rugby stadium have signed up as customers. These nuts have more than a sporting chance.

Although the snacks may prove to be the biggest growth area, the Magic Masala remains the queen of the range. It contains a blend of 15 spices, unlike watered-down supermarket products which may have as few as six ingredients and tend to be bulked out with salt to cut costs. The garam masala is ground to a coarse consistency in order to retain its strength and flavour. Nina likens it to fine red wine because it develops with age.

Then it has the ultimate seal of approval. Nina’s mum doesn’t bother making her own garam masala these days – she gets special deliveries from her daughter. “After all, it is her recipe,” says Nina.