How restaurant chief employed mum as head chef for new eatery
MANY sons claim that their mum’s home cooking is the best, and for one Glasgow restaurant chief nothing could beat employing his mum as head chef for his latest venture.
Sanjay Majhu, CEO of Apple Harlequin Group which operates the largest Indian restaurant group in Europe with 14 restaurants incorporating the famous Ashoka chain, launched Green Chilli in Glasgow this week.
The restaurant features Indian pot-style cooking inspired by the working mothers and aunties of India and featuring recipes overseen by his mum.
Its pot-style cooking offers diners the kinds of dishes they might expect if they were invited to an Indian family’s house for dinner.
And while Sanjay clearly knows a thing or two about the restaurant trade, it hasn’t stopped his mum banishing him from Green Chilli’s kitchen while she and her sisters prepare the dishes they’ve cooked for several generations of their families at home.
“Glasgow is renowned for the quality of its Indian restaurants – and rightly so – but Green Chilli is bringing something different to the mix: great pot-style cooking prepared by Indian mothers and aunties using family recipes that have been handed down through the generations,” Sanjay says.
“This is the kind of food my mum and aunties would cook if you came over to our house for dinner. Mums seem to give the food an extra taste which only they know how to do.
“At 73 years old, my mum still cooks great Indian food and has been involved throughout all stages of Green Chilli’s product development and I can’t wait to show that my mum’s home cooking is absolutely the best!”
But Why Green Chilli?
“Green chilli is my favourite spice,” explains Mr Majhu. “It enhances every dish and is iconic in Indian food. Used whole, green chillies lend dishes an underlying aromatic flavour, whilst, cut, they spice this up a bit!”
