Saakshi's Kitchen cooks Punjabi home food, so the menu reads differently depending on why you came. If you arrived through curry, you will recognise some of it. If you arrived because you are Indian and living away from home, you will recognise all of it. This is what is on the menu and who each part of it is for.
Key takeaways
- We cook the household repertoire - dal, rajma, chole, sabzi, paneer - plus the restaurant favourites people actually ask for.
- Everything is spiced, not hot: the heat level a family cooks at, milder than a restaurant curry.
- Meals arrive frozen and keep in the freezer, which is what makes them work for students and shift workers.
- Our kitchen-cooked meats are halal, and there is a pure vegetarian menu.
- One FSA 5-star rated FSA 5-star kitchen, delivering across UK mainland.
What makes Saakshi's Kitchen different from a curry house?
There is no standing base gravy. Most British curry houses cook one master sauce in the morning and differentiate dishes at the pass with ratios of chilli, tomato, cream and sugar. It is an excellent system for a busy service and it is not how anyone cooks at home.
We build the masala from scratch for every batch - onion, tomato, ginger and garlic, bhuno'd down until the oil separates - and grind and blend our own spices rather than letting one generic curry powder do all the work. Family recipes, small batches, one kitchen, the same hands.
For the curry lovers
If you came for curry, start with the dishes that carry a proper masala rather than a house sauce.
- Butter Chicken - the one everyone knows, finished with crushed kasuri methi rather than a wall of cream.
- Chicken Curry - the plain, weekly, north Indian version that exists in every Punjabi house.
- Shahi Paneer and Matar Paneer - the rich one and the everyday one.
- Amritsari Chole - chickpeas cooked dark and long, heavy on coriander.
- Rajma Curry - kidney beans, soaked and slow-cooked, the way a weekend is spent.
- Royal Chicken Biryani and Royal Vegetable Biryani - for when it is a proper occasion.
How hot is it?
Spiced, not hot. Chilli is one ingredient sitting alongside haldi, jeera, dhania, hing and methi, not the whole point of the dish. Our meals are milder than a typical restaurant curry, and that is deliberate: this is the heat level a household cooks at, with children and grandparents at the same table.
If you learned Indian food from a menu that runs korma to vindaloo, expect something more legible. You will taste the cumin and the coriander.
For people who want dinner, not a night out
This is the largest group, and the one the curry-house model never served. Restaurant Indian is celebration food; ghar ka khana is Tuesday night. The difference shows up in three practical places:
- Portioning - a complete meal for one person, not a sharing platter that assumes four of you.
- The repertoire - the weekly rotation a home kitchen runs: dal, rajma, chole, whatever sabzi is in season.
- The finish - a tadka or crushed kasuri methi at the end, not cream and butter on everything for consistency.
It is food made to be eaten on an ordinary Wednesday rather than saved for a Saturday.
For Indian students in the UK
Students are the clearest case for a freezer full of home food. A shared kitchen has one hob, no space for a spice cupboard, and someone else's pans in the sink. Rajma properly cooked wants an overnight soak and a long simmer, which is not happening during exam term.
Frozen meals suit this better than a hot delivery, because they wait. You can be in a lecture, on a shift, or asleep, and dinner is still there on the night you need it. Parents ordering from India for a son or daughter here tend to like it for the same reason - it is not one meal, it is a month of them.
City pages: London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leicester, Coventry, Nottingham.
For vegetarian households
There is a pure vegetarian menu, and it is not an afterthought - most Punjabi home cooking is vegetarian anyway. Yellow Dal Tadka, Green Moong Dal Tadka, Maa Chole Ki Dal, Dal Palak, Bhindi Sabzi, Cabbage Sabzi, Baingan Ka Bharta, Mix Vegetables, Palak Paneer, Matar Paneer, Shahi Paneer. Our kitchen-cooked meats are halal for households that need that, and the full ingredient list is on every product page.
How does delivery work?
Meals are cooked in small batches in our FSA 5-star kitchen and then frozen. They arrive frozen, go straight into your freezer, and are cooked or reheated straight from frozen until piping hot all the way through - follow the pack instructions. Once a meal has defrosted, never refreeze it; eat it within 24 hours.
We deliver across UK mainland. Some areas we cannot reach, so check your postcode before you order. 79% of orders come from returning families, across more than 16,000 deliveries, with 4.6 stars from 800+ verified reviews.
Frequently asked questions
What kind of Indian food does Saakshi's Kitchen cook?
Punjabi home cooking - the household rotation of dal, rajma, chole, seasonal sabzis and paneer - alongside familiar restaurant dishes such as butter chicken and biryani.
Is the food very spicy?
It is spiced rather than hot, at the heat level a family cooks at every day. That is milder than a typical restaurant curry.
Is there a vegetarian menu?
Yes, there is a pure vegetarian menu. Our kitchen-cooked meats are halal, and the full ingredient list is shown on every product page.
Do you deliver to students?
Yes. Meals arrive frozen and keep in the freezer, so nobody has to be home at a set time. Check the postcode first, as there are areas we cannot reach.
Where to go next
- This week's menu - what is cooking in Brighton right now.
- What is a tiffin service? - how the weekly meal plan works.
- Check your postcode - where we deliver.
- Indian comfort food for homesick days - written for students and the people sending to them.