Indian Home Cooking: How We Cook It at Saakshi's Kitchen

Saakshi's Kitchen is one FSA 5-star kitchen cooking regional Punjabi home food in small batches, freezing it straight after cooking, and delivering it frozen across UK mainland.

People ask what makes our food different from an Indian takeaway. The honest answer is not an ingredient — it is the method. This is how a plate of our food is actually made, step by step.

Key takeaways

• One kitchen, one family, the same hands and the same recipes every batch.
• Masala built from scratch per batch. We do not keep a standing base gravy.
• Spices ground and blended in our kitchen, not one curry powder doing every job.
• Milder than a restaurant curry — the heat level a family actually cooks at.
• Cooked, then frozen, then delivered frozen. You cook straight from frozen.

Who cooks the food at Saakshi's Kitchen?

Our own family does. The food is cooked in an FSA 5-star rated FSA 5-star kitchen, from recipes that were handed down rather than developed for a menu — the same rotation we cook for ourselves, portioned and packed for you.

That matters for a reason that has nothing to do with sentiment: the same recipe, from the same kitchen, gives you the same plate every week. A different kitchen every night cannot.

Do you cook from a base gravy?

No. Every dish starts with its own masala — onion, tomato, ginger and garlic, bhuno'd until the fat separates — the way it is done at home. Almost every curry house in Britain works from a single standing base gravy, which is a sensible answer to the problem of serving fifty tables at once. It is not how a household cooks, and it is not how we cook.

How is the masala made?

In stages, per batch. Whole spices go into hot ghee or oil first, the onions go long and slow, ginger and garlic next, then tomato, and the batch is not moved on until the raw edge is gone. Ground spices are blended in our own kitchen rather than bought as one all-purpose curry powder, so haldi, jeera and dhania each do their own job instead of arriving pre-mixed.

Dal is finished the way dal is finished at home: a real tadka poured over at the end, lid straight back on.

What is in the spice box?

The staples that live in any Indian kitchen — haldi, jeera, dhania, rai, hing, ajwain, methi and garam masala — alongside dal, atta, rice and ghee. It is an ingredient list you could read out to your mum, and the full list for every dish is on its product page.

How spicy is the food?

Milder than a restaurant curry. Household food is spiced, not hot — it is cooked for children, parents and grandparents eating at the same table, several nights a week. If you have only eaten Indian food in restaurants, this is usually the first thing you notice, and the thing people say tastes most like home.

What does a week of the menu look like?

The rotation a home kitchen actually runs. Dal, rajma, chole, kadhi, a seasonal sabzi, paneer dishes, biryani, and roti or rice alongside. Each meal is portioned as a meal — sabzi, dal, roti or rice — rather than as a sharing platter for a table of four.

This week's menu shows exactly what is cooking now.

Why is the food delivered frozen?

Because it is the only honest way to send home-cooked food the length of the country and have it arrive as the food we cooked. Meals are frozen soon after they come off the hob, so what you defrost is the batch we made, not something that has spent three days travelling. Freezing also keeps the flavour of a dish that would otherwise have to be stabilised for shelf life.

Practically, it means your freezer is already sorted. Keep the meals frozen, cook or reheat straight from frozen until piping hot, and do not refreeze once defrosted.

Where do you deliver?

Across UK mainland. Some areas we cannot reach, so check your postcode on the delivery locations page before you order. City pages such as London, Birmingham and Manchester show what delivery looks like locally.

Who eats it?

Mostly families who order again: 79% of orders come from returning families, across 16,000+ deliveries, with a 4.6 rating from 800+ verified reviews. Students, working parents, elderly relatives being fed from a distance, and people who have just moved cities and lost their local.

Frequently asked questions

Is Saakshi's Kitchen food cooked in a restaurant?

No. It is cooked in our own FSA 5-star rated FSA 5-star kitchen, in small batches, from family recipes.

How do the meals arrive?

Frozen. Keep them in the freezer, cook or reheat straight from frozen until piping hot, and do not refreeze once defrosted.

Is the food very hot?

No — it is milder than a typical restaurant curry. It is spiced rather than hot, at the level a family eats at every day.

Are there vegetarian options?

Yes. There is a pure vegetarian weekly plan as well as a mixed menu, and our kitchen-cooked meats are halal.

Where to go next

• This week's menu — see what is cooking right now.
• What is a tiffin service? — how the weekly plan works, end to end.
• Check your postcode — we deliver across UK mainland. Some areas we cannot reach.