The Joys of Indian Home Cooking | Saakshi's Kitchen

Indian home cooking is the ordinary, everyday food an Indian family eats at home — dal, rajma, chole, kadhi, sabzi, roti and rice — cooked in small batches by one pair of hands rather than assembled at a restaurant pass. It is the food most British diners have never actually been served, because the curry house sells a different menu. This is what makes it worth writing about, and it is the food Saakshi's Kitchen cooks and delivers.

What is Indian home cooking, exactly?

It is the weekly rotation a household runs, not a menu. In a Punjabi home that rotation looks something like dal on Monday, rajma chawal midweek, chole when there is a crowd, kadhi when there is not, and a sabzi built around whatever is in the vegetable drawer — bhindi, baingan bharta, aloo gobi, methi aloo.

Two things follow from that. First, the dishes repeat, so they have to be the sort of food you can eat again next week without getting tired of it. Second, they are portioned as one person's dinner: a sabzi, a dal and a roti or rice, on one plate. Restaurant Indian is built the other way round — big sharing bowls, ordered for an occasion.

How is Indian home cooking different from a British curry house?

The honest answer is the method, and it is a real difference rather than a marketing one. Almost every curry house in Britain works from a standing base gravy: one master sauce made in bulk at the start of service, with individual dishes differentiated at the pass by ratios of chilli, tomato, cream and sugar. It is a brilliant system for getting forty covers out in an hour. It is not how anyone cooks at home.

Restaurant Indian is celebration food. Ghar ka khana is Tuesday night. Both are good. They are just not the same cuisine, and if you have only eaten one of them you have not really eaten Indian food yet.

Which spices does an Indian home kitchen actually use?

Fewer than you would guess, and all of them nameable. The everyday shelf is haldi (turmeric), jeera (cumin), dhania (coriander), rai (mustard seed), hing (asafoetida), ajwain (carom), methi (fenugreek) and a garam masala blended at home. Add ginger, garlic, green chilli and tomato and you have covered most of the rotation.

What you will not find is one generic curry powder doing all the work, or food colouring. At Saakshi's Kitchen the spices are ground and blended in our own kitchen, and the full ingredient list sits on every product page in the current menu — the kind of list you could read out to your mum.

Is home-cooked Indian food milder than a restaurant curry?

Generally yes, and that is a taste decision rather than a compromise. A family cooks one pot for everyone at the table, including children and grandparents, so the heat lands where everybody can eat it. Spices still do plenty of work — they are just doing it for aroma and depth rather than for burn. Spiced, not hot.

If you have avoided Indian food because you assumed it would be punishing, this is the version to start with.

How does home-cooked food survive being delivered?

By being frozen properly, and by being honest about it. Every meal is cooked in our FSA 5-star kitchen, portioned, and frozen. It arrives frozen and goes straight into your freezer. When you want it, you cook or reheat it straight from frozen until it is piping hot — follow the pack instructions. Once a meal has defrosted, never refreeze it.

The practical upshot is a freezer that is already sorted. There is no chopping, no bhuno-ing an onion masala at 8pm, and no decision to make on a Tuesday. How it works walks through the whole sequence.

Where can you get it delivered?

We deliver across UK mainland from the FSA 5-star kitchen, to more than 800 UK towns and cities. Some areas we can't reach, so the honest first step is to check your postcode on the delivery locations page. If you are in a city we already serve, the city pages are the quickest way in — London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leicester among them.

Saakshi's Kitchen has sent out more than 16,000 deliveries, and 79% of orders come from returning families — largely the families who grew up eating this food and notice immediately when it is wrong. Our kitchen-cooked meats are halal, and there is a full vegetarian range.

Frequently asked questions

What is Indian home cooking?

Indian home cooking is the everyday repertoire a household actually cooks on a weeknight — dal, rajma, chole, kadhi and whatever sabzi is in season, eaten with roti or rice. It is portioned as a meal for one person rather than as a sharing platter.

Is home-cooked Indian food milder than a restaurant curry?

Usually, yes. A family cooks at the heat level everyone at the table can eat, so home food is spiced rather than hot. The spices are there for flavour and aroma, not for a challenge.

Does Saakshi's Kitchen use a base gravy?

No. The masala is built from scratch in every batch — onion, tomato, ginger and garlic, bhuno'd properly — and dal is finished with a real tadka at the end. There is no standing gravy base and no cream-and-butter finish.

How does the food arrive?

Meals are cooked in our FSA 5-star kitchen and delivered frozen. Keep them in the freezer, then cook or reheat straight from frozen until piping hot. Never refreeze a meal once it has defrosted.

Where does Saakshi's Kitchen deliver?

We deliver across UK mainland. Some areas we can't reach, so check your postcode before you order.

Try it on a Tuesday

• Browse this week's meals — the dishes a home kitchen actually cooks.
• What is a tiffin service? — how the boxes and plans work.
• Check your postcode before you order.