{"id":2392,"date":"2014-10-30T11:36:11","date_gmt":"2014-10-30T11:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp\/?p=2392"},"modified":"2024-09-03T08:57:11","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T07:57:11","slug":"arun-kapil-green-saffron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/arun-kapil-green-saffron\/","title":{"rendered":"Arun Kapil \u2013 Green Saffron – interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Arun It\u2019s possible that the names of both Arun Kapil and his company Green Saffron will be new to you but it\u2019s likely that over the next year or so they will become, if not household, at least kitchen names. The man and the company are carving out a respectable place for themselves in Ireland and in the UK. Green Saffron is an award-winning family business based in the famous food county of Cork, Ireland. They specialise in the best quality whole spices and unique blends and sauces for use in home as well as professional kitchens.<\/p>\n

Green Saffron Red Lentil Dahl Spice Mix arrived along with food products from far and wide, the usual post of boxes of (usually) interesting items, but this little packet was bound to find its way to the top of the pile. Dahl is comforting and particularly when, as on this day, the snow is snowing, the wind is blowing (cue a song). I weathered that storm with the most delicious pot of lentils I have ever eaten.
\nBut how did this particular spice route start? This handsome olive-skinned chap has not a trace of Irish brogue but a rather polished upper-class English accent. He comfortably straddles Asia and Europe and is well-placed to take advantage of both continents.<\/p>\n

\u2018My father\u2019s Indian, from a Brahmin Hindu family, and trained in Lucknow as a doctor. My mother\u2019s from Headingley, Yorkshire. My father was the youngest of 7, and it was a big thing for an Indian to decide to come to Britain in the 60s, but he was the black sheep of the family. His mother and father had died when he was quite young, and his family said, \u201cIf you\u2019re leaving, you must learn to fend for yourself,\u201d so they taught him how to cook. Now for a Hindu man in the 60s to cook was quite strange. They taught him to cook kitcheree, lentil dishes, potato dishes, tomato dishes, and packed him off.<\/p>\n

\u2018He came to Leicester, where he met my mum in Leicester General Hospital. My mum clearly had a liberal way of thinking, because to be marrying an Indian man in those days was quite a rebellious thing to do! So the three of us \u2013 myself, my younger brother and my elder brother \u2013 had a very loving, liberal upbringing.\u2019 It\u2019s evident that Arun\u2019s parents have given him a free spirit and a \u2018can-do\u2019 attitude that has served him well.<\/p>\n

A gastronomic career wasn\u2019t initially on Arun\u2019s agenda although he has always loved good food and vibrant flavour. \u2018If we weren\u2019t making models out of Corn Flake boxes and Andrex tubes we were cooking: rock buns, marble cakes… I have so many memories of cooking \u2013 corned-beef hash, Mum\u2019s cowboy ranch beans which we used to have when we went to Wales on our holidays. \u2018Kitcheree is the one recipe of my dad\u2019s that I keep coming back to. I have vivid memories of being fed on rice pudding and raspberry jam, or kitcheree (the basis of the English kedgeree) while my mum was having my little brother. Now that my father is retired he is coming back to cooking, and Methi Aloo (potatoes with fenugreek leaves) is his latest thing, which was a childhood favourite of his.<\/p>\n

\u2018Mum and Dad were by no means extravagant: \u201cWe have to cook for ourselves, we can\u2019t afford to eat out all the time,\u201d very practical. But I am fortunate in that we used to go to India quite a lot when I was young, so having seen big bowls of lentils, Mum and Dad in the kitchen cooking, sweet and aromatic smells, ladies in saris, bottles of Johnnie Walker Black Label \u2013 it was an attack on the senses and it was something I wanted to dive into.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was when I went away to school at Oundle that I began to ignore my Indian side and concentrate on the British, probably because I wanted to \u2018fit in\u2019.\u2019 Oundle was founded by the Worshipful Company of Grocers; coincidentally the Company was responsible for maintaining standards for the purity of spices, and was closely associated with the East India Company.<\/p>\n

\u2018That was while I was in junior house at Oundle, but when I moved up to a senior house I began to rebel, or at least my Indian side began to come out and I became a little more \u2018left of centre\u2019! I was in a rock band at school, joined the National Youth Music Theatre (my first pay-cheque ever was from the BBC!), and I was into acting and music.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Arun School finished and Arun moved to London where everybody assumed he would take a lucrative job in the City. \u2018I was due to go there for some interviews, but the day before, I found myself in Sloane Avenue and was walking past a cool-looking place called 5151 (Robert Earl and Ronnie Wood\u2019s first restaurant), which had a Cajun-Creole theme. I went in to ask for a job, not having a clue about it, but they were looking for characters and I started as a bus-boy, and absolutely loved it! As my friends were coming home from their City jobs I would be going out for my second shift at 5151, and everybody who was anybody went there \u2013 it was THE place to be. Michael Jackson visited; Ronnie Wood was having a party at the same time as Terence Trent D\u2019Arby.\u2019 5151 was Arun\u2019s first introduction to the food industry and to those who would come to shape the restaurant scene in London.<\/p>\n

\u2018Waiting on tables was a bit like acting for me, and I wanted to sing as well. A production company took me on, but I didn\u2019t get a recording deal, so I formed my own record label, Funky Peace Productions. I was the first person to take the DJs out of the fields and put them in the studios, because I thought, \u201cThese DJs know what people want to dance to.\u201d Then I worked with some well-known bands and it was a great life \u2013 clubs in Ibiza, clubs in London, a mad life, but brilliant when I was that age! But I realised that I was becoming a \u2018shark\u2019, focused on money \u2013 \u201cmoney, money, money, where\u2019s my percentage?\u201d It was a cutting-edge industry, you almost don\u2019t dare to sleep, you have to know the next trend, and it became too frenetic, so I pulled out.\u2019<\/p>\n

At age 34 he was considering his next move and was naturally drawn to his previous passion for food. A friend had done a cookery course at Ballymaloe. Myrtle Allen, the doyen of Irish cooking, set up Ballymaloe House in Cork in the 1960s, first as a restaurant and later a hotel and school. Arun wanted to get back to cooking, so signed up. \u2018It was another milestone in my life, and in the middle of the countryside in Ireland. My friends were amazed \u2013 I was not the sort of person they could imagine living here. Two of them came over to Ireland, and I remember talking to them, over a pint in the pub, about a salad I had been preparing, saying, \u201cIf it hadn\u2019t been for one bruised tomato, my salad would have been perfect.\u201d The guys both put their beers down and said, \u201cIf that\u2019s all you have to worry about, isn\u2019t that a beautiful thing?\u201d My whole life had turned around!\u2019<\/p>\n

Arun had an idea for a range of spices but finding a means of selling them was going to be an issue. \u2018How am I going to market my spices to people who aren\u2019t familiar with them? But Cork has probably the largest natural harbour in the world, and was a major port for trade across the British Empire, so historically spices have been used by people in that area, appearing in dishes like Spiced Beef. I called up my cousin in India and got him to send me some spices, ground them, and called my aunts for recipes. I weighed out the spices into packs and included the recipe, went to the market, put on some Bangra music, and a pink sarong. The customers were very supportive, and gradually the sales began to grow. After three or four months word got around, and I started to offer hot food on the stall. The takings doubled, and I began to offer cooking lessons, and after 2 or 3 years we couldn\u2019t keep up with demand. A journalist I knew put me forward for TV, so the brand became known.<\/p>\n

\u2018The next milestone was in 2008, when we won an award for our Christmas Pudding from The Irish Food Writers\u2019 Guild. Suddenly we are no longer just \u2018curry boys\u2019 but are known as spice people. Now I am meeting amazing chefs like Jo\u00ebl Robuchon, Alain Ducasse, Richard Corrigan, Pascal Sanchez, Eric Chavot, Bruno Loubet, and starting to learn from them about cooking.<\/p>\n

\u2018Ross Lewis has the Michelin Star Chapter One in Dublin, and he called me up, asking for a plum chutney to go with a venison dish. So I mused on where to start.\u2019 Arun has a speedy monologue to explain the process: \u2018Plum \u2013 plum is purple; what else is purple? Rose petals; rose has floral sweetness, but an element of astringency; that astringency will cut through the richness and sugar. So what are we going to counterbalance that with? Vanilla \u2013 a lovely creamy vanilla with the rose. Now we are starting to get somewhere, but how are we going to take it around the mouth? Cassia \u2013 better than cinnamon for depth with an anise flavour. To back that up, tej patta, Indian bay leaf, with a citrus flavour. Now the blend is coming together. Star anise will add depth, but not raw, it must be toasted. Plum chutney is a gastric \u2013 how are we going to represent a gastric? Amchur powder \u2013 desiccated mango \u2013 a lovely caramel on the tongue but with a sourness. Now we want more fruitiness \u2013 orange, but desiccated orange for a biscuit note. Finally a little white pepper to back up the heat a little\u2019. Arun draws a well-deserved breath and smiles a triumphant smile. \u2018That\u2019s how I come up with blends!\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Arun \u2018To make a spice blend you have to want to dive into it, to eat it, no one note too dominant, and it shouldn\u2019t take over the food but complement it. Indian food isn\u2019t about heat it\u2019s about nuance; if you can apply that subtle nuance to Western food then maybe you can get something different. In my blends I am not reinventing the wheel, but adding value, suggesting that you can use them with this dish or that dish, and maybe try them in this other way, too.\u2019<\/p>\n

Arun is not into the elitism that pervades the food world. \u2018If there\u2019s something beautiful out there, it should be available to everybody \u2013 they choose to take it or not, that\u2019s up to them, but having that choice is empowering and that is what Green Saffron is about. I won\u2019t use the term \u2018fusion cooking\u2019 but if you happen to mix Japanese with French with Italian and it works, that\u2019s great and it\u2019s decent food, not \u2018fusion\u2019 or any other term you might give it. Even Indian food could be called \u2018fusion\u2019 because, after all, neither chillies nor tomatoes are indigenous to India!<\/p>\n

\u2018We have just completed the re-branding of Green Saffron last year, and our distribution and supply chains are in place. As we are bringing investment into the company our marketing efforts here in the UK and in Ireland are focused on the high-end retailers.\u2019 If that red lentil blend is representative of Green Saffron then those spices and sauces are sure to find a space on the most reputable of grocers\u2019 shelves.<\/p>\n

Arun Kapil sums up his work ethic. \u2018There is a word in Punjabi, jugaad, which is interpreted over here as \u2018entrepreneurship\u2019 but really means \u2018getting the job done\u2019 \u2013 if you\u2019re not ill, get out of bed and get on with it. It\u2019s regarded as an intrinsic Indian trait, and when my Dad first came to Britain he met it in the British stiff-upper-lip get-it-done attitude. I\u2019m glad that he instilled that jugaad spirit in me.\u2019<\/p>\n

Green Saffron
\nUnit 16,
\nKnockgriffin, Midleton,
\nCo. Cork, Ireland
\nPhone: +353 (0)21 463 7960
\nEmail: eatwell@greensaffron.com
\nVisit Green Saffron here<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Interview by Chrissie Walker \u00a9 2018<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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