Lifestyle / Anjali Pathak of Patak’s Shares Her Favourite Recipes For The Holiday Season

Anjali Pathak of Patak’s Shares Her Favourite Recipes For The Holiday Season

Lifestyle Dec 08, 2023

by Devika Goberdhan | Features Editor - Fashion

While in the city promoting the latest cuisine sauces from her famous family company, our contributor Devika Goberdhan had a chance to have dinner with Anjali Pathak of Patak’s to talk about her family company, the beauty of sharing cuisine and of course key recipes that she has planned for her holiday get soirees!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard about the iconic Patak’s^®brand that was founded by L.G. Pathak in 1957 after relocating to England from East Africa. At the time, the family had very little money, so they stuck to what they knew: food. To stay true to the cuisine, Patak “…imported Indian spices and traditional Indian ingredients into the UK.”

Eventually, the son of the founder, Kirit Pathak, took the reins of the business, and he and his wife, Meena, transformed the business, helping to expand the incredible array of selections without compromising the quality.

Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Anjali Pathak for dinner. She has forged her own incredible path in the culinary industry along with taking over the family business, which she is rocking as she aims to add new offerings that will appeal to the modern day consumer.

Spice Up Your Holiday Soirée With Less Effort And More Patak’s: Ms. Pathak is a true and the best reflection of the phrase, ‘food is life!’ Photo Credit: www.prdepartment.ca

Spice Up Your Holiday Soirée With Less Effort And More Patak’s: Dinner was great, but being in the company of Anjali Pathak and Brigette Foisy. Photo Credit: Devika Goberdhan

Growing up around food all her life spurred her love for the craft and wanting to help people experience different parts of this great big world without ever leaving home. Ms. Pathak “…qualified from Leiths School of Food and Wine in London, studied advanced wine through the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and completed a diploma in nutrition. I’ve been a cookery teacher for over 15 years, teaching skills, techniques and recipes to all skill levels from chefs to novices,” including relocating to spearhead a successful school in Mumbai! She also helps to create dining experiences by dreaming up mouthwatering menus, recipe development, engages in mentorship, and has somehow had the time to launch a cookbook, Secrets From My Indian Family Kitchen.

**Spice Up Your Holiday Soirée With Less Effort And More Patak’s: If you’re ready to level up your Indian recipes, this book is a ‘must have.’** Photo Credit: www.amazon.com

With the holiday season upon us, Ms. Pathak shares that “the thing I love most about the holiday season is being with my favourite people. I love to entertain at home and the holidays are the perfect time to invite them over to enjoy good food and fabulous conversation.”

With entertaining on the brain, who better to ask for holiday tips than someone who is so immersed in food (delicious ones, especially) than Ms. Pathak? Keep scrolling for some top recipes and her pro tip that will be sure to have you breezing through the upcoming holiday season!

Holiday recipe recommendations from Pathak!

First of all, Ms. Pathak says that it’s crucial to “take time to get organized! It sounds simple, but taking time out to write a list of everything you need to do will help you start ticking them off one by one. You’ll be cool, calm and collected throughout the holidays, especially in the kitchen!”

Now, what you’ve been waiting for: recipes!

Aloo Tikkis

Spice Up Your Holiday Soirée With Less Effort And More Patak’s: What I love most about this recipe is that you can prepare them ahead of time and spend more time with your guests, which is what the holiday season is all about! Photo Credit: www.prdepartment.ca

If you’re not familiar with what this is, it is essentially a spiced up potato cake that are perfect make-ahead crowd pleasers that you can freeze and have on hand for the day of your event. The recipe only requires 10 minutes to prep, 30 minutes to cook, and serves four! For some extra razzle dazzle, Ms. Pathak gushes that “I love to enjoy my Aloo Tikkis with a yogurt dip. My favourite is to mix it with a spoonful of Sweet Mango Chutney.”

Ingredients

400g potatoes, peeled and chopped into small pieces
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
2 tbsp Patak’s Mild Curry Paste
50g fresh breadcrumbs
Juice of ½ lime
Salt, to taste
3 tbsp vegetable oil
Yogurt dip to serve (see Anjali’s Tip)
1 tbsp Patak’s Sweet Mango Chutney

Instructions

Boil the potatoes in plenty of salted water for 15 minutes or until tender.
Drain and allow to steam for a few minutes to dry them out.
Transfer to a large plate and mash with the back of a fork, spreading them out so they start to cool.
Stir in the garlic, most of the fresh cilantro, Mild Curry Paste, breadcrumbs and lime juice.
Taste and add a little salt if you need to.
When cool enough to handle, divide the mixture into 8 even pieces. Using wet hands, roll the potatoes into balls before flattening them a little in the palm of your hands.
Gently heat the oil in a frying pan.
Fry the tikkis on all sides until golden and crispy.
Sprinkle with fresh cilantro and serve hot.

Royal Chickpea Masala

**Spice Up Your Holiday Soirée With Less Effort And More Patak’s: This is a recipe that you won’t feel guilty about indulging in!** Photo Credit: www.prdepartment.ca

This is a recipe that will wow your guests and its been around for a very long time. Learning and sharing more about it may be a great conversation starter at your next dinner party! Don’t be scared of the ‘royal’ title though, it won’t be a royal pain to make. In fact, it’ll take about 10 minutes to prep, excluding the overnight soaking process, and 20 minutes to cook up four amazing servings! However, Ms. Pathak explains that “If you don’t have time to soak your chickpeas overnight, skip this step and make an extra strong cup of black tea with the tea bags and use this as your tea liquid.“

Ingredients

500g cooked chickpeas, rinsed in water if tinned
4 chai tea bags, or you can use black tea bags if you prefer
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
4 tbsp Patak’s Mild Curry Paste
200g cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 heaped tbsp thick Greek yogurt
½ lime, cut into wedges
Fresh chopped cilantro and naan bread/steamed rice, to serve

Instructions

Place the drained chickpeas in a bowl and pour over 400ml of cold water. Add the tea bags, cover and pop in the fridge overnight.
The next day, strain the chickpeas, discard the tea bags and reserve the tea liquid.
Gently heat the oil in a pan and add the onions. Fry for 5 minutes until softened and light golden brown.
Add the Mild Curry Paste and a good splash of the reserved tea liquid.
Stir well and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, stir well and cook for a further 2 minutes.
Add the chickpeas and 100ml of the reserved tea liquid. Stir well and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes.
Turn off the heat and stir through the yogurt.
Squeeze over some lime juice and serve garnished with fresh cilantro and naan bread or rice.

Anjali Pathak of Patak's Shares Her Favourite Recipes For The Holiday Season — **Anjali Pathak of Patak’s Shares Her Favourite Recipes For The Holiday Season: Me and Anjali!** Photo Credit: Devika Goberdhan

What’s next for Pathak?

Pathak is busy cooking up lots of new ideas and ventures (delicious ones, of course) to share with us all soon enough! She shared with me that “I’m always writing recipes and I hope to put them all together in another cookbook soon. I’m also hoping to join the start-up world again and I’ve been spending some time working on another cookery school concept which I’m excited about.”

In addition to that, she’s hard at work keeping the family business pushing forward with fabulous new recipes and concepts that will appeal to a variety of palettes. Pathak gushed that she “can’t wait to bring more options from Patak’s ready-to-eat vegetarian meals into Canada, with two new flavours launching in 2024.” These new Patak products will add some serious flavour to your meals without you having to spend endless hours trying (and in my case, often failing, to do it myself). I had the pleasure of getting a sneak peak and taste of what’s to come, and trust me when I say, you will want to mark your calendars and ready for tastebuds!

Main Image Photo Credit: www.prdepartment.ca

Devika Goberdhan | Features Editor - Fashion

Author

Devika (@goberdhan.devika) is an MA graduate who specialized in Political Science at York University. Her passion and research throughout her graduate studies pushed her to learn about and unpack hot button issues. Thus, since starting at ANOKHI in 2016, she has written extensively about many challe...

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Anjali Pathak of Patak’s Shares Her Favourite Recipes For The Holiday Season

by Devika Goberdhan | Features Editor - Fashion

Devika Goberdhan | Features Editor - Fashion

COMMENTS

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