The Travelling Tikki

22/05/2021

Vegetable kurma! Great way to use up those leftover bits. Mine’s got carrots, beans, cauliflower and chickpeas. All simmered in a spiced cashew and coconut curry sauce. Parathas on the side, and we’re sorted!

16/05/2021

Made mango lassi! Summer almost here, nevermind the rain 😁

30/04/2021

New recipe on YouTube! Desi Shakshuka 😃 Bank holiday weekend brunch inspiration? https://youtu.be/6zhCrURKdyk

Shakshuka with an Indian twist! This desi shakshuka recipe is easy, healthy and very tasty. Full recipe and ingredient list on my website: https://www.thetra...

18/04/2021

Sunday brunch video shooting! Shakshuka with an Indian twist 😃 Loved making this and eating it. Recipe coming to YouTube soon. Subscribe to my channel, so you don’t miss out - link in profile 😁

04/04/2021

Eggs for Easter! 🤷🏻‍♀️😄 Have a good one, Spring is here and with it hope and positive vibes! 🙂🐣🐰

02/04/2021

Happy Easter weekend! If you’re looking for some cooking inspiration and love a fish butty like I do, check out my Amritsari fish tikka butty recipe 😃 https://youtu.be/C6OoIxBuO5w

This Amritsari fish tikka butty recipe is easy and so yummy! Amritsari fish tikkas packed into soft fluffy buttery rolls with coriander mint chutney. Great f...

28/03/2021

Happy Holi!! 🌈🎉 Had to make aloo poori and mattar pulao 😁 And gujiyas, which I haven’t fried yet! Back when we were kids in Mumbai, Holi was my favourite festival of all - had the time of our lives flinging water balloons filled with colour at each other, from vantage hiding spots on balconies and terraces, chasing each other around the block with phichkaris (water guns filled with colour), emptying buckets of coloured water on each other’s heads and tossing fistfuls of blue, green, yellow, red, pink and purple powder! And then the sun would come out nice and strong and we’d sit around drenched, high on emotion, and so hungry, letting the sun dry us out, waiting for the onion bhajjis and thandai to come out, singing songs at the top of our voices and dancing to the dhol (Indian drum) with abandon! And Holi time was usually mango season time - so we’d spend hours jumping around with sticks, trying to break off those green baby mangoes, and then squabble about who had more etc 😂 So good to be young and free, those were the days! How I miss them on days like today! But Spring is here and there’s colour all around of a different sort and there’s a brilliantly warm sunny week ahead of us, so I’ll eat and drink to that 😊

23/03/2021

Job(s)!

Oh boy.

Day job - marketing car insurance
Full time job - toddler mummy + doggy mummy + domestic superwoman
Evenings/ weekends/ lunch breaks/toilet breaks/ constantly at the back of my mind - The Travelling Tikki!

I picked this photograph because it sums up some days perfectly. The ‘Hmm, do you think I may just have too much on my plate? I’m exhausted!’ days. Admittedly sometimes it all makes me feel like a productivity goddess, but other times it makes me want to run for the hills! I’m probably plotting how to do that in this picture and quickly realising there is no way 🤣😂

Since The Travelling Tikki isn’t currently trading, it’s an almost entirely intellectual job at the moment - planning/researching/ideating/number crunching. A little frustrating because I really want to start putting the plan to action! I have to keep reminding myself I’m playing the long game, and it’ll all happen in good time 😃The weekends filming recipe videos are a nice creative break - from the screen and the non-stop whirring brain, both!

19/03/2021

Colour.

Colourful meals make balanced, healthy and delicious meals! Unless you deep fry everything of course, in which case they’ll just be delicious 😄😁

Brekkie, bun tikkis, naan wraps, paratha rolls, canapés, curries, creative Indian or traditional - The Travelling Tikki menus love colour! As do I. My home, my wardrobe, my friends and family too - a colourful lot of personalities 😃

18/03/2021

New recipe on YouTube! https://youtu.be/qahMLWu5uZU

This vegetarian bean burger recipe is easy and has a delicious Indian twist. A spiced rajma (red kidney beans) patty in a buttery toasted sesame bun, with ch...

17/03/2021

From the archive. I’m a day late - was focussing and prioritising 🤪 (I’ll catch up on that prompt later)

Loved trawling through old photos for this one! So many memories! Disasters and triumphs alike. I'm going to remember the firsts 😊

First time trading - table at a local mall - this was back when I was still trading as Oh So Crumbtious
and doing Indian inspired handmade bakes! Feels like another life 😄
First leap of faith - signing up for 3 days of trading at the The Cake & Bake Show at Excel. Steepest learning curve ever! Or so I thought...
First market - Ascot Farmers' Market - making bhajjis and bun tikkis!
Second leap of faith, first BIG food market - trading in Angela Hartnett's kitchen at the Evening Standard London Night Market!! Couldn't believe my ears when I was offered the spot. Steepest learning curve ever! Or so I thought...
First private party gig - Indian inspired canapes for a birthday!
Third leap of faith, first corporate catering gig - showroom event for Tesla! Couldn't believe my eyes when I received their email. Steepest learning curve ever. Or so I thought...
First Supper Club - loved doing this!
Fourth leap of faith, first BIG dabbaClub order, the last of the steep learning curves (for the moment) - the cooking was mental ofcourse, but oh the washing! 😂😂

I can’t wait to start trading again!

14/03/2021

Indian inspired bean burgers! Coming to YouTube soon 😃 Watch this space and subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss out! Link in profile 🙂

14/03/2021

Cooking for the fam jam! Looking forward to my little man making me a Mother’s Day treat one day 😁🥳 But don’t want him to grow up too soon!!

13/03/2021

I’m playing catch up. Thursday’s prompt was Portrait 😃

The Travelling Tikki has worked with some amazing people along the way, and the Tikki experience is about their support and hard work, just as much as it is about mine.

Starting with the man who has always had my back. Here’s a ‘portrait’ of my husband Arunn and me! Both looking so young 😂 He’s stepped in as stall helper, man with a van, carpenter, delivery boy, kitchen porter, kitchen assistant, leaflet dropper, camera man, video editor, guinea pig. A man of many talents 😄 I remember my first ever time trading - I was standing at my table in a shopping mall - without any inclination to do anything proactive to get passersby to stop by. Just standing and smiling, thinking to myself, well if they’re interested they’ll stop, if not that’s cool. And he goes, ‘err may I?’ and at first I say ‘No! What? What are you going to do?! Don’t do anything! I don’t want to come across as desperate and eager! Let them decide if they want to try something!’ and then I say ‘ok fine...’ because clearly standing and smiling wasn’t proving to be a great selling strategy 😂...and he leaps to the front and proceeds to wish everyone passing by a good morning with the biggest grin on his face and ask if they’d like to try a bite!

I did eventually fire him though...c’mon I had to...he’s a star but he’s also a pain in the ... I did it to save our marriage 😁

And that’s when all the other amazing people came into the picture. I don’t want to share photos without consent, but if you’re seeing this, that’s you Hamid, Kusum, Aishat, Ana, Pritidipa, Sujana, Saraswathi, Jim, Sarah and Sidra!

Moving on to unpaid labour... .shelly! Count on a friend to step in last minute 🤪Xx

Also included in this ‘portrait’ post, all the friends that showed up to support, make the place look busy, and gave me business! And those that supported and continue to, from afar. You guys rock 😃 X

11/03/2021

New recipe video just dropped on YouTube! Go check it out, make it, tell me what you think, share a picture, subscribe! Am I being demanding? 🤪 https://youtu.be/lpSwtLbP724

Sausages grilled, sliced, tossed in an Indian masala and served on top of wilted spinach, on buttery griddle-toasted sourdough bread, with egg on top! This e...

10/03/2021

This little wooden bullock cart went with me to every market stall until it fell apart, took pride of place at the front, and always drew interest!

- Small detail

So important!! I love this prompt, I’m very keen on detail 😁🤷🏻‍♀️

But think about it - it’s the difference a scattering (can I use this word as a noun?! Who knows, I’m going to!) of fresh coriander on top makes, or the crunch of crispy fried onions when you don’t expect them, or that kick of fresh green chilli, a bit of fried garlic, a squeeze of charred lemon juice, a drizzle of fresh cream.

For me small detail also goes beyond the actual food...to, for example, the difference the colour and material of your tableware make! Stay with me - a dal makhani served in a clear glass bowl is not the same experience as served in a copper handi 😁

It’s the small details that can lift a dish, help balance texture, flavour and colour, introduce that element of surprise, and make a meal memorable. Food for me is an experience and always tastes better when the elements of that experience sing in harmony!

With The Travelling Tikki I found that sometimes the small detail is actually a lot of extra work behind the scenes - making sure vegetables in a curry don’t break down for example 😃 And other times it’s just a cleverly placed sprig of coriander. Either way, central to the Tikki experience!

09/03/2021

Learning Curve

This is a photograph of me on the morning of the first time The Travelling Tikki traded 😃 I’m amazed at how little we took with us; by the end of the second year we were stocked till the top 😂 So many lessons learned since then (and the steepest learning curve in that first year), but here are my top 5:

⭐️The most important lesson I learned (the hard way, as all good lessons are learned 😂) was if you want to trade from a gazebo, you need to get yourself very good tables that are the RIGHT HEIGHT and you gotta bend from the knees when you lift your hundred bits of equipment, or you will most certainly do your back in 😁
⭐️Second lesson learned: you’re going to find yourself in the midst of a snowstorm with a flying gazebo at some point, and you’ll do well to have some really solid weights, and warm shoes on, and tarpaulin under your feet as soon as the weather turns chilly - wellies are useless, trainers equally so!
⭐️Third lesson learned: you’re going to tweak your menu a hundred times before you finally find one that works! You’re going to bin what you thought were your best ideas (even though you reallllllyyy don’t want to!)
⭐️Fourth lesson learned: you can’t do it all - get help!
⭐️Fifth lesson learned: You gotta bite off more than you think you can chew sometimes, to find your limits. It’s going to come closing to killing you, not going to lie, but it’s so worth it. The adrenalin rush is something else!

08/03/2021

- Newest Make, & Work in Progress

This weekend I made this brunch for my YouTube channel 😃Desi sausages (Indian style masala sausages) on buttered griddle-toasted sourdough, with wilted spinach and a fried egg! (video on my channel soon - go on and subscribe)

I love these weekend video shooting sessions. Ironical since I’ve avoided putting my face out there for the longest time, afraid I’m going to be really awkward and self conscious! And then I go and have a ball! Surprised myself enormously and chuffed to bits they’ve had a positive response (thank you!) because I really didn’t want to have to stop making them on account of me being a blimmin disaster 😄

I guess we’re all work in progress, our businesses work in progress, looking at ways to step outside of our comfort zone, challenge ourselves, learn and grow! 😃

A special shout out to all the women in business choosing to do it their way. We’re capable of so much more than we ever give ourselves credit for, let’s not hold ourselves back from our best selves! 💪🏼

07/03/2021

Scrummy brunch recipe coming to YouTube soon! Desi sausages (Indian style sausage masala) on sourdough toast, wilted spinach below, fried egg on top 😁 Subscribe to my channel if you haven’t yet and don’t want to miss out (link in profile)!

07/03/2021

- I’m really enjoying reflecting and sharing 😃 Today it’s Style and Beliefs & Values

Style

My style of cooking has evolved enormously over the years. Been quite a journey from when I cooked my first ever meal for myself at uni (a basic survival recipe given to me by mum! Vegetable pulao (which I made with frozen veggies ofcourse)!

I have two styles of Indian cooking now:
🧘‍♀️the traditional - timeless recipes, family heirlooms, classical Indian from around the country. This is food I love, I respect, I’m so proud of calling mine, and that makes Indian cuisine my favourite in the world not just because it’s my heritage 🤩

🤸🏽‍♀️the creative Indian - this I have the most fun with - because it gives me all the freedom I want - to use Indian spices and flavour combinations as my foundation to make meals that are not Indian, but inspired by India! 🇮🇳

My style also involves lots of colour 😃🌈

Beliefs & Values

With The Travelling Tikki I wanted to go back to basics - fresh and fantastic ingredients, locally sourced produce, homemade spice blends, big flavour.

- All my food is handmade, fresh to order
- Almost all my spices blends are made at home - yep the roasting, the grinding, all of it 😄
- I try and support local growers, producers and businesses as much as I can - in both my personal and Tikki life. Great quality, great customer experience every time👍🏼👍🏼 My produce for my street food came from farms and farm shops, for my dabbaClub it came from our local green grocers and butcher!

And finally, I do my bit for the environment as much as I can - Tikki packaging has always been recyclable or compostable or reusable (except right at the beginning when I started off) 😃🍃

And most importantly, it’s always been about having a good time while slogging my butt off 😁🥳

06/03/2021

I’m 5 days late, but I’ve got the weekend to make up 😁
•
Hey, I’m Parul! Founder of The Travelling Tikki. I’m a digital marketer by day and when I’m not stuck in marketing strategy you’ll find me cooking up a storm!

My small business was born in July 2016, in the car, driving to a BBQ at a friend’s place 😃 I’d jumped off the corporate hamster wheel in June that year after years of humming and hawwing, elated and nervous but so pumped to get cracking on my foodie dream. I had a million ideas in my head, I had my equipment all sorted, but I just couldn’t find a fitting name for this business that was so alive in my mind, to put it out there and let it fly. And then this fine afternoon as we were driving, it hit me - and I turned to my husband and to my friends in the backseat and yelled ‘I’ve got it! The Travelling Tikki!?!’ And they loved it!

The Travelling Tikki is an expression of my love for Indian food - hearty, wholesome dishes that make your tastebuds sing! My food has been inspired by my experiences growing up, living and travelling across India before I moved to the UK, and is a medley of the familiar and the new, the classics, the evolved, and the creative.

I stopped trading in 2018 to learn how to parent (ha! very soon realised it’s all about winging it 😂), returned briefly to it when I was furloughed last year (I’d never really forgotten it 💘), realised I didn’t want to give it up for good but that I couldn’t build a sustainable scalable business right away. So though I’m not trading at the moment, there’s work going on behind the scenes on the weekend, planning for when I do (and I shall!). Need to get a few 🦆 🦆 in a row first 😁

For now I’m having a good time recipe testing and keeping the brand alive by sharing my cooking adventures on Insta, FB and YouTube!

06/03/2021

Shorshe chingri! Bengali prawns in a mustard sauce. All this needs is some steamed rice and begun bhaja (fried aubergine) 😃

05/03/2021

Tweaked my masala mackerel wrap recipe for lunch today since I didn’t have any tortillas at hand. On buttered pan-toasted sourdough instead. Was yum! Full wrap recipe on YouTube - link in profile 🙂

03/03/2021

New recipe! Easy pudina chicken, masala wedges, kachumber 😃 Enjoy and don't forget to subscribe to my channel if you'd like a notification! https://youtu.be/BJX097SUR4U

Chicken thighs, marinated in spiced yogurt with fresh coriander and mint, oven baked and served with masala wedges and kachumber (Indian salad) - easy, healt...

28/02/2021

Glorious sunny day! Perfect for today’s recipe shoot 😃 Pudina chicken with masala wedges and kachumber! Recipe on YouTube soon 😁

27/02/2021

Mattar paneer is always a winner in my book

24/02/2021

New video has just dropped on YouTube! Aloo Gobhi pitta pockets - great for those WFH lunches/ quick dinners with a bit of prep the night before 😃 Enjoy! https://youtu.be/aaW0sAsmRwo

An easy and delicious recipe, great for a weekday WFH lunch with a bit of prep the night before to save time!

22/02/2021

I’d made some Chettinad masala a few weeks ago and as is always the case, made too much. Proved very handy for a vegetable kurma over the weekend, with leftovers for lunch today! Honestly, not too much else comes close to that coconut + curry leaves flavour 😍🤩 But boy am I missing some hot parottas to dunk in!

20/02/2021

Coming to YouTube soon...Aloo Gobhi Pitta Pockets! Great for WFH lunches 😃Lovely sunshiney afternoon for recipe filming today... Subscribe to my channel if you like what you see - link in profile!

17/02/2021

Masala mackerel wraps - recipe now on YouTube! Had such a great time making the video - big thanks to Arunn for the excellent camera work and editing! Enjoy! 😃 https://youtu.be/SD2Dd9oxD8c

An easy, healthy and very yummy recipe that’s great for weekday lunches! For these masala mackerel wraps you’ll need:Smoked mackerel filletsRed onion Tomatoe...