Bolton Food and Drink Festival: Mowgli's Nisha Katona returns to roots

Nisha Katona, owner of Indian restaurant chain Mowgli Street Food, appeared at the festival on Sunday, giving cooking demos to show her approach to the food of her ancestors' home country. 

Nisha, who is originally from Ormskirk, gave three classes - at 11am, 1pm and 3pm, at the Albert Halls. 

Gok Wan appeared at the halls yesterday, demonstrating his showmanship and passion for Chinese cuisine. 

Nisha took some time before her classes to speak to The Bolton News. 

She said: "I'm a Lancashire lass, so this is my neck of the woods. I used to be a child protection barrister and this is where I used to do a lot of my work. 

Nisha owns Indian restaurant chain Mowgli (Image: Henry Lisowski)

"I was at Bolton Crown Court a lot. I'm very, very fond of Bolton for that reason, it was like a big day out, Bolton was bright lights, big city for me. 

"Ormskirk is like a little village isn't it, so Bolton was where it was all happening.

"This is my first time. I have so little free time now, which is very sad, so it's very nice to come here in the capacity of being useful to the festival."

She added: "Mowgli is kind of the way that Indians eat at home, and it's very difficult because every area of India cooks differently, every family cooks differently, but this is the way my ancestors cooked.

"If you come from a different part of India, you will hate me, it's a massive country and we're very proprietorial and territorial over our food.

Nisha at her demonstration (Image: Newsquest)

"But I remember, I was a barrister for 20 years, and there was not anything on the high street that represented the way that we cook with fresh, zingy, light ingredients really quickly.

"I thought I really want to do that, before I pass away, I'd love for people to know what we do with things like lentils and cabbage and humble ingredients, so I started Mowgli while I was still working."

On being asked if she could see it coming to Bolton, she said: "I completely could - I need to be busy at lunchtime and I need to be busy in the evening, so it's finding those places.

"I've still not done York, I've not done Cambridge, there are some big cities out there that I've not done yet.

Nisha being interviewed (Image: Henry Lisowski)

"The thing with me is if people want Mowgli in their city, I will open a Mowgli in their city - I do all the social media, I go out there and say 'where next', so people will tweet me. That's why I'm in Chelmsford because people are asking for it, that's why I'm looking at Lincoln."

Nisha continued: "I'm teaching the people of Bolton how to cook chicken curry, authentically, in 20 minutes - every kind of chicken curry.

"That business about phoning for a takeaway - all of those curries you can cook cheaper and in a third of the time at home, so it's just showing people how to do that, really, really simply.

"One of my books is 30 Minute Mowgli, it's authentically true. What happened is my grandmother's stove only had 30 minutes of fuel and she had to cook for a family of 15 or whatever - that's how it is in India.

"It is fast, fast, quick healthy food, so that's why I'm teaching how to cook every shade of chicken curry."