Spice 'n' easy

INDIAN cookery casts a spell over most of us. A typical Brit might have finished a slap-up five course meal minutes earlier, but one whiff of the smells emerging from an Indian restaurant and he is desperate for a curry.

That observation should serve as a warning. Do not enter Rafi's Spice Box on Goodramgate, York, on an empty stomach. Otherwise you are likely to buy up half the shop.

As soon as you open the door, the aromatic blend of spices wafts over you. Tastebuds tingle, tummies rumble. The desire to tuck into a mountain of masala is overwhelming.

And everything you need to create an Indian feast at home is on sale here, with an added ingredient: expert advice.

Rafi's Spice Box opened a week ago. It was busy on its first day, testament to our love of Indian food.

York boasts the second Rafi's. The first was launched in Sudbury, Suffolk, 15 years ago by Rafi Fernandez, a cookery writer and teacher whose family hail from Hyderabad in southern India.

The shop was her response to a regular complaint from friends: "I would love to give a party with exotic dishes but I get overwrought."

Rafi's Spice Box aims to help any host create a hassle-free, authentically-Indian dinner party. And Rafi has moved to York temporarily to ensure the northern venture gets off to a flying start.

Frozen vegetable samosas and onion bhajias provide an instant first course for any budding host. For the main feast, a whole range of spice box mixes, priced around £3.85, contain almost everything you need to create a sauce for your meat, fish or vegetables.

The York shop is run by Rafi's son, Kevin. He graduated from Leeds University, lives near York, and was in marketing before deciding to expand the family business.

"This style we are creating is authentic," he explained. "It's how I would eat at home. This is as close as you can get to how my grandmother would cook in her house."

The ready-prepared spice boxes make a wide variety of popular sauces, ranging from mild korma masala to the very hot phaal masala. Thai and Malai curries are also available.

All the ingredients come in the foil trays familiar from takeaway food outlets, with the recipe on the lid. You mix the contents with water, and perhaps coconut cream or yoghurt, heat, and in 20 minutes the sauce is ready.

"We used to compare ourselves to the ready-made sauces you can buy, like Uncle Ben's," said Kevin. "But ours have extra style, and involve a few more cooking skills in the kitchen."

Alternatively you can customise your sauce to taste. "Down in Sudbury, people know us very well now," Kevin said.

"They will come in and say, 'I have bought this beautiful piece of lamb, what do you recommend I do with that?'"

They will tailor the mix according to a customer's preferences.

Laid out on the shop counter are a series of jars containing blended and cooked pastes stored in oil, with various mouth-watering garlic and ginger flavours.

Next to these are dishes bursting with colour and flavour. In these rest fresh red and green chillis, white spices such as cumin and onion seeds, and aromatic spices such as the aniseed flavour of star anise, and green cardamon.

You can also buy a scoop or two of dried deep-fried onions, to save all that chopping and caramelising.

Shelves groan under a range of 115 pickles and chutneys, many of which are imported directly from India, and there are three varieties of Bombay Mix. To finish, you can buy a range of Indian sweets.

Kevin says his business is catering for English people who have developed a sophisticated knowledge and enjoyment of Indian food over the past decade.

All that remains to be said is Sanjong Bhojan - happy dining.

Rafi's Spice Box, Goodramgate, York.

Tel: 01904 638119.

Updated: 08:50 Saturday, March 27, 2004