In conversation with SpiceBox founder Grace Regan
Seven years ago, after finishing university Grace Regan accidentally fell into running a media tech start-up, having been approached by a friend of a friend in search of a business partner. With experience editing student newspapers, hosting uni radio shows and no other plans, Grace was eager to jump on board and spent the next few years establishing the company – an audio news app – Clippet. Starting from scratch, she and her co-founder grew their team from two to twenty, raising investment, running a newsroom, creating and curating editorial content, designing and then finally releasing the app. The result led to Grace and her business partner being offered an opportunity to join a tech start-up accelerator in Silicon Valley working with developers and tech wizards to grow the app and make their business scalable. Building a brand so early on in her career was invaluable experience, but after six months across the pond, she was starting to lose interest in the tech aspect of the business, missing the “human nature” of the company in London.
Disillusioned by Silicon Valley, Grace instead began spending her evenings eating at the new restaurants that were springing up across San Fransisco and LA, the majority of which were vegan. Having been vegetarian for many years, she had trialled a vegan diet in London but found it too difficult due to the lack of variety and appreciation for vegan cooking in the capital at the time. In California, however, things were different and Grace became immediately engaged with the benefits of eating a predominantly plant based diet, exploring vegan street food markets and cafés every weekend. As an avid cook, enthusiastic about food from a young age, Grace had grown up eating her Indian great aunt’s curries, as well as travelling to India extensively. Her adventures developed her love for the culture and cuisine but returning home she always found herself frustrated by the lack of authentic Indian restaurants in London, despite the plethora of takeaways across the country. Grace’s idea to create a “fresh modern spin on the curry house” had been bubbling for some time and her passion for her new plant-based diet finally ignited the spark. Appreciating the popularity and demand for curry houses in the UK, with chicken tikka masala famously heralded as Britain’s national dish, Grace saw an opportunity. Realising that Indian cuisine was the perfect segue to plant-based cooking, for even the most ardent of meat eaters, and so SpiceBox was born.
Grace took the plunge, diving head first into hospitality as soon as she returned to London. Cooking from her kitchen, she began recipe testing, receiving feedback from friends and neighbours and eventually turning her house on Columbia Road into an Indian takeaway. Word spread and the calls kept coming, her instant success resulting in a stall at Druid Street Market where she could continue to taste test. A spot at Kerb Camden followed along with gigs at various markets and festivals across the UK. It was an “amazing opportunity”, but street food was not the initial intention of the business and after a few more years determining which road to take, Grace stuck to her guns, eventually raising enough investment to put down an offer on a site in Walthamstow to open her first local curry house.
SpiceBox officially opened its doors to the public in January 2019 and has continued to triumph ever since, not only winning official awards but receiving a stream of regular customers, the majority of whom are not vegan “they just really like the food”. This wide appeal is high praise indeed and testament to Grace’s belief that “vegan food can be amazingly different and complex”. SpiceBox’s positive reception has led to further investment, meaning a second restaurant opening is on the cards. Whilst the current climate has halted development for many projects planned this year, Grace hopes to continue rolling out the business in the future. Maintaining the fresh flavours found in Indian home cooking whilst simultaneously paying homage to the British-Indian curry house classics, SpiceBox is a revolution to the industry, setting Grace on the path to becoming the “UK’s leading curry house”.
SpiceBox is currently operating a click and collect service as well as delivery on Uber Eats and Deliveroo – have a look online to see you are in their catchment area. Alternatively, you could try your hand at the recipes below or follow Grace’s guidance via her YouTube channel.
BUTTER BEAN, SWEET POTATO AND SPINACH COCONUT CURRY
Ingredients
Serves 2
1 medium sized sweet potato, microwaved
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
3 cardamom pods, crushed
2 bay leaves
1 medium white onion, peeled and sliced into half moons
1 tsp salt
1 green chilli, cut lengthways
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
a thumb of ginger, grated
½ tsp tumeric
1 tin of butter beans, drained and rinsed
1 tin of coconut milk
2 large handfuls of spinach
¼ lemon, juiced
Method
Start by cooking your sweet potato in the microwave. Pierce it all over with a fork and place it in the microwave at full power for 5 minutes or until soft all the way through. If you don’t have a microwave, you can dice it, drizzle it with oil and some salt and roast it in an oven set at 180°c for 25 mins.
While the potato is cooking, heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the cumin and mustard seeds, cardamom and bay leaves. Fry until the seeds begin to pop. Add the onion, salt and sugar and fry on a gentle heat until it’s soft and caramelised. Once the onion starts to soften, add the chilli, ginger and garlic and cook out with the onion for 10 minutes.
By now your sweet potato should be cooked. When it’s cool enough to handle, roughly dice it into 1 inch chunks. Add it to the frying pan along with the turmeric and beans. Give everything a good stir and then add the coconut milk. Turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes then stir through the spinach and lemon juice. Take the pan off the heat and season to taste.
QUICK VEG BIRIYANI
Method
Start by making the saffron milk. Put the milk on a gentle heat and add the saffron. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes and then turn off the heat. Leave the milk to infuse whilst you start the biriyani.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan or shallow casserole dish and cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and cumin seeds. Fry for a minute until they are golden and aromatic then add the onion and salt. Turn down the heat and cook slowly until the onion is soft and caramelised. Once the onion begins to soften, add garlic, ginger, green chilli and fresh tomatoes. Cook out with the onions until the tomatoes have broken down.
Add the tomato paste, sugar, coriander and chilli powder and stir fry for a couple of minutes. Now add all the veg followed by a generous pinch of salt. Stir well so it’s all coated with the spiced onion mix. Using the back of your spatula, flatten the veg so it forms a tightly packed layer on the bottom of the pan. Cover the veg with a layer of the cooked rice, again tightly packing it down with the back of your spatula. Top with half the cashews, half the coriander and half the mint. Spoon over half the saffron milk – you almost want to dot it over the surface of the rice. Finish the layer by sprinkling over half the garam masala and a pinch of salt.
Repeat this process for the second layer of rice.
Cover the pan with a lid and cook over a low heat for 5 minutes. Serve straight from the pan.
Ingredients
Serves 4
For the veg
½ cauliflower, cut into small florets and roasted
4 carrots, thinly sliced and roasted
100g green beans, topped and cut in half
For the biriyani
150ml unsweetened almond milk
a large pinch of saffron strands
3 tbsp veg oil
3 cardamom pods, crushed
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 medium white onion, peeled and sliced into half moons
1 tsp salt
4 cloves garlic, grated
a thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated
1 green chilli, sliced
2 tomatoes, roughly diced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp chilli powder
600g cooked basmati rice
100g cashews, roasted and roughly chopped
2 tsp garam masala
a small bunch of coriander, finely chopped
a small bunch of mint, stalks removed and finely chopped
HAKKA NOODLES
Ingredients
Serves 2
½ pack soba noodles
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 small red onion, sliced
1 tsp fine sea salt
4 cloves garlic, peeled and grated
thumb of ginger, grated
1 green chilli, finely chopped
2 tsp curry powder
½ green pepper
½ red pepper
½ yellow pepper, thinly sliced
½ cabbage, thinly sliced
1 carrots, julienned
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp sriracha
½ lime, juiced
5 spring onions, sliced
small bunch coriander, chopped
a handful of toasted cashews
Method
Fill a saucepan with water and a generous pinch of salt and bring it to the boil. Add the noodles and boil until soft but still with some bite (around 5 minutes).
While the noodles are cooking, heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan and add the onion and salt. Once it begins to soften, add the garlic, ginger and green chilli and cook out with the onions for a few minutes. Add the curry powder followed by the chopped vegetables, soy sauce, vinegar and sriracha. Stir-fry until the vegetables are cooked but still nice and crunchy.
Add the noodles to the wok along with a spoon of their cooking water and toss them through the vegetables and sauce.
Take the pan off the heat and add the lime juice. Taste for seasoning. Serve topped with sliced spring onions, chopped coriander and toasted cashews.
