Nisha Katona Showreel

Nisha Katona is a British born Indian, dedicated curry evangelist and founder of Mowgli Street Food.

She has incredible warmth and is an excellent public speaker so is completely comfortable in front of the camera. You fall in love with her and her recipes the moment you set eyes on her.

Nisha’s aim is to take the grind out of curry creation. She is all about transforming cheap often meagre, seasonal and conscientiously grown ingredients into divine curries – simply and quickly. From couch to curry in just three spices should be possible for everyone.

Nisha’s first book “Pimp My Rice” was published in 2015 by Nourish Books. Nisha’s book aim’s to impart readers with the secret formulas of the Indian kitchen in the form of a rice bible. In 2017, Nisha’s second book ‘The Spice Tree’ was published, and showcases beautifully straightforward authentic recipes, aimed at simplifying Indian food to four easy steps.

Nisha has appeared in various television programmes including presenting her 2018 series on BBC2 Recipes that Made Me, which saw Nisha travelling the UK to meet families cooking dishes from all over the Indian subcontinent. In 2018, Nisha was also the judge on BBC2’s hugely popular new series Top of the Shop with Tom Kerridge where Nisha helped to find the UK’s best amateur artisan food producers. Nisha has also regularly appeared on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch and ITV’s Lorraine in which she demonstrates her fool proof, simple recipes with ease and an infectious passion for her food.

Nisha’s most exciting venture is her restaurant business, Mowgli’s Street Food. The first Mowgli opened in Liverpool early in 2015 and was such a success that a second site in Manchester’s sought-after Corn Exchange building came very quickly afterwards and have received lots of positive praise in the press. Mowgli is all about the fresh reality of Indian home cooking, it is a million miles away from the curry house experience. Mowgli dishes follow the Hindu tradition of garlic and onion free dishes for lunch, they are low fat, gluten free, high in natural antioxidants and free from any artificial ingredients. In 2016, Mowgli opened its third site, also in Liverpool and in 2017 went on to open in Birmingham New Street, and in 2018 they opened in Nottingham. Nisha has plans to open further sites across the UK so watch this space!

Prior to taking on the restaurant business, Nisha was a practicing Barrister in the area of child protection. In 2008 the Department of Culture, Media and Sport appointed her as trustee of National Museums Liverpool and in 2009, the Cabinet Office appointed her as an Ambassador for Diversity in Public Appointments and in this capacity has been engaged as an expert advisor by The Guardian newspaper.

Honours and awards: Wireless Social’s Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, September 2018; Business of the Year, City of Liverpool Business Awards, July 2018; Maserati Top 100, The Sunday Times, April 2018; Best Medium Sized Business, North West Business Masters Awards, April 2018; Best Emerging Concept, Retailers Retailer Awards, March 2018.