Anila’s Authentic Sauces has scooped another top accolade for its popular Goan Green Curry Sauce by being named as the Best Vegan Product in The Veggie Awards 2011.
The prize-winning product, which also won a two star Gold Great Taste Award in July 2010, was announced as the winner of the vegan category in the awards run by Cook Vegetarian! magazine.
The magazine said: “Not only one of the best vegan curry sauces we’ve ever tried but one of the best curry sauces available. Its complexity of flavours makes its taste truly sensational.”
The news has delighted Anila’s founder Anila Vaghela, who said: “The Goan Green Curry Sauce is one of our most popular sauces and really is something very special. To win a two star gold Great Taste Award and the Best Vegan Product Award in the space of a few months shows that vegan food can be both tasty and delicious.
“We are thrilled to bits to learn that the judges loved our Goan Green as much as our customers do, and are very proud to win an accolade in the Veggie Awards 2011. It’s a very versatile curry sauce, because as well as being suitable for vegetarians and vegans, it’s also dairy free, gluten free and has no added sugar.”
Anila’s has won 11 Great Taste Awards from the Guild of Fine Food for its range of premium curry sauces, chutneys, pickles and dips. To win a two star award in the summer, up to 20 judges unanimously agreed that the Goan Green Curry Sauce had achieved ‘absolute perfection’. Anila’s Spicy Korma Curry Sauce also scooped a Free From Food Award in 2009.
Made with mint, coriander, spinach and coconut, Anila’s Goan Green Curry Sauce is sold in a range of speciality retailers, delis and farm shops, including Harrods and John Lewis Food Halls at Oxford Street and Bluewater.
It is one of eight premium curry sauces, handmade in small batches, by Anila’s, which was founded in 1997 by Anila Vaghela. The firm also produces a range of 16 chutneys, pickles and dips made with single fruits and vegetables.
The Veggie Awards celebrate flavour, versatility and innovation in the world of meat-free foods, and were being held for the second year.
Cook Vegetarian! deputy editor Fae Gilfillan said: “Once again, food companies came up trumps with their entries for this year’s Veggies proving that vegetarianism is simply not a boring or restrictive diet. We had great fun selecting the winners but with more and more products nominated every year, crowning our winners doesn’t get any easier!”
Anila’s Authentic Sauces is based in Walton-on-Thames with a unit in Hounslow, and is run by Anila and her husband Dan.
Anila’s cooking has always been popular with friends and family, and in the early 1990s she began selling jars of curry sauce on a very small scale in her local community in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. She sold all 80 jars at her first fair at Weybridge in 1992. Phone calls from very satisfied customers followed, and Anila began fulfilling small orders.
In 1997 she was made redundant from a job as a PA and decided to seize the opportunity to form her own company to develop Anila’s Authentic Sauces.
She carried out extensive research, took expert business advice, and felt there was a gap in the market for high-quality, premium curry sauces. She soon gained a listing in the food hall of her local department store, and before long Anila’s curry sauces were on the shelves of a range of health stores, delicatessens and independent specialist shops.
Anila outgrew her kitchen at home and moved to a catering kitchen in Surbiton in 2002. A year later the business needed larger premises once more, and Anila’s re-located to a 1400 sq ft unit in Hounslow. In 2006, husband Dan also joined the team.
Anila’s products are now sold at John Lewis Oxford Street and John Lewis Bluewater, and top quality gourmet stores, such as Harrods, Wholefoods and Planet Organic, plus hundreds of other outlets that include health food stores, garden centres and gift shops, as well as smaller independent stores such as Budgens at Ascot, Shepperton and Crouch End. Anila’s also sells direct to the public at 28 farmers’ markets across Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, including Guildford, Walton, Windsor, Maidenhead, Ascot, Cobham, Beaconsfield and Farnham, and online via www.anilassauces.com
