Get a taste of India& Australia at myteamindia.com.au

It seems like only yesterday when Ash & Simran from Team India took Australia by storm on Channel 7s World Cup of Cooking; Plate of Origin.  The only couple on the show, they represented and did India proud as they featured some of the iconic dishes that has put India on the map for culinary greatness. Indus Age recently caught up with the Sydney couple who has been busy creating myteamindia.com among other things.

Ash & Simran, you both represented India on the National stage on Channel 7, how did you feel going through that?

Simran: It was a great feeling to be chosen to represent our country.  Being Indo-Australian, I have always been close to my roots whether it’s in the kitchen, on big screen or even on the runway; I always do my best to make my country proud and I don’t take that for granted.

Ash: Honestly, it was a lot of pressure because we are a county of over 1.3Billion people.  Wealso have an enormous footprint here is Australia, so we knew everyone would be watching us closely.  Aside from that, it was an honour to be chosen to represent India on the big stage.

Simran, we know you as an Actor and a Model who has rubbed elbows with celebrities at the Cannes Film festival, but a Chef?

Simran: This is a stigma that is out there for sure.  I have a lot of people come up to me and ask the same question.  The truth is that Acting and Modelling are my passion that I work hard on it , but being a home-cook is also something that is very close to my heart.  Living abroad, you don’t have the same luxuries as we had in India, so getting in the kitchen was not an option, but then I fell in love with it because food is an art and allows you to be creative and that is same for acting & modelling.

Most people cannot cook with their partners, how do you both work in the kitchen?

Ash: I can answer that.  The way it works is Simran is the boss of the house, in-fact in my opinion all women should be the boss of the house because women are more organised, better planners, extremely good with finances and overall more rational.  Simran and I have open communication which makes it easy to work with her and if she gets upset, it’s like bad weather, it just comes and goes.

Simran: I can’t argue with Ash on this one.

What was it like to cook for the judges?

Ash: Intense & nerve-wracking but at the same time fun.  The judges have immense knowledge of Indian food, which meant there were no shortcuts.  Gary Mehigan is dubbed as the ‘Food God of India’ and Matt Preston has spent a lot of time there with the Masterchef Series.  Manu Feildel understands the spices, the flavours, and how it all comes together.  They kept us on our toes as they tasted our food, and it was an  honour to have them eat our food.

Now that the show is over,  people would love to know what you guys are up to now?

Simran: Being on Plate of Origin opened many doors for us.  I am still working on my passion which is acting and modelling.  As most people remember there were some dishes that we made on the show that were really loved by the judges, and we felt that people in Australia should also taste them.  Our Samosa Pie from the pie challenge had a positive response, so we have made that available to people in Sydney.  You can see what we are up to &order them at myteamindia.com.au

Ash:  As Simran mentioned, everyone on the show loved our pie.  It is a perfect representation of us; Indo-Australian.  As you know Pie is an Australian icon and Samosa is extremely famous in India, so it’s only fitting that we as Indo-Australian bring Samosa Pie to market.

Samosa Pie sounds amazing, how is it different from a Samosa?

Simran: It is different from a Samosa in many facets.  It’s baked not fried so that has a healthy component where you feel full but without that deep fried feeling.  Also, we source premium fresh ingredients that really makes a difference that you can taste in every bite.  Each of our pies are handmade with love, cooked & baked on the day of delivery, so the person trying it can taste the freshness and get the same exact experience that the judges received on the show. 

Ash: Not only that, but because it’s a pie, kids Love it.   It is great for kids, as we can manage spice levels and makes for the perfect lunchbox treat that leaves kids full for hours. This is on our kids lunch menu every week.

If Kids Love it, it must be good.  How do you guys manage work, business, kids and your passion?

Simran: I can tell you it’s not easy.  Over the years we have really learned time management.  We have a system that we follow and set time for us to work on our things and most importantly spend time with our kids.

Ash: For us, it’s all about team effort.  We both have great communication which makes it easy for us to juggle several tasks at a time.  We schedule things and when Simran is busy with her work, I step in and fill in. 

Amazing!  Your social media work is also very commendable.  How do you do it?

Ash:  Social media is very time intensive, but it is a very important channel for our business. We both manage our business on @plateteamindia and engage with our following on a regular basis.  Most of the time we split our time to who will monitor the handle and when. 

Simran: My @simrangulatiofficial is something that I am constantly working on as that is a gateway to many opportunities that come my way.  Again, it’s the same way as we handle our workload; time management.

Sounds great.  Lastly what is next for My Team India?

Simran:  It’s all about build and nurture.  We have built myteamindia.com.au and now it’s all about nurture& My Team India experience.  We plan on introducing new exciting flavours and we want to be the one stop shop for Indo-Australian pies.  We are also going to be at some food festivals with our famous Samosa Pie very soon as we go on our personal agenda to get people to try our pies.  Also, people in Melbourne & Brisbane will be able to order our pies later this year as we are working on the logistics.  There are a lot of exciting things that are planned this year and you can keep following us on Instagram/Facebook @plateteamindia to get the latest updates on our whereabouts.