Shameem Arnold launches Shammy's Kitchen from her Seascale home

Shameem Arnold’s new catering and meal takeaway business, Shammy’s Kitchen, offers authentic homecooked Pakistani meals packed with flavour.

Shameem, who is known across Cumbria for her weekly fitness classes as founder of MokyFit, decided to start a new venture and bring a different food experience to west Cumbria.

Shameem's chicken tikka masala (Image: Submitted)

She said: “Living in Cumbria, it’s very difficult because there isn’t a big Asian community like there is in the cities. It’s nice for customers to have that authentic food brought to them.

“I’m all about the flavour and using real ingredients.”

Shameem started offering takeaway meals from her home in Seascale last weekend and said the reaction had been ‘overwhelmingly positive’.

She said: “It went really well. It was overwhelming how well it was supported and how grateful customers were that there is something like this.

“A few people who came to see me are missing that kind of food, maybe because they have lived in London, and they were very impressed. It has been overwhelmingly positive, so it’s a great boost to me.

“It’s something new but it’s part of my childhood and something that’s very familiar to me. You don’t realise how special it is until you do it.”

Shameem's all time favourite childhood curry - Kofta and Egg (Image: Submitted)

When asked what made her food stand out from other takeaway business, Shameem replied: “It’s homecooked. I’m doing it on a smaller scale. It’s not going to be like an Indian takeaway. Mine is a lot healthier version of it because it’s homecooked.”

Two years ago, Shameem returned to her childhood diet of eating authentic Pakistani food after experiencing food intolerances and stomach issues.

She said: “My dad is from Pakistan and my mum is English. She learned very quickly to cook Pakistani food and that’s all we ate. I grew up in a household where every day, it was curry, rice, chapatis.

“I always felt good as a child and enjoyed my food. In recent years, I started to suffer with stomach problems and was reacting to lactose and gluten. I wasn’t eating the food I grew up on.

Vegan Pakora Platter (Image: Submitted)

“I decided I needed to change my diet because I was suffering. I just went back to basics. For two years, I’ve been eating curry and rice and my health has improved so much.

“My friends are always round complimenting my food. I realised I couldn’t go anywhere and get better than what I was making. That was a big thing for me to realise.”

Shameem can also cater for events and offers vegan and gluten-free options.

To order food, go to: https://shameem.fit/Shammys-Kitchen/ or message Shammy’s Kitchen on Facebook.