Awards winning restaurant serving Indian Vegetarian home-cooking since 1986

‘Best Indian Vegetarian Restaurant in UK’-The Cobra Good Curry Guide 2013-14.

JUNE ’15 NEWSLETTER Playing Catch-up! This is our first Newsletter this year. We’ve just been busy since the turn of this year with the restaurant and family occasions that we’ve not had time to pen to paper. After the Christmas rush we started January with the first of the new series of Cookery Classes on Hansa’s Starters. This year we’ve added an extra class on Gujarati Chutneys and Pickles which will be in November, just in time for the Christmas hampers.

Valentine’s Day Celebrations: Febuary is always dominated by Valentine’s Day or Week when all the romantic people indulge in showing their loved ones their affection for each other. Our Valentine’s set menu went down a treat with diners.

Bollywood Karaoke comes to Hansa’s: A new experiment to encourage budding singers to enjoy a karaoke session proved to be very popular. Some 60 people came on Sunday the 15th of Feb and were encouraged to take part in singing popular Hindi Songs and the audience helped by cheering everyone on stage. Most people felt confident enough to join us again in our next Bollywod Night. We are hoping to make it a regular event in our yearly calendar.

Hansa on a slow boat to China: We had a lovely two weeks break in China at the beginning of May and were completely bowled over by the sites and sounds in this huge country. The infamous Tiannaman Square in Beijing was breath-taking

indeed! They say it holds 500,000 people during their annual parades and you could believe it. The Forbidden City

was steeped in China’s 5000 year old history with all the palaces belonging to the past dynasties. The city of Xian was made famous for the discovery of the Terracotta Army with thousands of terracotta effigies of the warriors and horses buried together with the first emperor of China Qin Shi Huang di over 2200 years ago. The Great Wall was ‘a site not to be missed’ indeed. To think that the 6000 miles long wall was constructed by human beings was an incredible feat of achievement. It goes on and on over the hills and valleys as far as the eyes can see. The cruise down the Yangtze River was very scenic and colourful, visiting traditional settlements and beautiful gorges on route. The 1.3mile long Three Gorges Dam over the Yangze river has to be one of the modern wonders of the world. The sheer scale of the dam and its

construction shows the ingenuity of the Chinese people. They literally moved a mountain to build the dam in double quick time! Souza is a city next to Shanghai and is known as the Garden City with a beautiful Bonsai Garden which was privately owned but now is open to the public for everyone to enjoy. Here we also found the ‘Little Venice of China’ with its small river full of Chinese gondolas and quaint little shops and bars along the river. A perfect setting for wedding photographs for the newly married couples. Shanghai was amazing with the ultra-modern city centre buildings and plazas and the view over the bay is breath-taking, especially at night. The only thing we were disappointed with was the

vegetarian food in China which tended to be just boiled vegetables marinated or stir-fried with soy sauce. Only the Szechwan food in the north was anything like the nicely spiced food that we are served here in the UK. This is a shame because we’ve eaten better Chinese vegetarian food in Leeds. Despite all that, it was a great holiday, highly recommended!

Cooks at Carlton Towers. Once back in Leeds it was back in the swing with Hansa’s Vegetarian Cookery Class at Carlton Towers, where Hansa is a guest Chef. In her class this month was a mother and daughter team who are both vegetarian and who are immigrating to Canada soon. They really enjoyed spending the day with Hansa learning how to blend the spices to create the tasty dishes that our customers are so used to eating.

HANSA’S Restaurant’s 29th Anniversary

What a turn out! Thank you to all of our customers and friends who came to support us and partake in our 6 course Anniversary Celebration Menu which was only £29 for TWO! It was so nice to celebrate our big day with all of your blessings. A special thanks to Nick Miles who plays Nick King in Emmerdale, made a special appearance for our celebrations. We feel really honoured to have had his company and are now rejuvenated to carry on for the next big one!

Sell-out Beans and Pulses Classes: The popularity of the Beans and Pulses Class was amazing this year. We had two over-booked classes and also more people on the standby list. It seems that people are experimenting a lot using beans and pulses in their cooking these days. It may also be that they have allergies to milk based or wheat based products or have turned vegan. Our Gujarati cooking is perfect for all these people.

Yorkshire Vegan Festival: Hansa is to going to be doing two cookery demonstrations at the first ever Vegan Festival in Leeds on Sat 13th June. It is to be held at the Leeds Town Hall. Please try getting there for 11.45am or 2pm to support her on the stage. It will be great to see you there.

Father’s Day Special at Hansa: Don’t forget to treat your

father on Sunday 21st June. Hansa’s Restaurant will be laying a special Sunday Buffet between 12noon to 2pm at only £9.95pp with selected desserts at only £2.95. You won’t get a better deal anywhere else! Remember that you can also buy a Hansa’s Vouchers in £10, £20 and £50 denominations which can be used for a meal at Hansa’s Restaurant or for a Hansa’s Cookery Lessons or to buy any of Hansa’s Cookbooks or Spice Tins. A perfect gift for a person who has everything.

A Charity Cookery Class in support of Action against

Medical Accidents (AvMA): On Thursday 25th June, Hansa will

be hosting a special fund raising event. It is a cookery class for some

lawyers and their support staff. The money raised will go towards

AvMA’s funding for patients’ safety and justice due to accidents caused

by clinical negligence. For details please visit www.avma.org.uk/events

Hansa’s to support Spring Bank Primary School’s Fun Day: It is to be held on Saturday

27th June. Hansa’s Restaurant supports them every year by donating food to the school to help them raise money from the sale of the food. I’m sure it will be just as popular this year as well. Please do support them if you can. The school is in Headingley, on Spring Bank Road, Leeds 6.

Hansa’s Restaurant to host a Charity Dinner: On Sunday 28th June 2015 we are hosting a

charity dinner to raise money for Hannah House Hospice of Leeds. They provide respite care for severely handicapped children which enables parents to have short breaks to rejuvenate themselves in order to continue caring for their children. Mr. Prashant Pandiya, whose daughter is one of the children who uses their services, is also taking up a challenge to do a 1000 mile sponsored journey on a motorbike on the highest road in the world, at the foothills of the Himalayas in August this year. The cost of the dinner is only £20pp and all profits are to go towards this challenge. So please help us to help other in need. Call our restaurant on 0113 2444408 to book your dinner ticket.

Hansa’s at The Kirkstall Festival Sat. 11th July: This very popular annual festival is held in

the grounds of Kirkstall Abbey and attended by over 15000 people on average. We really enjoy it because it really involves all the families from the local communities and is the only festival that Hansa’s support every year. Give it a try this year and don’t forget out food stall there!

Future Cookery School Dates for your diary: BREADS: (Sat 4th July ’15) Chappaties and Naans are very common accompaniments for most curries, but we

make a large variety of breads like Theplas, Puris, Rotlas and Baturas, etc, that are not commonly known to most people. In this session you’ll make at least six different types of breads with Hansa which will form plain, spicy or sweet accompaniments to any meal.

RICE: (Sat 12th Sept ’15) Gujarati rice dishes are very popular. We start with the basic plain rice and

then develop the theme to cook six other rice dishes, each varied in taste, texture and fragrance. Some rice dishes can be an accompaniment to curries while others, such as Biryani can be a meal in itself.

MISTAAN-DESSERTS: (Sat 3rd Oct ’15) Gulab Jambus are very well known to most diners who like

Indian cuisine but we Gujaratis are famous for many different desserts like Shrikhand, Gharis, Boondis, etc, to name but a few. They are very tasty and quite easy to make. So be prepared for a feast of the sweet delights in this lesson.

PICKLES AND SUNDRIES: (SAT 7th NOV’15) Gujarati pickles provide the spicy bite to any Indian or

western meal. You’ll prepare a host of pickles for all occasions and tastes in this session, made with just a few ingredients and a lot of love. Perfect for planning your Christmas table or the hampers. COST - only £60 PER 3 HOUR SESSION OR £50 PER SESSION IF YOU BOOK 4 OR MORE LESS0NS Please do book early as places are limited.

SOME GREAT GIFT IDEAS FROM HANSA’S HANSA’S TWO COOKBOOKS – Signed copies of Hansa’s two cookbooks will make a long lasting present, that can be enjoyed forever. Hansa’s Indian Vegetarian Cookbook – was Nominated as Best Vegetarian Cookbook on the shelves by the Independent - only £14.95. Also our second cookbook,-‘Hansa’s, more than just a restaurant…It’s my life’- is also highly acclaimed by the food critics and the likes - at only £14.95 or hardback at only £19.95.

HANSA’S MASALA TIN - containing 13 different spices in a

beautiful stainless steel tin for the budding cook in your family. It is a perfect accompaniment to go with Hansa’s Cookbook - only £29.95

HANSA’S GIFT VOUCERS - Why not treat your loved ones to a

meal at Hansa’s? Our gift vouchers can be purchased in £10 and £20 denominations and can go towards the final bill, our products or the Cookery Sessions. We can even post it off for you, to make it a real surprise. Go on, make someone happy!

PARTY CHEF HANSA: Why not let Chef Hansa be the party chef

at your birthday, anniversary or any other special event. She will help design a menu, cook and serve it to up to eight guests at your premises. The cost is only £250 which will go towards Hansa’s favourite Charity ‘A one teacher schools projects in India and Nepal’ run by Saraswati Vidhiyalaya supported by 3R’s Education Trust UK. £250 will run one village school for a whole year! Let’s make a difference and give someone an opportunity in life. HANSA’S GUJARATI VEGETERIAN RESTAURANT, 72/74 North Street, Leeds LS2 7PN. Tel: 0113 2444408. www.hansasrestaurant.com