Soul Spice was conceived when Radisson found the need for a new approach to Indian cuisine that was innovative with the right use of spices and light keeping in touch with today's needs. Says Anand, ``All the dishes on the menu are prepared lean with little or no oil. The trick being roasting the spices before hand and using them in the preparation instead of frying the spices. Also, I have substituted ingredients like onions which are used in some dishes to give bulk with coconut milk or hung curd.'' Some dishes like shammi kababs which are usually deep fried aredone on a tawa instead.

Anand has carefully formulated masalas that use authentic spices and have that unique Anand touch.``Many of the brands in the market use powdered dal to add volume to the masala and bring the price down,'' she says. Anand's brand of masalas, Karen, were launched a month ago in Mumbai and are also available in Delhi now. The prices of the Karen line are obviously higher than those in the market but Anand argues that she uses `authentic' formulas and because of their purity just a dash of masala would suffice where you would normally require a teaspoon-full. Also, all her masalas are pre-roasted and can be added at any stage of the cooking.

``Take the Kholapuri masala, for example, we have used four different kinds of chillies including one special variety from Belgaum,'' she says. Anand plans her menu in such a manner that each dish has a special aroma and some of them have a zing-Anand's special masala.