Rice N Spice: Jasper family set to bring Indian cuisine to area

Amandeep Basra and his wife, Gagan Kaur, plan to open Rice N Spice Punjabi Cuisine at 314 Newton Street in Jasper on May 1.

The new restaurant will feature recipes from the Punjab region of India, where Amandeep is originally from. Though a regional specialty, these dishes are widely popular across India and the United States.

“The foods India is famous for originated in Punjabi,” Amandeep said. “Chicken curry masala, butter chicken, pani masala, all from Punjab.”

Before the turn of the century, Amandeep worked for many years with his father in the family restaurant. There, he grew to appreciate the power of good food to bring people together and learned to love cooking.

However, with the civil unrest in the region, his father was forced to close the restaurant. Eventually, Amandeep and his family emigrated to Seattle before moving to Indiana.

They have appreciated the area’s safety and welcome since moving to Jasper more than ten years ago. The close-knit nature of the area reminds him of his native country.

Amandeep and Gagan have two children, Angie, who is attending IU and Harshan, a sophomore at Jasper High School (“He’s like six foot four inches,” Amandeep said, holding his hand about eight inches above his own head.).

With his love for cooking, Amandeep has wanted to open a restaurant for many years. Now, he is ready to bring his Punjabi recipes–with a Hoosier twist–to the area he and his family have grown to love.

“This is my dream,” he explained, adding that he felt fortunate to be able to make it a reality in Jasper.

Rice N Spice will offer lunch and dinner dine-in or carry-out, featuring a small menu featuring Amandeep’s special recipes. Items on the menu include butter chicken with basmati rice, capsicum chicken, egg fried rice, fish fried rice, fish curry and naan.

“We will have eight or nine items with rice featuring chicken, fish and curry,” he explained.

When he opens, he plans to keep the menu focused on the best representation of Punjabi foods and will add other regional recipes in the future.

Amandeep is looking forward to introducing the area to his food.

“I love to cook,” he laughed. “My wife, she never cooks. I cook.”

He finds the beauty of cooking comes from the love put into the food served. “It brings people close together,” Amandeep said.

The new restaurant is still developing its website and social media pages. We will update the story when they are available.

Editor’s note: We misidentified the region as Punjabi, which is the language. We have corrected our error.