"Classic Indian street food" in aid of Jaisalmer school

28-year-old Tanya Gohil, launched her food stall, Devi's, at Maltby Street market in Bermindsey, where she sells “classic Indian street food with a contemporary British twist”. The profits will be used to help fund a school in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.

Tanya Gohil hopes to raise £20,000 which will help her to purchase land in Jaisalmer, on which the school will be built. She said, “It's a very tribal area. They say: 'why do girls need to go to school? They'll become homemakers'. It's about respecting the values of those cultures but changing the mentality. Education will mean fewer child marriages, girls will give birth at an older age. There's a host of benefits.”

Her food at the stall has proven to be extremely popular with customers at Malty Street. Tanya Gohil said, “I'm selling out every weekend, which is not something I expected. I've also been approached to do pop-ups in pubs around south London- I can't keep up. There's only one of me!”

Gohil was born and brought up in the UK. She grew up in a big house in Buckinghamshire with 18 family members under one roof.

She has visited India twice. She spent three months there recently travelling and road-testing recipes.

Gohil considers herself to be “a home cook” as she has not acquired any formal training. She said, “I have no training whatsoever. It's just being surrounded by my family, watching what they do. In Indian culture, women are encouraged to cook, because who will want to marry you if you can't?”