FAQ
For orders received before 3pm UK time Monday to Friday, we make every effort to ship in-stock items the same day*. Otherwise for orders received after 3pm on weekdays or on weekends or bank holidays, we ship in-stock items the next business day. For UK destinations, we use Royal Mail Tracked 48 service. Royal Mail's guideline which they hit the majority of the time is 2-3 working days for this service.
*Please Note: at peak times (e.g. orders placed during a promotion or just after the Christmas and New Year break, or Black Friday Cyber Monday Sales, etc) orders may take 2-3 days additional processing time by ourselves or Royal Mail.
Yes, each of our curry and tandoori spice blends are dispatched with a vintage-style recipe card. They include easy-to-follow methods which many of our customers praise in their reviews. Our Garam Masala spice blend does not ship with a recipe card as this is the finishing spice for many of our dishes.
We recommend either using a digital weighing scale which shows weight in less than 1g increments. OR using level measuring teaspoons. Both of these amounts are shown on our recipe cards. TIP: the inner shaker lid can be popped out for you to use your measuring spoon, it can then be refitted or discarded.
Each of our blends have a slightly different level of heat, but they are all around a medium. Mrs Balbir Singh believed that the true art of Indian cookery lies not in the high chilli-heat of a dish but the delicacy of the spicing. The result is dishes packed with flavour. We suggest, for those who enjoy more heat to add chopped green chillies with or without seeds to your taste. Otherwise just make sure to use LEVEL MEASURING teaspoons rather than heaped standard kitchen teaspoons (or a digital scale with less than 1g increments) - AND if you'd like to err on the side of caution you can reduce the amount of blend you use by upto 1/4 and you'll still end up with a very flavourful dish.
We don’t do a “Madras” blend as it’s not an authentic dish generally known, cooked, or ordered in India - another thing also not generally done in India is grading curries by heat levels. They all should have their own dish specific flavour profile - and you can make them hotter should you wish. Most people used to a “Madras” go for our Kashmiri Rogan Josh and add chopped green chillies to their heat preference - with or without the seeds.
We do, all the time. We use Royal Mail Tracked International shipping for that, and if you're in Europe that is free if your order is over £60. For the Rest of World including the USA it's a £75 minimum for free shipping. PLEASE NOTE: You may be liable for duty or other import charges from your national postal service. Please check with them directly if you are unsure.
In our recipes, for a cup you can use 220-240ml or the equivalent weight that fills that volume.
We can include a gift note in the box. Please make sure to fill in your gift message in the space provided at checkout, or email us in response to your order confirmation email.
All the spices we use are gluten free, dairy free and nut free.
HOWEVER: they are currently packed in a facility that also handles these wheat, dairy and nuts in a separate area from time to time.
Regarding our recipes and serving suggestions, please feel free to use your favourite alternative ingredients in our recipes where required.
Yes, all our spice blends themselves are both vegetarian and vegan friendly. You can use your favourite alternative ingredients in some of our recipes and serving suggestions where required.
No, we take a lot of pride in the fact that all our spice blends are all-natural and use no artificial anything. In fact, unlike many of the large manufacturers, we don’t even use any bulking agents like flours, starches and salt. What you get is nothing but the highest quality pure spices.
As with most spices and blends, we recommend storing them with their lid tightened and in a cool, dark and dry place.
We ship our spice blends with recipe cards to make each dish, and which show you exactly how much spice blend to use in level measuring teaspoons and also grams.
As a general rule of thumb, all our spice blend tins will allow you to make between a dish 3 times (5 times in the case of the Chana Masala, and 2 times in the case of the Vindaloo). And each dish will serve 4 as a single main course with rice or an Indian bread unless otherwise stated in the recipe.
Because these are food products, once opened all sales are final. But if your package arrives broken or damaged and you aren't completely satisfied, please email at info@mrsbalbirsingh.com and we will get right back to you and do our best to resolve the issue.
We include a Best Before date (rather than a specific Use By date) on the base of our tins for the optimum time to use them, and this will usually be over 6-9 months from the date of your purchase. Like most spices, they will still be fine after this date but may lose a little of their potency.
Yes we do. Please visit our Business Gifts page for further information or email us at info@mrsbalbirsingh.com with your enquiry.