Redwood City residents Karen and Rahul Singh are pioneering a cuisine as unlikely as their love story: Indian Filipino fusion.
Think paneer-stuffed lumpia served with butter chicken sauce for dipping, laing palak paneer, butter chicken palabok and even ube chai.
The married couple and business partners launched their catering company and weekend pop-up SpiceVow in May, combining flavors from Karen’s upbringing in the Philippines and Rahul’s childhood in India. The pair met in 2019 through their day jobs at Bon Appetit Management Company, where Rahul continues to work today as an executive chef and Karen as a supervisor.
The name SpiceVow pays homage to the oath they took to each other when they married – a marriage not initially supported by their respective families – as well as the blending of their cultures.
Karen grew up learning to cook from her mom in the Philippines, immigrating to the United States at 16 years old and taking a job at McDonald’s. Rahul found his passion for cooking while learning from his grandma in India and immigrated at 22 years old.
A mutual friend introduced the pair online, and their first time meeting in person was in a group setting at Dolores Park in San Francisco.
“First impression, for appearance, I didn’t like him,” Karen said with a laugh, recalling his beard was long and disheveled. “What got to me was his sense of humor and then how he treated me. He’s an amazing guy.”
Just six months after asking her to be his girlfriend, Rahul proposed on Valentine’s Day. Six months after that, the pair tied the knot at City Hall.
“Her heart is so open and so thoughtful about people,” Rahul said. “She puts others before her.”
But the couple’s journey together was far from smooth sailing, with pushback from both sides of the family. Rahul’s mom didn’t talk to him for six months after learning about his and Karen’s engagement, concerned that Karen already had two daughters and was Catholic instead of Hindu.
“I asked (Karen), ‘Are you willing to fight with this society?’” Rahul said. “And she said, ‘I don’t understand your language, but you will always see me behind you, supporting you. I’m not going to leave you alone.’ And that’s why I decided to fight with my family to have her.”
Over time, both sides of the family warmed up to their marriage.
“Now my mom, my own mom, loves Rahul more than me,” Karen joked. “And then Rahul’s parents love me more than Rahul.”
Similar to their love story, combining Indian and Filipino cuisine has its own struggles, Karen said. Filipino dishes are typically meat-based and non-spicy, whereas Indian food is often vegetarian and spicy, she explained. Some potential customers have also been hesitant to try foods they’re unfamiliar with.
“Some people are like, ‘How it’s gonna taste?’” Karen said. “How are you gonna know if you’re not gonna try?”
SpiceVow is currently a home-based business and is available for party trays, catering, live chaat stations for events and weekend pop-ups, which operate out of the Singh’s Redwood City home.
To order from its weekend pop-ups, customers can send a message to the SpiceVow Instagram account, where updated menus are posted each week. Find vegetarian options such as laing palak paneer (simmered taro leaves, spinach and paneer in a coconut sauce) or butter paneer served over palabok noodles and topped with shredded paneer, crispy garlic, fresh scallions and fried fryums (an Indian snack made of potato starch and tinted sago, $12.50). Its nonvegetarian counterparts are laing palak chicken and butter chicken palabok with chicharron and egg ($14).
For dessert, there’s chai flan as well as chai puto, a Filipino steamed rice cake infused with masala chai spices and topped with cheese ($6-$22 for six pieces). SpiceVow’s iced chai ube latte uses a homemade masala chai with cinnamon, clove, cardamom, bay leaves, ginger, black tea, milk and sugar ($5).
Orders can be picked up from the couple’s home or delivered to all Peninsula cities. Depending on the city and order size, there may be a delivery fee.
For live chaat stations, an interactive catering setup where Indian street food dishes are made to order, customers can pick three dishes between pani puri, papdi chaat, dahi puri, aloo tikki chaat and samosa chaat.
While it’s busy balancing full-time jobs, being parents and starting a business, Karen said their two daughters are extremely supportive of SpiceVow.
“Our kids are the ones who keep pushing us,” she said. “They’re our biggest supporters, I will say … They’re rare kids that we have.”
The Singhs hope to expand to a commercial kitchen and a food truck before growing the brand internationally in the next 10 years.
“We want more people to see what we can do,” Karen said. ”We want them to experience the two blended cultures. We’re both working hard with extra love, with every menu that we’re making.”
SpiceVow, 227 Madrone St., Redwood City; 650-219-3514, Instagram: @spicevow.
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