THE KITCHEN FROM which Nyle Kanda runs his small-time Indian ...

The kitchen from which Nyle Kanda runs his small-time Indian food operation bears a striking resemblance to a page in a Williams-Sonoma catalogue?everything, the gingham valance, the walls, the toaster and blender, is a shade of daffodil yellow, and there is not a trace of cooking in sight.

Perpetuating the tidy image, Kanda takes out a tin of his most commonly used spices, which, like all of his ingredients, are neatly stored out of view. He pulls off the lid, revealing five smaller tins, each displaying a spice that makes up the mixture, garam masala?cloves, black and green cardamon, bay leaf, whole black pepper, cinnamon?that is essential to Indian cooking.

The presentation of these ingredients could have been staged for an overhead camera shot, the kitchen, for a cooking show, and the cook, a charismatic 32-year-old from England with light eyes and a soul patch, who on this particular day wears a trendy black Indian-style shirt with copper embroidery, for the screen.

Kanda thought to sell home-cooked Indian meals as a way of earning money when he was laid off from his job two years ago and found that he was cooking all the time anyway. "When I was growing up I was always in the kitchen, cutting onions, stirring my mum's dishes," says Kanda, who offers such food in five-day portions to those who have no intention of spending hours on preparation?chopping onions, marinating meats, preparing sauces?or of assembling the expansive spice collection required to cook it.

"You can't snap up an Indian meal," says Kanda, who goes to irrational lengths to achieve a level of quality that, in his line of work, is not necessarily expected. "I try to use everything fresh and cook it on the day." From his Fort Tryon kitchen, Kanda travels as far as Chelsea Market, Jackson Heights and Chinatown to get the ingredients he needs. "It's a pride thing with me," says Kanda. "If [a meal] isn't right, if I spent $3 or $30 on it, it'll go in the bin."

Kanda's dream is to bring home-cooking to a new level. Eventually, he would like to cater exclusive house parties, for which he would provide full plate service, cutlery, everything.

"I hate it when you go to house parties and they pass out plastic plates and spoons," says Kanda, who embodies the respective perfectionism and domestic hip of Martha Stewart and Nigella Lawson. "You can't beat eating any meal, whether it's fish and chips or a five course meal, on nice plates and nice cutlery."

For now, most of his business comes from the weekly meal preparations. Kanda creates menus based on clients' preferences, which range from the boring (like yellow dal, a lentil stew that he refers to as a "poor man's dish") to the inaccessible (if asked, Kanda will prepare karela, bitter gourd, a vegetable that he says is rarely seen on Indian restaurant menus in the U.S.). A vegetarian meal plan for two people, which includes vegetable, lentil, rice dishes and roti costs $75, while a non-vegetarian plan?substituting chicken biryani for vegetables?is priced at $115 for two.

Although his food is wildly affordable (and under the radar), Kanda still strives to compete with the best. "It is better than restaurant food, isn't it?" he asks. "It's got to be if you're cooking for 14 people instead of cooking for 60."