Things are hotting up for one Sussex food company after they secured a £500,000 deal to supply their range of curries to Waitrose.

Started five years ago by friends Maria Hellyer, 51, and Patricia Forbes, 54, Pulborough- based firm The British Curry Company will stock the supermarket chain with its luxury sauces called Bombay Authentics.

Inspired by recipes discovered in an old family exercise book by Pakistani-born Patricia, the two mothers started selling the sauces at school fetes.

They are now on sale nationwide at 187 Waitrose stores.

Patricia was born into an Anglo-Indian family in Karachi.

Her father's family were of Irish and Dutch-Jewish origin while her mother's family were Spanish-Indian.

It was this mix of culture and heritage that inspired the dishes.

Patricia, a qualified chef, said: "I originally found the recipes in a little exercise book that belonged to my granny.

"She had written down the recipes that her own mother had cooked.

"The book turned up in her belongings and I brought it to England with me when I moved here in the Seventies.

"Anglo-Indians were creating fusion' food long before the Californians.

"Our families had to cater for a range of tastes. My mother would add Indian spices to traditional British dishes such as shepherd's pie.

"When I moved over to England I was doing all this mad Anglo-Indian cooking which my husband loved but it never occurred to me that other English or European people would like them."

All that changed when she used to cook meals for former saleswoman Maria who, after living in Hong Kong for 19 years, had grown tired of "bland"

British food on her return.

She said: "One of the first shows we did was a two-day Christmas fair at a local public school.

"We sold out completely in about two hours.

"We knew the products would appeal to other busy mums like us, who want something quick and easy to cook with a homemade feel.

"So we started developing curry sauces that you can just throw some diced chicken, fish or vegetables into.

"Patricia always cooked for myself and my husband, and we always joked we should bottle it up and sell it. We all used to sit around the table daydreaming."

When Maria was made redundant from her sales job in food, the pair decided to go into business and have never looked back.

The two entrepreneurs used Government consultancy Food From Britain, which helps companies export their goods and found success in America and Dubai.

They approached Waitrose and during a meeting Patricia cooked a curry for buyer Damian Keep, who jumped at the chance to stock their sauces.

Mr Keep said: "The British Curry Company is exactly the kind of small company we like working with at Waitrose, as we are both committed to growing the brand together."

The range of six sauces, three chutneys and curry paste are all on sale at £1.99 each and supermarket bosses are hoping for sales worth £500,000 in the first year - a far cry from the village fair.