Big interest in Wee Woolies

Published on Wednesday 1 July 2009 21:59

MORE than 200 people have applied for the 28 jobs created by a new store being launched by former managers and staff of Woolworths in Stornoway.

The WeeW store is due to open next month following the closure of Woolworths last year.

The Stornoway team have had advice and help from the owners of Wellworths, in Dorchester, Dorset, which was also launched by a group of former Woolworths staff.

Terry Ovenstone, one of five people running the Stornoway store, said: "Woolworths was an institution in Stornoway and the economic and social impact of its closure is still being felt."

BALTI ORIGINS

A BALTI can be made with chicken, beef or lamb and is cooked in a similar way to any other curry, but with more herbs, onions and aromatic spice: for the last ten minutes, the contents are cooked at high temperatures in a flat-bottomed wok called a balti.

The origin of the word is to do with the Urdu and Hindi word "balty", which means "bucket". The families who took the dish to Birmingham were from the Potohar area of Pakistani Kashmir, and specifically the city of Mirpur. The dish is also influenced by Chinese cuisine.