The Queen of soul food: A celebrity chef with a difference

Growing up in a Philadelphia ghetto in segregated 1950s America, Charita Jones always knew the value of food. The oldest of four children of a single mother, she was responsible for cooking for the family. But no one could have predicted how far soul food would take the restaurateur now known as Momma Cherri.

Half a century later, Jones's fame has crossed the Atlantic. After taking Brighton by storm, and with a little help from Gordon Ramsay, the queen of soul food is about to release her own cookery book and DVD. African-American cuisine, conceived in a distant and harsher age, has its own celebrity chef.

The food, it should be stressed, is not for those obsessed with dieting. Jones's signature dish is jambalaya, a rice dish that "uses up whatever's in your kitchen". First developed in New Orleans, it uses gumbo file, a green powder that comes from the American sassafras tree. It is usually made with chicken, but after some lengthy research, Momma Cherri came up with her own fish and vegetable varieties.

Another soul food staple is Southern fried chicken, which Jones says has been made famous for all the wrong reasons by KFC. "Fried chicken was one of the first things I learnt to cook", says Jones. "There is no mystery to its preparation or cooking at all."

When Gordon Ramsay visited her restaurant he helped Momma Cherri reinvent a true stalwart of Southern cooking: the sweet potato. The salad he created, which uses a soured cream dressing, has been christened Cousin Gordon's Sweet Potato Salad, and is included in her new cookery book.

Jones, who came to Britain as a gospel singer, had no professional catering experience. She set up Momma Cherri's Soul food Shack in Brighton in 2001 "on pure faith". She had fed 30 foster children over the years, and thought she'd try out her home-cooking on the public, opening a small premises near the sea front and the Palace Pier.

Momma Cherri's quickly became a popular weekend spot, but the business was a shambles. A staff of young people preferred to hang out at the restaurant rather than work, and Jones was in so much debt that her prices had rocketed. The advertising budget was spent largely on ailing publications Jones took pity on. Urgent help was required.

Jones tried everything to get PR for the restaurant. She even applied to the Channel 4 series Wife Swap, thinking she could use it to plug her business, but when she was turned down she began to consider closing.

"I come from a theatrical background, so I know how to perform a show, but not necessarily a business show," Jones explains. "After two years it started to fall apart and I was ready to close the business."

So when she got a letter from Gordon Ramsay's production company saying they were looking for struggling restaurants to turn around, Jones was quick to respond. "I begged him to come, but when he tasted my food he couldn't see what the problem was. It was only when he saw how the finances were going that he realised we needed help."

Ramsay made sure the staff worked for their money, and the restaurant became one of the success stories of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares in 2004.

As a result, Brighton has become host to a restaurant phenomenon that celebrates the culinary legacy of the pre-civil rights era. Soul food comes from the home-cooking of African slaves. The best-known dishes are BBQ ribs, Jambalaya and fried chicken, but typical ingredients include black-eyed peas and sweet potato. The motto of her restaurant, "you might come in skinny but you aint goin' out that way", reveals the real ethos of soul food. Jones explains: "Soul food is about using what you have and not wasting a thing. If you cook a vegetable then you'll use the root, the stem and the leaves."

In a time when healthy eating has become an obsession, some have been sceptical of Jones's hearty meals. But Momma Cherri does not go in for faddy cuisine and small portions - for her, food should be about filling people up: "You won't find any drizzle on my food. You need to see it, and it should stick to your ribs."

The fill-you-up philosophy is hardly surprising. Her childhood was marked by poverty and hardship. She was beaten daily and finding enough clothes and food was a constant struggle. Even now she hates buying new things. "I don't know how to buy anything, and I still go to charity shops for my clothes."

Jones remained defiant in the strictly segregated society of the 1950s. Ignoring rules that forbade her from drinking from "whites only" fountains. She was furious when her family decided she was too young to join them on the march for civil rights in Washington.

Unlike many of her peers however, Jones managed to go through college, and it was as a gospel singer that she first came to the UK, aged 23.

The stage career began somewhat inauspiciously. Jones worked as a stage manager with a West End gospel musical called Little Willie Junior's Resurrection. The show dealt with be the history of gospel music, but no one considered how the title would be received in Britain: "Everyone thought it was a sex show. We used to get men leaving half way through who had thought they were going to get porn." The show was not a hit, but Jones decided to stay on in the country with her British husband, Phil.

For a while she carried on performing, working as a backing singer for soul artists, including the Alabama Three and Peter Green. But the next two decades were taken up by children; first her own two daughters, and then a succession of 30 foster children. Jones began fostering because she wanted to show children that "even if you don't start with much you can still go places if you work hard enough".

Momma Cherri's has profited from the same philosophy.

The restaurant could not be further from closure and the forthcoming cookery book, called Momma Cherri's Soul In a Bowl Cookbook, is the final sign that Charita Jones has made it. She is making no attempt to play it cool: "I did it myself from scratch, and I'm really proud of it.

"They tried to get me to have a food stylist" she laughs, "but I didn't want it to be perfect, I wanted it to be real." So the soul food disciple went to London for a week to be photographed cooking every single recipe herself.

The DVD is coming out with her seven favourite recipes, all filmed in one take.

The fame is welcome, but Jones describes herself as "the country's poorest celebrity". So far the proceeds from her television appearances have gone straight back into the restaurant. Last year the business expanded to include a second Brighton venue, Momma's Big House, but money is still tight.

Once the book and DVD come out all that may change. But being on the brink of financial success seems unlikely to turn her head. "It's not about possessions", says Jones, "I want to be able to do what my mother wasn't able to do for us, and leave something behind for my children and grandchildren".

The book launch will be held at the October Gallery in Bloomsbury tomorrow. It is likely to be a somewhat unusual literary occasion. "I don't know much about book launches," chuckles Jones, "but this is going to be a real party. I want friends, soul music and lots and lots and lots of food."

Soul European Jambalaya

This has become my, as they say, signature dish. Jambalaya is a rice dish, which was first served in New Orleans. You can find similar dishes all over the world. Believe it or not, I never made or even ate jambalaya until I decided to open the restaurant in Brighton. Then I did a lot of research into different ways of preparing it and came up with my own Soul European version.

For 6-8

4 chicken breasts (I prefer them skinned, but you could leave the skin on if you like)

juice of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons Cajun seasoning

3 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil

2 onions, 1 roughly chopped, 1 thinly sliced

1 red, 1 green and 1 yellow pepper, half of each diced and the other half cut into strips

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon cumin seeds (optional, but it adds a nice touch if you have them)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 chorizo sausages, skinned and sliced

1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes

1 chilli, preferably Scotch bonnet, finely chopped or left whole

400g easy-cook American-style rice

1 tablespoon turmeric

450g mixed vegetables, e.g 1 carrot, diced, 1 courgette, diced, a handful of peas, a handful of green beans and a few broccoli and cauliflower florets (or you could use a small bag of frozen mixed vegetables)

1 teaspoon gumbo filé (if you have it)

1 litre water or chicken stock

500g peeled raw king prawns or crayfish

a handful of mushrooms, sliced

First of all, you need to prepare the chicken. I marinate it, then stir-fry it separately and add it at the end. Cut the chicken breasts into thin strips. Sprinkle over the lemon juice, then the Cajun seasoning, and set aside to marinate.

Place a large saucepan over a medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of the oil, followed by the chopped onion, diced peppers and crushed garlic. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the Cajun seasoning and half the cumin, salt and pepper, then add the chorizo. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the onion and peppers are softened and the chorizo begins to release some juices. The spices will begin to give off their fragrance and coat the pan. Now stir in the dried chilli flakes and chopped fresh chilli. If you are worried about the heat, a useful tip is to leave the chilli whole and add it to the dish with the water or stock, removing it after 10 minutes. The heat will be kept at a minimum.

Add the rice and stir well, then add the turmeric and the remaining half of the seasoning spices. Stir everything together until the rice is fully coated, then add the mixed vegetables and the water or chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and add the gumbo filé, if using. Simmer, uncovered, over a low heat for 20 minutes. When the rice has swollen and is almost cooked, add the prawns or crayfish and simmer for a further 10 minutes Adjust the seasoning according to taste.

Now for the final ingredient, the stir-fried chicken. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan, add the chicken and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the sliced onion, peppers and mushrooms and stir-fry for 3 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Place on top of the jambalaya and serve immediately.