Cook in a Curry

Eating Rogan Josh as a 9yr old in a typical Kashmiri household with Indian bread on the side to scoop out the thick gravy has been one of my fondest food memories. The host for the meal (Mr Mamoon was the manager of the hotel we stayed at) invited my parent over to sample a traditional kashmiri meal at his family home in Pahalgam. ‘Zafrani Rogan Josh’ – as I happily tucked into it; little did I realise that even today the flavours would linger on my taste buds.

It’s a dish I know most people living in India & UK absolutely love and one I can assure you gets ordered time and time again in your local Indian. But I think after sampling various different versions of it, it’s fair to say nothing comes close to what I ate in Kashmir. But then again I wouldn’t expect it to, some food memories are better left untouched for it’s those that you remember dearly.

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I recently mentioned on my radio slot at BBC Newcastle and also tweeted about it on Twitter that I recently acquired a beautiful age old cookbook. Which I’m chuffed to bits about. It’s the perfect hand me down; one that I’m not just honoured to acquire but excited to continue cooking from. Recipes from four generations of various families in the 50’s and 60’s in India – from an era that has a mystery and fascination for me which is hard to explain. It’s a phase that reminds me dearly of my grandmother someone I wish I was able to spend more time with. The recipes in this cookbook vary from region to region so there is a lot to choose from. Parsi recipes in my mind are a part of a community which has had strong influences on me. To cook up meals with enthusiasm, sharing and revelling in the experience (of eating too!) is very much part of the culture.

Visiting Parsi family & friends when we were younger was always a treat and not just because they are so friendly and welcoming but the food was hearty, delicious and the flavours were just so unique that it encompassed the perfect meal you’d ever wish for. Every dish in the Parsee repertoire is unique and has its own individual flavours. Some of my favourite parsi dishes are; Salli Boti a meat based dish that cooked in spices and topped with slivers of fried crispy potato, also the quintessential Dhansak a lentil & meat based dish cooked with vegetables and served with a brown dhansak rice, it’s absolutely delicious and a must try if you ever visit a parsi home or a local restaurant.

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When the team at Olive Magazine got in touch a few months ago to say they absolutely loved my recipes and were to feature it in the August issue, I could not have been more chuffed to see the photos. They look fab!

Make sure to pick up the August issue and take a peak but more importantly try out the dishes. I love that India food has such versatile grub on offer and my recipes relflect just that. Patra ni Machi which is a Parsi dish and stuffed chillies with influences from the Gujarati community. Patra ni machi is one of my favorites and one that I have grown up eating in India at special occasions, weddings and dinner parties. I relished it and even today cook it for family and friends. The stuffed chillies are a perfect accompaniment to any main course dish. Delectable, fresh and keeps you coming back for more.

Fresh breads and biscuits in India is widely available everywhere. Bakeries have been around for a good few years in the country where influences stemmed from the British Raj, Portuguese and Iranian immigrants in the 1950’s and 60’s that brought in ideas and recipes starting out small shops that stand till this date. Most bakeries I have visited with my family make all the goodies fresh and are usually sold out by the end of the day. There are a host of biscuits available in these bakeries and some varieties are so popular that in spite of making 200-400 kilograms of them daily; they are sold out by 3pm!

Visiting a busy bakery is as much fun as it is hectic. My mother and I would get there early in the morning so we could get a fresh batch of warm white bread. Though we were always prepared to queue for at least half an hour because it was just so worth it. Freshly baked sour dough, biscuits and even Madeira cake were all made on the day and sold within no time. Coming back home all stocked up on the goods it was time for a cup of tea and warm crusty bread smeared with softened Amul butter – a local Indian butter which has a distinct taste and is a must try for anyone visiting. Even today there is nothing like warm buttered bread and hot cuppa. Or what I enjoy first thing most mornings; dunking freshly baked biscuits in a warm cup of tea.

I have to say my all time favourite biscuits from Indian bakeries have to be the famous ‘Naankhatai’ biscuits. They are moreish, not too sweet and very very comforting any time of the day. One of the reasons these biscuits are quite famous in India is they are eggless and appeals to vegetarians in the country (a large population in India) as a snack option. Also most cities have small bakeries where these are freshly baked but with the dearth of superstores opening naankhatais are also available pre packed and ready to sell with longer shelf life.

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Most foods we all eat evoke a memory and a lot of Indians would tell you how staple something like rice is has been for generations. Boiled, steamed, pulao, biryanis, breads and even desserts made with rice all very very synonymous with Indian food. It reminds me of days with my parents; when on weekends we would have friends over and my mother would cook up a scrumptious meal with a few curries but the main star of the meal would be a biryani. Everyone loved it for the flavour & taste but using ‘Basmati’ rice never went unnoticed. Yes that’s something I mentioned to everyone last week too; in the 70’s & 80’s in India using top grade rice was the done thing when we had guests. Though now a day’s it is used commonly for everyday cooking as well. But one thing that remains a constant with basmati is the quality and that for generations it has always been the superior grain to any other. Tilda is the Basmati brand in those terms is a brand that I use not just as a chef but also regularly at home for meals and while entertaining guests too.

Last week thanks to Wild Card PR I was invited to the launch of the new range of Tilda Stir Fry launch with Jo Pratt.

The venue was Food at 52 in London, an amazing homely cooking school based in a Georgian house in the heart of Clerkenwell. I think one of the main things about food at 52 is most definitely the interiors with dark wood furniture with moroccan themed lamps, mirrors and book shelves.

Camilla was our host from the Tilda group who gave us additional information on the new range of products, which led to Jo conducting a group demo using the range. Also a chance to cook up a meal using the varieties of rice and sampling each dish. From Thai green and red rice, Kung po rice and Peking rice. The idea is that though the rice is flavoured and packed it’s easy to put together a meal (even with leftovers!) on a week night by just adding additional ingredients to the rice. The flavour in the rice isn’t too strong which is what I thought worked well as it helped the meat, prawns and vegetable added to the dish blend well.

Like with any cooking; it is a fluid medium and using this Tilda range makes it easy and hassle free. It’s all about experimenting & trying out flavours. Adding your choice of meat, sauces and vegetable to it brings out the best flavour. But at least you can guarantee that the rice will offer that extra something to the dish itself. This is most definitely the perfect store cupboard essential and one that’s well worth stocking up on.

Waking up first thing in the morning & if the first thought in your mind is about eating something hearty; my choice would most certainly have been spot on. I cooked this yesterday. The perfect late Sunday morning brunch. I love baked eggs but adding chorizo and chilli flakes gave it that extra something. We sat in the garden and mopped up the dish accompanied with cursty bread and corn on the cob. Was like sunshine on a plate!

I have been meaning to get another perspective on Indian cooking for a while now but more importantly feature the same on my blog. And to be honest I couldn’t be more delighted to have Kavey write a guest post for Cook in a Curry. Her blog Kavey Eats has everything you’d want to know about events, restuarants/book reviews, cooking classes and recipes. Make sure to check her blog for my recipe of Green Coconut Prawn Curry. Hope you enjoy her post below & the recipe. Give it a go; its absolutely delicious!

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Cooking Paneer Malai with Kavey

You know how people sometimes talk about second generation immigrants as slightly lost souls – neither entirely comfortable in the land from whence their parents came nor completely integrated into the land of their birth?

Well, that’s not me.

I was born in London in the early seventies to two doctors who emigrated from India a few years before I was born. My sister came along 3 years (and five minutes) later. Throughout our childhood, we were brought up to have a strong connection to our relatives in India – indeed we visited them every few years, which we loved. But we were also brought up as British kids, free to take onboard our local culture, without the stricter cultural and behavioural strictures that many other second generation children were, in my admittedly subjective opinion, shackled with.

That applied to food too – mum regularly cooked Indian food but she also taught herself Italian, French, Chinese and, of course, British dishes from cookery books and by trial and error. We probably had Indian food once or twice a week, if that. And we travelled a lot too, in our holidays, to wonderfully exotic places and mum would often bring home a recipe or two such as peanut soup from South America, something she still makes today.

What all this boils down to is that, whilst we’d often help mum in the kitchen, we never really learned to cook Indian food in any meaningful way –  we didn’t pick up the techniques, the instinctive use of spices and wide repertoire of dishes that we might have resulted from a more traditional upbringing.

(Of course, I think my parents got it absolutely right – I feel a pride in my extra cultural heritage, I am very happy in my brown skin, I will always cherish my links with India. But I am first and foremost British).

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Being on the winners list for the North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year awards some years ago was an honour and one of my career highlights so far that I am really proud of.

Women into the Network host a yearly event to launch the awards, inviting applicants from across the board to apply for the respective categories, talking you through the entry process and how applying, winning and being a part of the awards can facilitate your work and business. It is also a good oppurtunity to meet other businesses and make more contacts.

I have been invited this year as one of the guest speakers and am looking forward to catching up with the WIN team. I am excited to offer an insight into my line of work and also any advice that applicants would be looking for.

25th June between 12-2pm at the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead, NE8 2AR

See you there!

10 months on and I’m loving it even more! Welcome to the new avatar of Cook in Curry. For the last couple of months, I have been looking forward and been super excited to make the changes and put it out there for you to read, try the recipes and share my joy of cooking. I hope you continue to stay with me through this journey of delectable food one dish at a time.

End of last year I wanted a medium where I could put my thoughts, ideas, recipes and share memories from childhood. Cook in a Curry took shape. I cooked, ate, prepped, wrote and cooked some more all from my kitchen which I still do and can’t think of a more satisfying experience or platform than to put together every dish step by step. Revelling in every outcome (the good and the not so good too!). When the idea of moving onto new software came up a few months ago, it also gave me some time to redo a few features on the blog and like me it will continue to evolve. I’m sure there will always be things that I will look to add and take away. All the recipes from the start are still there and I can’t wait to get things going again with lots more recipes, ideas, updates and regional Indian food.

To mark the new Cook in a Curry I wanted to do a post which reflected part of my all time favourite foods & desserts.  Meat Masala is something that I make very often. Its a recipe I acquired from my mother and the best part is that apart from turmeric there aren’t any other spiced powders used. For the flavour and heat whole spices are ground down to a fine powder. I am a carnivore through and through. As a young girl though we ate our fair share of vegetarian food on offer, meat & fish were always a staple in my household. It’s almost like I felt this emptiness if I missed my intake of meat for the day. That also had a lot to do with the quality of mutton (goat meat) in India which is absolutely fab. I would highly recommend trying out mutton and is available in the UK too.

In keeping with common usage I have used boneless leg of lamb but if you prefer keeping the meat on the bone; shoulder of lamb would be ideal because it is interlaced with layers of fat keeping the meat moist while cooking. Marinated and cooked in all its juices; the meat is succulent and tastes even better the following day. Served with chapattis and some kachumbar raita to accompany. I honestly can’t think of a better combination than having soft Indian bread to go with a spiced dry lamb dish.

I did mention desserts! Merely for my love of sweets in all forms. I have actually made this at home a few times and it’s turned out so well I thought it would be worth sharing on the blog for you to try out. Kulfi or Indian Ice cream. Go on give them both a go!

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Indians have an affinity with milk based sweets richly flavoured with pistachios or even almonds. And I’m no exception. Kulfi comes in different flavours but I think my childhood memory has to be yearning for the ‘pista kulfi’ sold by street vendors or locally known as our local ‘kulfiwallah’. They are stored in earthen pots or moulds to provide the insulation in the hot summer months.

I remember making this last summer for a friends barbecue and we served it with some poached pears. Worked a treat! Some recipes might call for using green essence to give it the colour. If you coarsely grind a few pistachios mixing it in with the milk, it lends a really pretty green hue and also a delicious flavour to the overall dish. I know you might think it takes a long time to make but rest assured the results are to die for plus it stores very well. Though in my household it doesn’t last too long!

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