Indian Banquet - 8th October 2011

Post date: 05-Sep-2011 10:01:04

Malaysians have the unique distinction of growing up with 5 cuisines. Malay, Chinese, Indian, and a bit of English and Portugese in the bargain. Thus I grew up eating curries. In fact, despite being Chinese, my family actually has its own curry powder recipe, and my grandmother used to take kilos and kilos of spices to the miller, and bring back the resulting curry powder in every available container, redistributing it through the branches of the family. Thus my "family" curry powder is in my cupboard in an ex-coffee jar.

Because I love them, I've tried an awful lot of curry recipes over the years. There are many mediocre ones out there - but there are also some truly fabulous ones that you will never get down Brick Lane. Delicately spiced and not greasy, they bear no resemblance to the usual curry house fare. I once (unbeknownst to me, luckily, or I would have been nervous), cooked these for an Editor of the Square Meal guide - her full review is here but a quote from it is: "I have been a restaurant critic for years, and the dinner we were served was good enough to rival all but the best restaurants of that genre". Some of these recipes came from family, some from gross bribery of hotel staff in India, some from cook book experimentation, and some from a Gujerati friend's mum.

So - please trust me - this is not your standard Indian restaurant fare!

On the menu will be:

2 traditional vegetarian Gujarati snacks - Handvo and Dhokla - served with Pomegranate Raita

Fish Molee - a curry my mother cooked for me as a child (I thought it was a fish called Molly), but which I subsequently discovered is a genuine Keralan curry; how it came into my family I've no idea.

Dal Rajwali (a recipe I got from a real palace in Rajasthan)

Black Pepper Chicken

Pineapple Curry with Fresh Coconut

Himalayan Lamb Curry made with yoghurt

Moong Dal - a delicious Gujarati recipe made with mung beans

Cauliflower in Mustard Seeds

home made chapatis

Indian Rice pudding - made with coconut milk and other delicious things

Cost will be £40 of which £35 goes direct to MSF

Please e-mail us with bookings on parkholmesupperclub@hotmail.co.uk