An Indian meal to stay home for:

This post is not a rant about the state of curry restaurants in this Country. I will not mention how many times I have tried the same meal at different curry houses to find out that they all taste the same. And I refuse to enter into a debate about which city has the best curry. Instead - I'll just tell you how I make my curry at home - where it's worth the work, fresher than ever, and better than any curry I've ever eaten out.

With the knowledge of Madhur Jaffrey, the support of Jamie Oliver and the tuition of Padmaja I managed to knock up a pretty good meal. It's just amazing how fresh ingredients that are full of flavour can manage to turn a dish around.

This is how I did it:

Onion Bonjis

I don't call them bhajis, because, although they are bhajis as I (an uneducated Westerner) know it, bhajis are really more like Indian-style tempura vegetables. These onion cakes do have a proper Indian name but I can't for the life of me remember what the name is. So we've named them Bonjis!

4 onions, sliced
3/4 cup white flour
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
Sunflower oil for frying

This part can be done in advance:

Place the onions in a large bowl and measure all of the dry ingredients over them. Mix through with your hands and while doing so squeeze the onions so that they release their juices. The onion juice will combine with the flour to form a sticky batter around the onion slices. Heat the oil in a frying until sizzling. Drop handful sizes of batter into the oil to make small cakes. Fry on each side for about 5 minutes. Once complete remove to a paper towel or metal rack to drain.

Before serving:

Reheat the oil to sizzling. Re fry the cakes until golden brown and heated through - about 2 minutes each side. Leave to drain for another 2 minutes but then serve immediately with raita.

Easy Raita

1/2 cup natural yoghurt
Handful of chopped coriander
Juice of half a lime

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate until ready to use.

Chicken Curry
inspired by Madhur Jaffrey's Chicken Tikka Masala and Jamie Oliver's fragrant rub

Sunflower oil
5 or so cardamom pods
Half a cinnamon stick (about 5 cm)
2 onions, finely chopped
1 knob of finely grated ginger
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 teaspoons of Fragrant Rub
4 tablespoons natural yoghurt
3 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 red chili pepper, finely chopped (to taste)
500 grams well looked after chicken, cubed
150ml water
Handful of coriander, finely chopped

Brown of the chicken in some sunflower oil. Remove from heat and set aside. Heat some oil in a fry pan until sizzling and very hot. Add the cardamom pods and cinnamon stick. Stir quickly then add the onions. Continue stirring until the onions begin to brown slightly. Add the ginger and garlic and stir for one minute. Mix the fragrant rub through. Next, stir through the yoghurt, a tablespoon at a time, until it is absorbed by the spices. Add the tomato, tomato puree and chili pepper and cook for a good minute or so while still stirring. Pour in the water, bring to a simmer and cover. Simmer gently with the heat on low for ten minutes. Season to taste. Return the heat to high and stir the chicken through coating with the sauce. When ready to serve, stir through the chopped coriander.

Fragrant Rub

1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 teaspoons fenugreek seeds
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
1 clove
1/2 cinnamon stick
2 cardmom pods
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Toast all of the ingredients in a dry pack on a medium heat until fragrant. Tip into a food processor and ground until fine.

Sag Aloo or Cumin Potatoes with Spinach

450g unpeeled potatoes
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 knob of ginger, finely grated
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander
1 handful of baby spinach leaves
Black pepper to taste

Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender, then drain and leave to cool. Peel and cut them into 2 cm cubes. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. When it is very hot fry off the cumin seeds for 10 seconds. Add in the potatoes, ginger salt, cumin, cayenne and pepper. Stir fry the potatoes for 10 minutes, roughing them up slightly to create crispy edges. At the very end, stir through the spinach leaves and coriander and serve immediately.

Cardamom Rice

Dan is a guru with rice. This is his rice. When it comes to rice, he looks after it every time.

250ml basmati rice
500ml water
5 cardamom pods to taste
Handful of coriander, coarsely chopped

Boil the water. When on a rolling boil, add the rice, bring it back to the boil, stir once then cover. Lower heat to medium-low, then leave for 12 minutes without removing lid. Remove from heat and leave to sit for another 12 minutes, again, without removing the lid. When ready to serve, take out the cardamom pods and split to remove the seeds. Stir the seeds through the rice while fluffing it up with a fork. Stir through the coriander and serve immediately! Enjoy!