east meets west

I am actually living proof of east meets west, having an Indian (by way of Cape Town) father and an English mother. People are often surprised when they find this out, and I'm more usually asked if I'm Greek/Spanish/Portuguese/Armenian (?!) delete as appropriate... Well no, I'm not and ethnic blood flows through (half) my veins thankyou please. Not that you would necessarily know it, having had a thoroughly English upbringing save the two years I learnt how to Indian dance and the odd trip over to South Africa to see my grandmother who would alternately scare us / feed us up with buttery, spicy tiki puri before waving goodbye for another few years. However there are a few things I do pride myself on, and one is being able to appreciate a properly made curry. I could never, ever buy one of those supermarket ready made Indian meals or curry pastes/sauces. The idea of it is completely abhorrent to me. When I order Indian takeaways (usually against my will) I pick the blandest thing on the menu, usually a butter chicken, precisely because it's the least likely to be fucked up and I can chow it down without feeling like it's an insult. Good Indian restaurants are the exception to the rule, but even they are hard to find in London amongst the tangle of crappy Brick Lane eateries - would you like your food dunked in bright red sauce 1, bright yellow sauce 2, or brown sauce 3, Sir? - and overpriced, overprepped fusion dens. All you really want is a decent cuzza, with a nice side and a bready thing. Done well. In general I would rather not eat curry at all in it's Western formula if it can't be cooked at home from scratch which is a lot easier than most people think.

Ok I'm a curry snob. Dad wasn't always whipping up Indian delicacies in the homestead, he's a great cook but he generally prefers more European cuisine. If I'd had an Indian mother it might have been a different story... and I would probably have been about three stone heavier. However he is top at the few staple Guju meals he does make. His curried lamb, his dahl, his coconut prawns, his spicy potatoes and peas, his chicken curry... I was reared on this kind of food, and now I'm not in the parental pad anymore, have started to get his recipes and cook them for myself. I'd really like my own kids to grow up having those dishes you always remember and associated with warm snuggly evenings in the family nest, and particularly with Mum or Dad.

I decided to try out a spicy tomato prawn curry recipe from another Indian/Cape Townian cook and vague relation of mine (in true Indian fashion) Ramola Parbhoo. Her recipe books are great and very clear and easy to use. I also made some roti, or chapati breads as they are also known. The curry turned out really well (a simple mix of spices with onion, garlic, ginger, prawns, lemon, creamed tomatoes and fresh coriander) and had a rich flavour with a good thickness to it. The secret to thickening up curry sauces is to add a couple of tablespoons of gram flour. Here's the result:

tara's tomato prawns

The roti are also simple to make - it's just a dough made from white bread flour, water and melted butter. Once kneaded, you roll into small rounds, punch your fingers in and then gather them up into little pouches by pulling and bringing together the edges (so it looks like a mini drawstring bag). You then roll this out into a bigger circle, about 3mm in thickness.

This method effectively traps air inside the roti so when you next cook them in  the pan, they puff up nicely in the middle like so:

Roti freshly made with a smear of butter on top are divine, especially with chicken dishes. I served the prawn curry with the roti, some rice, some vegetables and also did a side of yoghurt which cut through the tomato nicely.

The only thing that really requires the effort with curries is getting all the right spices in, but if you just maintain a well stocked spice rack/tin you will see the same things coming up again and again. The staple spices we always have in the cupboard are garam masala, tumeric, ground cumin, coriander, saffron, mustard seeds and fenugreek, as well as ginger and fresh birdseye chillies. It's also worth remembering that if you're using meat in a curry you should really marinate it overnight, so prep accordingly!
If you click on the Ramola link above you can find some great curry recipes, along with one for tiki puri.
A taste of India, yum yum yummmm.