Antipasti and fish curry

Last night we had an enormous meal. It began with antipasti and sherry - we piled little plates with marinated garlic cloves, sunblush tomatoes, avocada salsa, cold, sliced ham, black olives, marinated white anchovies, pepperdews, warm ciabatta and many other goodies.

If that wasn't enough, we then got stuck in to the main course - a delicate fish curry with coconut milk and tamarind, served with white rice and green beans with a chilli/black mustard seed and garlic dressing.

And then we had cheese...

I was stuffed.

You'd think it was still Christmas...

It's been bloody cold today, our heating's screwed, I've had a craving for indulgent food all day and we had turkey curry for supper. And I was feeling lazy. I couldn't be bothered to make my own curry sauce tonight so we used a Sharwood's jar of rogan josh sauce, and I cooked it up with turkey, peppers, onions, garlic and a courgette - the usual veg suspects. There's enough to freeze for another night and it was quick and easy. Sometimes the ready made stuff feels so indulgent.

Curry heaven - they still rule...

Especially when you come home late and starving and need some fast, nutritious food. Looking in your freezer, you choose a tupperware pot of reddish brown, homemade, frozen stuff, unlabelled of course - I'm not Delia - and wonder what it is. It's definitely not casserole - too reddish - it might well be bolognese or possibly curry. Didn't I make a chicken curry a few weeks ago and decide to freeze some? We didn't feel we could handle waiting for rice to cook and I realised there was also a garlic and coriander naan lying like an icey slab in the bottom of the freezer so I figured - if I microwaved it on full for five minutes then had a look, if it was curry I could stick the naan in the oven to defrost and warm through, and if it was bolognese I could put the pasta on asap and bob's your uncle, it would be a meal in minutes.

I whacked the oven on to 200 degrees - as even if I was cooking the pasta on the hob I knew it would help heat the room (unethical I know, but in my house of dodgy heating, the oven is often the best heat source around). Fortunately for my sense of ethics, I stirred the semi-frozen red stuff after 5 minutes blasting and realised it was definitely a chicken curry. I shoved the naan in the oven, put the chicken curry back in the microwave for another 5 minutes to make sure it was 'piping hot' and that was it - a meal in eleven minutes. Curries rule. And freezers. And microwaves and ovens. They rule too.

Curries Rule

Shilpa came out of the celebrity big brother house on Sunday night and pretty much summed up culinary life in two words, 'curries rule'. She has such wisdom. Having just finished my first takeaway curry from Vojan - the curry house near Angel that I was so happy to find a few weeks ago (see www.vojan.net) - I couldn't help but agree with her - curries rule.

There's something for everybody - mild, spicy, creamy, dry, veggie. I had a streaming cold at the weekend and fancied something to unblock my sinuses and, more importantly, something I could taste. We ordered a Shatkara Gosht (lamb cooked in calamansi juice [wild lemon], lemon leaf and naga chilli - a superb dish with lots of flavour, medium hot - £5.95), a chicken tikka massala, mainly to try the 'exotic sauce' and beacuse my other half wanted a creamy curry (dried chicken barbecued, tossed in butter with cultured yoghurt, fresh cream and served with exotic sauce - £5.95), bhindi bhaji (okra cooked in karala style - £2.45) and pilau rice (basmati rice aromatically flavoured with saffron - £2.00). I liked the menu, and the way dishes are described on it and it seems great value for round here.

And it was - even the cartons seemed flashy. We had high expectations for this curry and we weren't disappointed. It took 45 minutes to arrive - always a good sign as it indicates it might be be freshly made to order. The meat was of good quality and the portions were reasonable. I was glad we'd ordered the okra as there wasn't a lot of veg in the dishes to go round. I just wished I had enough space in me to finish off the sauces as they were goooooood and we had a vibrant variety of flavours. All in all, I'd highly recommend Vojan - easily the best takeaway curry I've had in London. Vojan - you rule.

Yesterday's food - pub lunch followed by curry - grrrrrreat!!

Mmmm, I'm practically salivating just thinking about yesterday's food. I met some friends at the White Hart for lunch (again) and this time had an open sandwich with roasted veg and goat's cheese. It was on a smallish slice of granary bread, with roasted peppers, onions and courgettes and an enormous slab of charred goat's cheese. The cheese wasn't as delicate as some, and it was a little too much for me, but it was good with the veg and bread. The salad on the side had a tangy mustard dressing which I liked
a lot and there were Salty Dog (if I'm not mistaken) crisps on the side. It was all for £4.95 - a great lunch, as you can see above.

In the evening two friends I hadn't seen for ages came round for supper armed with lots of red wine. At Christmas I had been given a packet of ready-measured spices to make 'prawns in a hot and sweet sauce' (spice packet made by Kitchen Guru) and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to sample it. The spices included were cumin seeds, a mix of ground coriander and cumin, amchoor (dried mango powder), red chilli powder, turmeric and garam masala. I also used some red chillis, lots of garlic, a green pepper, onions, tomato puree and fresh tomatoes, finely chopped. The curry was fairly dry, so I added a couple of tinned tomatoes near the end to give a bit more of a sauce.

I always think a really good curry needs a few accompaniments to ensure lots of flavours, or maybe it's just because I'm greedy, but I decided to cook a variation on brinjal bhaji (with a whole aubergine, onion, a few cherry tomatoes to add some colour, lots of garlic and cumin) to have as a side dish, and served the lot with brown rice (it was overcooked and I do apologise), garlic and coriander mini-naans, yoghurt and an onion salad. We all had seconds (and some of us, thirds) and I shall do my best to make a similar curry again, perhaps without the Kitchen Guru's help this time...

BTW, you can't see any rice in the photo but it was there (it wasn't so overcooked it was inedible or anything), but it was just hidden underneath the rest in the bowl, I promise.

Vojan, 422 St. John Street, Islington, London EC1V 4NJ

I'm delighted to have found a good curry house in Islington. I've tried a few in the area but they've all been disappointing. Until Vojan. I met a friend who works in Angel for lunch today and she suggested we try Vojan's lunch menu. I've got a stinking cold and thought a curry would be just the thing.

It was. I had an Empress Delight - chunks of chicken tikka with sauteed onions, peppers, tomato and coriander, served with naan and salad. A fantastic dish, it was clearly freshly made, using good quality ingredients. It was filling enough to make me feel like I'd been out for a proper lunch, all for only £4.95. Amazing. My friend had barbecued fish (I think it was salmon), served with a veg curry, rice and a naan. Hers looked good too (£4.95 also). The service was friendly, and they gave us each one of their own minty chocolates with our bill - I know some might consider it tacky, but I love it when places do that. I'd take chocolate over a nasty shot of amaretto any day. I took a copy of their takeaway menu and it looks like it's very good value in the evenings too - I'm going to remember this place.

Friday Sunday Tea - a Tandoori Hut curry special

You'd think I'd be too full to eat a proper supper after my Friday Sunday lunch of roast beef and afters, but no! It was still the Christmas season - any excuse for overindulgence. My boyfriend and I went away to the seaside for a short New Year holiday on Friday afternoon and as there was no internet connection there, I'm having to update all my meals now. We arrived when it was dark and ordered a curry from the excellent curry house there. Here's my plate. I was stuffed and didn't manage to eat much of the garlic naan but manfully finished the rest. On my plate you can see, clockwise from the top, a scarily coloured chicken tikka masala, pilau rice (also scarily coloured in places), king prawn jalfrezi (nice and spicy with lots of green chillis), sag aloo (spinach and potatoes), garlic naan and in the centre brinjal bhaji (fried aubergine) and a bit of the end of the onion salad we'd had with poppadoms. Did you think we didn't have poppadoms with mint sauce and all the trimmings to start? Would a takeaway curry be acceptable without them? Of course not. Oohh, and the garlic naan was great dipped in a bit of cold curry in the morning - a fab breakfast.

Boxing Day Turkey Curry

And here is the Boxing Day turkey curry, made by my brother to a secret recipe - I'll get it out of him soon. We had it with daal (lentil curry - pulses aren't my favourite food, but I'll try most things), a delicious onion salad (made with white onions, tomatoes, cucumber, cumin and lemon juice, I think), yoghurt and tortillas and pittas instead of rice. I was too full to appreciate it really, but it was good.