Lamb Rogan Josh

Slow simmered lamb in a fragrant, mild and creamy tomato based sauce. Delicious.

INGREDIENTS
1kg lamb cubed/sliced
10 Spanish onions(red) sliced thinly
1 400g can of tomato puree OR 3 tomatoes pureed in food processor (our choice)
2 tomatoes diced
1/4 cup cream or natural yoghurt to stir through at end

SPICE MIX A
3 Bay leaves
8 Whole cloves
3 Brown cardamom pods
8 Green cardamom pods
1 Cassia bark piece
1 tsp fennel seeds
3 dried chillis (split them and deseed them if you aren't a fire fiend)

SPICE MIX B
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder (to taste)
3 tsp ground coriander
1 heaped tblsp fresh crushed ginger
1 heaped tblsp fresh crushed garlic

1. Pour enough oil (about 1/4cup) to cover the bottom of heavy based pot or deep pan and heat med-high, try not to let it get too hot and smoke. Add SPICE MIX A and stir around for 30seconds - the green cardommon pods will explode with force, so be a little carefull incase this is in your face.

2. Add the sliced onions and a good pinch of sugar to help with the caremalization process. Cook until the onions are softened down, brown and caremalized.

3. Add the meat and brown on all sides. Then add SPICE MIX B and the tomato puree and stir through. Simmer on very low for 50mins, stirring occasionaly. You could simmer without lid for the last 20mins if you find that there's too much liquid to your liking. Then turn off heat and stir through the cream/yoghurt (we went with cream).

Serve with some naan, rice and red.

Self-saucing chocolate pudding

It's a winter night and you want something gooey, warm and CHOCOLATEY...This hits the spot.

Can't remember how the recipe goes exactly...but here's the pics for now =)

Butter Chicken Curry (Murgh Makhani)

Making a curry from scratch at home will blow your mind, beats anything you could order out hands down.

Ingredients:
800g chicken thighs (6-8pieces), cut into small pieces.

MARINADE
2/3 cup plain yoghurt
2 tsp tandoori masala
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp crushed ginger

SAUCE
2 tblsp butter
2 tsp crushed garlic
2 tsp crushed ginger
1 bay leaf
3 green cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp chilli powder (to taste)
1 400g can crushed tomatoes
1 cup thick cream
1 tsp sugar

1) Mix all the marinade ingredients together and coat all the chicken pieces well. Set aside overnight ideally, but it's okay for as long as you can manage. (we only did 30mins and it was fine)
2) Fry up your chicken pieces on high heat in your largest pan, if you need to - do it in two batches so that it browns more easily. This process should take about 8mins each time. Set aside and covered with foil to keep warm.
3) Heat a large pot to medium with the butter. Then fry the cinnamon, bay leaf and cardamom for 1 minute.
4) Now add the garlic and ginger and fry for another 30 sec
5) Add the garam masala, chilli powder, sugar and crushed tomatoes and bring to a boil, now simmer.
6) Add the chicken back in and simmer on low for 10mins.
7) Add the cream and bring to a boil then turn off.
9) Serve with rice and naan/chappati bread

Bloody excellent with a glass of robust red.

Enjoy!



I'm not a curry connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination - although I used to do a regular early-week curry and red wine lunch with a group of workmates in Prahran - but I must say this is the best curry that I've ever had. So rich and flavoursome, it's just to die for.

I particularly like how with a home cooked curry you can add chilli to taste. Normally the spicy factor of butter chicken I've encountered is a pretty mild to near-non-existent affair. By adding the extra kick really makes the dish and especially with a nice red wine. God I love curry with a glass of red.

We had our curry with some garlic chapati bread found at the local supermarket. Although the garlic was pretty non-existent, it complemented the dish perfectly. We did have a peek at the naan breads for sale, but they didn't look particularly appetising. If anyone knows of any places to acquire good naan, or even an easy way to make it, please leave a comment and let us know :)

Overall, best curry that I've tasted and we'll be sure to cook some more curries in the coming months. 4.5 stars.