Quick Indian Cooking

Just as I was leaving home for yoga, my neighbour invited me to join her BBQ in our communal garden.

Normally, I am the focused, sensible sort. But given a choice between dangling my legs mid air and watching succulent cuts of meat cook outdoors, I knew which way to go.

I fretted all the way to the yoga class. Sulked as the instructor didn’t show on time. Then 20 minutes of waiting, I hurried home via the supermarket praising divine intervention.

In an ideal world I would get more notice for a BBQ. But this is Britain. We don’t notice we’ve had summer until it’s long gone.

Carpe Diem!

I slashed a few chicken drumsticks and smothered them with a roasted cumin marinade. Made a rice pulao to accompany it. Shoved the whole lot with a jar of mango pickle into a large Selfridge’s bag and dashed downstairs before the flames went out.

The mini meal was a big success. I’m waiting for my next invitation. Hopefully, before summer runs out.

PS= They ate the whole lot before I could photograph the food. I had to cook it again and grill the lot. Your BBQ version will be a lot darker (from the charcoal) and drier (ditto). But it will taste delicious anyway.

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Three hours at the hairdresser and I was ready for the big hen night. We picked wine, cocktails and a two-course meal served alongside Burlesque, vintage parlour humour and retro nudity.

Now provocative, champagne-soaked dancing I can handle. Husky rendition of Fever I can enjoy. But was it really necessary to expose dimply bottoms and orange peel thighs in the middle of my dinner?

I focused on the thigh on my plate.

Chicken has been having its own issues lately. Since the revered Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall started his campaign to raise the plight of the ill treated, factory-farmed birds, I have been spurred into action.

Gone are the days of BOGOF packs of chicken thighs and drumsticks. I now stick to the free-range variety at the very least and organic if I haven’t blown my salary on alcohol and cabaret shows.

Thankfully, chicken thighs and drumsticks are cheaper than breast meat and infinitely more tasty in a curry. So give a chicken a chance with this herbed, light and fresh Hariyali Murgh recipe. I used Waitrose organic free range chicken and it rocked.

This is my entry to A Merrier World’s fantastic effort to raise awareness of the chicken we eat.

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I rushed out of work with colleagues to catch the new Richard Rogers exhibition. Culture out of the way, we made our way towards bottles of viognier by the sunny Thames.

A few glasses, pizzas and hours of heavy screeching later, I arrived back at home to find a husband prostrate with exhaustion from taking courier delivery of my new red coat dress. And a web browser problem interfering with a client’s urgent press release.

Feeling weary, and a little worse for wear, I flung open the fridge door looking for more vino. And they stared right back at me. Two medium large aubergines/eggplants. Leftover from last dinner party. Distinctly changing colour.

Blast. Is it just me or is summer affecting everything?

The next morning, I decided on a Hyderabad-style spicy and sour baingan. I had pretty much all of the long list of ingredients, including the peanuts I ingeniously fished out of a pack of Bombay Mix. But you could just as easily omit some of the ingredients bar the peanuts, tamarind and aubergine of course.

It was a tangy feast in a frying pan. Perfect to nibble ahead another day of champagne in the sun, meetings and greetings. And even better frozen for an imminent quiet night in.
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Warm and sheltered from the rainy British weather in a beautiful Malaysian restaurant, we joined our Bengali friend and her mates for a big 3-0 birthday dinner last night.

Just as I was getting in touch with my inner Zen zone after the glorious starter, the waiter handed me the beautifully-presented menu, asking: “Would you like some inter-course?”

I hastily turned down the strange request only to realise he was refering to the option of a mini nibble between the starter and main course.

As I tucked into my spicy marinated quail and coconut rice, I thought fondly about the sunny weekend in Cambridge and the other Indian BBQ dish I made.

It was a tandoori paneer shashlik – chunks of Indian cheese marinated in a tandoori masala and threaded onto skewers with peppers and onions. Paneer can at best be described as solid buffalo mozzarella when hot and polystyrene when cold (Not that I eat polystyrene regularly or anything). It is widely available from Indian shops and I have even bought it at the local supermarket recently.

The paneer gets marinated here in tandoori masala. This is just about the only pre-mixed spice powder I use, because a) it’s a drag to make it from scratch and b) it won’t stink your house up because you tend to cook it outside.

A popular vegetarian tandoori dish at home, this was real hit with the British and Peruvian members of our family. Try this dish with some naan for a really lovely summer lunch.

This recipe serves 10 if alongside other BBQ dishes, 5 on its own:

3 x 250 gm paneer

4 heaped tbsp tandoori masala powder

6 cloves garlic

3 inches ginger

300 gm low fat natural yogurt

Juice of 1 lemon

6 peppers

2 onions

3 tbsp sunflower or corn oil

Salt to taste

Chop the paneer into bite-sized cubes, about one square inch each and puree the ginger and garlic.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the cubes of paneer with the yogurt, tandoori masala, ginger, garlic, lemon juice and some salt. You want a bright red, strong marinade.

Now chop the peppers and onions into large, even chunks – halve and then quarter. In another bowl, mix them with the oil and some salt.

Finally thread the ingredients into bamboo skewers – pepper, onion, tandoori paneer, pepper, onion and another cube of paneer. Repeat this with 10 skewers.

When the BBQ is ready, cook the skewers until the peppers and onions get charred on the outside and the paneer softens to a mozzarella -like texture. Eat it straightaway before the paneer goes cold.

P.S. = Happy Independence Day. I tried and failed to write something less frivolous on this historic day, but others have had more success than me…