Something unusual happened to me recently. A new friendship turned ugly. Nasty accusations got made. Yours truly got to play chief antagonist in a real-life Lindsay Lohan drama.

Normally, I’d take a whiff and move on. But my testosterone levels have sunk to record lows lately. I blame motherhood. So I cried copious tears, while cradling a bottle of vino and ranting down the phone to an unsuspecting close friend.

A whole hour later I realised the poor man had slid off to watch TV. Not wishing to bother him with my theatrics, I plonked myself on the sofa pleasantly enquiring about the sword-wielding blonde gracing the silver screen.

It’s Kill Bill, he said. A movie about a woman who is betrayed by everyone she loves and trusts. Cue: more floods of tears followed by a prompt end to the day.

Sometimes in life you need things that just work. Like unconditional love. Solid friendships. Trusted kitchen appliances. Failsafe recipes. The things that you care for dearly. That take anything you throw at them. Last forever. And can be relied upon come rain or shine.

This recipe is one that has survived through thick and thin with me. Quick dinner for sister. Check. Lunch for toddler playdate. Check. Centre piece for dinner party. Check check. I’ve left the peas out once, taken the tomatoes out another time and used yoghurt instead, mixed in some fresh coriander and each time the result is tremendous.

The trick is to cook the rice separately while the prawn masala bubbles away and then mix the two together. This is cheating, of course (this isn’t), but it speeds up the cooking time dramatically and the end result is almost foolproof in its fluffy perfection.

To be eaten with true friends and plain yoghurt. Naturally.

Feeds 4:

• 350gm uncooked Basmati rice
• 250gm raw prawns
• Half pint glass of shelled peas
• 1 large onion
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 inch ginger and 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• Half tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp whole cumin
• 2 black cardamoms
• 1 inch stick cinnamon
• 1 large bay leaf
• 2 tbsp oil (go on use ghee if you fancy it…)
• Salt to taste

Wash the rice and cook it in a large pan or rice cooker. In the meantime, slice the onion finely, mince finely or puree the ginger and garlic together and wash and clean the prawns. Unless they are ready prepared like the ones I use!

In a large pan, bring the oil/ghee to heat over a high flame. When it’s hot, add the whole spices and as they sizzle up the onions, ginger and garlic. Saute the whole lot for about five minutes until it starts going golden, then roughly chop the tomato and throw it in along with the turmeric and chilli powders.

Fry this lot for about five minutes, then simmer for another five. Next, stir in the prawns with the peas and cook until the prawns go pink and firm. Add salt now and check to make sure it’s well salty. Then simply stir in the cooked rice and serve.

You can add other vegetables like peas, potatoes, cauliflower just make sure they are cooked when you mix the rice in. Also, if using yoghurt use a full fat version and add it instead of the tomatoes.

Armed with a oversized brolley coordinated with my monochrome outfit, I braved a 15-minute walk in the midst of a thunderstorm to locate my nearest sushi takeout.

It was worth it.

I don’t normally feel the same love for cabbage. But my mother, armed with a certain diligence and innate ability, always manages to purchase the nation’s least favourite vegetables for our weekday meals.

As we cooked a simple and delicious prawn and cabbage stir fry, known by Bengalis as bandha kopir thorkari, I thought about how under appreciated cabbage really is. Koreans love kim chi and Germans their version. Surely, Indian style cabbage is what will eventually win hearts and minds?

It sure got my vote. The dish was moist, subtle and absolutely delicious. We ate some for dinner and the rest straight out of the fridge the next day. Pair it with some ready rotis for a simple and healthy weekday meal.

This recipe serves 4:

1 medium cabbage, sliced into 1 cm wide strips

1 packet of ready-cooked shelled prawns

1 cup of shelled fresh or frozen peas

1 tbsp grated ginger

3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

Half tsp turmeric powder

Half tsp chilli powder

1 large bay leaf

1 tsp whole cumin

25 gm fresh coriander, chopped roughly

2 whole slim green chillies

1.5 tsp sunflower oil

Salt to taste

Wash the cabbage thoroughly in cold water. In a large pot, heat the oil over a high flame.

When the oil is hot, add the bay leaf and cumin seeds. As they start sizzling, chuck in the shredded cabbage.

Stir fry the cabbage for two minutes and then add the turmeric, chilli, cumin and coriander powders. Fry for another two minutes on the high flame until the cabbage is well-coated with the masalas.

Now lower the flame to a medium heat, add the ginger and garlic, cover the pot and simmer until the cabbage is cooked. You don’t need to add any water.

The cabbage will take a good 20 minutes to soften. within 10 minutes of cooking, stir in the peas, prawns and green chillies.

When the cabbage is moist but without gravy and soft, take the lid off and mix in the fresh coriander.

Add salt to taste and enjoy hot or cold.

It’s been a while since I changed lightbulbs, used the hoover or fixed the fuse. I am also prone to leaving the iron on, back door open, forgetting my flat keys and/or mobile.

But the BIGGEST worry is that he’s taking the super cool, super professional digital camera with him. I lose my Chief Operating Officer, Chief Creative Consultant and the mean machine for what will be the longest three weeks ever.

After a brief fit and sulk, I agreed to be taught how to make the snappy snap digital camera function as its more techy counterpart for three weeks.

The model is question was prawn patia – a popular hot and sour Parsi prawn curry. My new colleague at work mentioned how much she loved this dish and I thought I would post the recipe for her. I served it with some khichdi – a simple lentil and rice dish.

Taking the photo was a bit tricky, but not as bad as I thought. The prawns were yummy though – isn’t that all that matters?

This recipe serves 2-3:

250gm large prawns (I used cooked frozen ones, thawed)

2 large tomatoes, chopped

2 medium onions, chopped

3 fat cloves of garlic, chopped

Half tsp turmeric

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

Half tsp chilli powder (more if you can handle it)

Half a cup of fresh coriander, chopped fine

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

Heat the oil and when hot, fry the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and continue to fry until pale brown.

Add all the spices, the vinegar, the tomatoes and fry until the pungent smell goes and the onions start disintegrating. You may need to keep adding a little add hot water to the pan to prevent the spices from sticking to the bottom and burning.

Add about half a cup of water to the mixture, stir in the coriander and simmer for about 15 minutes until the oil reappears through little pores in the mixture.

Now add in the prawns and salt to taste. Give them a good stir to ensure they are well coated and remove from the flame. This dish should not have too much gravy.

No suprise there considering I was virtually tortured with Bengali fish curry as a child.

See, I developed terrible eyesight at the tender age of nine. The local quack eye shrink recommended I eat a lot of fish.

Bengalis are famous for their fish curries. Except they cook fish with skin, bones, heads and tails. They cook vegetables with fish and dal with fish.

Suddently, not only was fish everywhere, every day, but I also had to eat it.

Enough to put me off it for the next 20 years!

As a (near) grown woman, I have decided to test the fishy waters once again. I looked around for fish recipes and came across this one by Sra.

I was drawn to its simplicity and, of course, speed. The results were delicious and even our house guest, who hates Indian food, was left licking his fingers. Use a meaty fish to prevent it from falling apart.

The only change I made to Sra’s recipe, was to fry the onion. garlic and ginger first to get rid of the raw smell, before adding the masalas, fish and coconut milk.

This recipe serves 2-3:

500 gm meaty white fish (I used Marlin)
1 cup coconut milk
3 small onions, chopped
1 tsp chilli flakes or two red chillies ground
2″ cinnamon
10 curry leaves
Quarter tsp turmeric
Quarter tsp fenugreek leaves
Juice of half a lime
2 tbsp oil
Salt to taste

Fry the onion, ginger and garlic until they turn pale brown. Add all the spices, curry leaves and fry on a high for about five minutes.

Add the coconut milk, lower the flame and simmer for about 10 minutes until the raw smell of the spice go.

Finally, cube the fish and add it to the pan. Wait until the fish cooks through, no more than a couple of minutes, and then serve, drizzled with the lime juice.

My recipe is for prawns cooked the Goan way. Goa needs no introduction for ravers, beach lovers and sun seekers. But for food lovers everywhere Goan grub is the fiesty cousin of an everyday curry.

It is home to the original pork vindaloo and a variety of seafood dishes cooked in high chilli, vinegar and a medley of spices. NOT for the faint hearted!

I have toned my recipe down slightly to meet everyone’s taste buds. From my two previous visits to Goa I know that usually little shrimps are used for this dish rather than the king prawn variety.

250-350gms prawns
2 tsp whole cumin
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 whole dry red chillies
4 cloves
1″ cinnamon
1″ ginger
1 large onion finely sliced
2 tbsp oil
3 tbsp white vinegar

Make a paste of all the ingredients, except the oil, prawns and onion. Heat the oil and when hot, fry the onions.

When the onions are brown, add the masala paste and fry on a high heat until the oil leaves the masala.

The pungent smell, as always, will go when the masala is cooked. Now add the prawns. Stir until the prawns are cooked. Add salt to taste.

Hugh Fraser is the mother (maybe father) of all blog developers, a real blog consultant and my occasional tinkering technician.

The plan was that he would come over, I would teach him how to cook a chicken curry and then we would drink wine, chat and eat Indian food.

But, as is to be expected the “drink wine and chat” bit kind of became the real focus of the evening. We ploughed our way through a bottle of Rioja and a bottle of Merlot before I could say “brown the onions” and the less said about the chicken curry, the better.

Still, the valiant Hugh, undeterred by the sight of yellow chicken braved the Chingri Malai Curry or prawn coconut curry and Jeera Pulao, cumin rice. I hasten to add that these were cooked on Sunday and hence unspoilt by drunkenness and too much talking.

Far from being the star pupil, Hugh has resigned himself to waiting for the recipes to be posted so that he can teach himself instead of relying on me.

Here is my recipes to serve 4 for Chingri Malai Curry, a finger-licking Bengali dish that is eaten on special occasions:

Grind the onion and ginger in a blender. Heat the oils and when hot add the whole spices and the sugar.

When the sugar caramelizes into a lovely reddish brown colour, add the onion mixture and fry on a high heat stirring regularly.

When the onion mixture starts losing its pungent smell and slowly goes brown in parts, add the chili, turmeric and tomato.

This is the only tricky part of the recipe. You just have to fry all this until the onion and tomato mixture tastes smooth and cooked in your mouth.

When it does, add the coconut milk, lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Then add the raw prawns, stirring gently until cooked.

Add salt to taste and serve immediately.

Now for the Jeera Pulao recipe, again to serve four:

Heat the ghee and fry the whole spices for a few seconds until they let out their lovely aromas.Add the rice and fry until the rice flakes turn a bright white, mixing in salt according to your taste. Don’t go too mad because the prawn curry will have salt in it too. Add 4 cups of water and bring the rice to a boil. When it starts bubbling, lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pot and wait until the rice absorbs all the water.

This aromatic rice is delicious with all curries. I think Hugh would agree too…

Biryani is one of the most delicious and time consuming dishes prepared in the Indian subcontinent. It originated in Persia and Arabia and was popularised by the Mughal rulers in Lucknow years and years ago. It has developed into a rice dish that is consumed on special occasions such as Muslim festivals and even Hindu weddings.

The big difference between biryani and pulao, the other popular Indian rice dish, is the length of time for cooking. Biryani often takes hours of slow cooking, with the pot lid sealed tight with a flour dough. Pulao on the other hand is like the quick and easy version. Just as delicious, but not so special.

Divya’s recipe was a complete hit with couch potato hubby and myself. It’s so easy, and requires no special ingredients. Actually, it did need star anise, which I didn’t have. But I’m not one to cry over star anise so I just didn’t use it. And it was great without. What I did was add a bit of saffron at the end, and it gave the pulao a glorious aroma.

This recipe serves 2:

200 gms raw peeled king prawns (I used frozen ones)
2 small onions, thinly sliced
2 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 green finger chilli, slit lengthwise
1 stick cinnamon
4-5 cloves
1 tsp minced ginger and garlic
Quarter tsp chilli powder
Quarter tsp garam masala powder
1.5 cups rice
3 cups water
2 tsp ghee
Sprinkling of saffron soaked in 1 tsp warm milk

Heat the ghee and fry the onions, ginger, garlic, cloves and cinnamon. When the onions start turning translucent and soft, add the tomatoes and chilli powder.

Fry this paste until the raw smell of the masalas go. Then add the rice and fry for 2 minutes. Add the water, lower the flame to medium, cover the pan and cook.

When the rice looks half done, add the raw prawns, green chilli and the garam masala. Give the rice a good stir. Recover and cook until the prawns are done and the rice is dry. Before you take the rice off the flame, mix in the milky saffron.

Two things you need to remember: Don’t stir the rice too much or it will not have the fluffy, separate texture that characterises pulao and make sure the prawns are cooked but not overdone.

Seriously moreish dish and great with a dollop of natural yoghurt and pickle.