Saturday Night is Curry Night

Hi folks, thanks for concern over Amber by comments/emails it's really appreciated.  Her glucose tests were not good and the insulin dose has been increased.  On Friday she goes in for a day at the vet again to do the same tests but I asked 'is it time to go to heaven' and the vet said 'I haven't given up yet' so we will persevere with this - we can't make the tumor go away, but we can get some more time with her.  She is a bit of a celebrity at the vet, the girls love cuddling her and so I know she is not stressed when there and is loving all the attention.

Chicken Curry

Saturday night is often curry night in our house - I really enjoy cooking curry,  My happiest memories of curry are from my teens and my best friend, Sarojini.  we went to school together and I spent weekends at her house, my parents at the time were not keen on other cultures, they didn't know much about Indian people except that they had arrived in the UK and were very different to us;  it caused a lot of distress that I had a friend who was from a background they didn't understand.  As is the way with teenagers, the more my parents objected the more I rebelled - and I'm glad I did - I learned so much from her lovely family who welcomed me; many a night was spent singing Diana Ross hits to our hairbrushes in her bedroom, crowded in with her five sisters who treated me like family; many a curry was eaten cooked in big steaming pots in her mums kitchen, the windows all fogged up, many a night was spent sleeping on their best rugs curled up in blankets, cosy and warm.  I loved the spicy smell of their house and the colourful furnishings, gold/red/green.

Red Lentil Dhal

Her youngest sister died of TB and her mum placed a glass of milk in front of her photo on a little alter every night, they had beautiful pictures of Vishnu and Krisna and a photograph of her dad with Sathya Sai Baba the guru, who her parents had been to see in person when their daughter was ill.  They told me Sai Baba was a special guru because he belonged to both Hindu and Muslim people.  



Jini's dad was in the rag trade and every couple of weeks massive bags of flatpacked, plastic wrapped clothing would come from India and Pakistan full of the latest cheesecloth blouses, flares and so on and I was allowed to pick out things for myself at cost price.  Those were the days …. so my curry nights always remind me of Jini's family.

Our curries last night were served with Indian 'handkerchief bread' (very thin bread cooked on a hotplate) and cardomon rice.
I make my chicken/onion curry with the madras mix from the Indian supermarket, tomato puree, coconut milk and fresh green chilli fingers.  I always use a couple of spoons of red lentils to thicken the sauce.

The dhal is from An Indian Housewife's Recipe Book Laxmi Khurana) and has sort of evolved to my own taste (I like a lot of black mustard seeds and chilli powder and add tomato puree).


You can't have curry without yoghurt and mint cooler, made from plain yoghurt and mint sauce (simple!)  it's also tasty spread on Indian bread with chicken tikka and rolled like a wrap.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathya_Sai_Baba

Back soon with bluebells - yes they have arrived !!!!!!