Curry Monday - Chard Aloo

For the last few weeks the garden has truly bloomed...and bolted in some places. A combination of hot sunshine and lots of rain made the rhubarb chard we had planted as part of the River Cottage Seed Project bolt over the space of 2 days. A bit of searching around the internet found that we could still eat bolted chard (unlike bolted radishes, yuk!)

I used the lovely Mallika's recipe for Saag Aloo. I'm not sure if you can use the word "saag" if it is made with chard, hence why I've called it Chard Aloo. I made a very tasty curry that I will certainly be having again.

Curry Monday - Thai Red Curry

I've always been interested in trying a Thai Red Curry. After a bit of searching on the internet I found a good recipe for curry paste. It was a great deal nicer than the bland looking photo would make out. The only change I would make next time would be to add some veg like mange tout. We'll certainly be making this again soon.

From this week Curry Monday is going to be every two weeks as I want to return to some of the curry recipes I've tried so far...and I'm running out of inspiration!

Thai Red Curry
serves 2

paste
1 red chilli, deseeded
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ginger, grated
1 stem of lemongrass
1 shallot, sliced
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp hot paprika

sauce
1 tbsp sunflower oil
200 ml coconut milk
splash of fish sauce
2 kaffir lime leaves

1) Blitz all of the paste ingredients together until you have a thick paste. You may need to add a small amount of water to help loosen up the paste.

2) Heat the sunflower oil in the pan then fry the paste for 1 min. Add the chicken, stir to ensure the paste covers the chicken and cook until chicken is browned.

3) Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and lime leaves. Simmer for 15min until chicken is cooked.

Curry Monday - Coconut Chicken Masala

As I'm getting more experienced at cooking from scratch I'm finding it easier, especially when it comes to curries. My store cupboards are now so well stocked it only takes a quick shop for the fresh ingredients and I have a meal. Takes out a lot of the pressure when I can't decide what to cook!

Talking of chicken, this week I went back to my usual fantastic meat supplier after visiting a dodgy farm shop a few weeks back. I'm on their [the great suppliers] mailing list and a few months back they sent me interesting letter saying where all of their chicken is sourced. Their chicken is by far the best around. Not only is it succulent and tasty, but doesn't leach water when you cook it. Kate at a Merrier World has recently written an article all about chicken welfare, which is well worth a read.

Last year Channel 4 featured a programme called River Cottage Treatment where Hugh F-W tried to convert fast-food addicts to good wholesome home cooked food. While searching for a beer batter recipe I came across his recipe for Coconut Chicken Masala that featured in the series. "That's Curry Monday sorted" I thought!

The recipe made a delicious and creamy curry that I would certainly make again. I halved the recipe and it made enough for the 2 of us, plus a small portion for lunch tomorrow.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Coconut Chicken Masala

Curry Monday - Chinese Chipshop Curry

Right, hands up, I have a confession. This isn't a traditional Chinese curry. More of an anglicised version; familiar to anyone who has had a takeaway Chinese in the UK.

In Liverpool, where I spent most of my teens, we had Chinese Chipshops. Ideal for situations where you couldn't decide which takeaway to have! This concept causes great confusion to Midlands born-and-bred Hubby where Chinese Chippies are unheard of.

Interestingly the new BBC series Chinese Food Made Easy starts tonight and I'll be watching it with interest. If anyone out there has recipes for traditional Chinese "curries" I would be very grateful if they could let me have a peek.

Tonight's curry is based on Lily Kwok's Curry made with leftover roast chicken and egg fried rice on the side.

Chicken & Mushroom Chinese Curry.
Serves 2

2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp ginger, grated
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp Chilli powder
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground fenugreek
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
125ml water
2 1/2 tsp plain flour
2 1/2 tsp self raising flour
400ml chicken stock
Handful of mushrooms, sliced
200g leftover roast chicken
handful of peas

1) Gently fry onions for 3 min, add the ginger and garlic and fry for a further 30 seconds. Keep gently frying until onions have softened.

2) Stir in all the spices and fry for a further 5 mins. Add the water then blitz into a paste. Stir in the two flours until well combined.

3) Slowly simmer the puree for 20 min until you have a thick paste and it is dark mustard brown in colour.

4)Add stock, mushroom, chicken and peas. Simmer for 10 min until sauce begins to thicken.

Curry Monday - Mushroom Korma

As we've been away for the weekend I haven't had the opportunity to get to the butchers so tonight was a veggie curry. Knowing Hubby can be a bit reluctant when it comes to veggie dishes I was shocked when he came home and announced he had been looking forward to Mushroom Korma all day!

It wasn't like a thick super-creamy korma as I know it, but was still delicious. A quick googling of the word "korma" teaches me that a korma is just a pale, creamy and mild curry dish. As I'm getting better with different curries and their techniques I'm beginning to understand how I can create other curries. In the next couple of weeks I'm going to try a Chinese curry. The recipe below is based on a recipe from 30-minute Indian cookbook.

Mushroom Korma
Serves 2-3

1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
400g button mushrooms, halved
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp ground coriander seed
2 tsp ground cumin
1 small can (220g) tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
3 tbsp single cream
1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped

1) Heat oil then grntly fry onion until soft. Stir in ginger, mushrooms then saute for 5 min.

2) Add spices, tomatoes and sugar. Cover and simmer for 10 min.

3) Stir in cream and coriander. Serve.

Curry Monday - Rogan Josh

This is the first curry in the history of Curry Monday which I haven't tasted. I've been off work today with an odd bug leaving me feeling tired, dizzy, nauseous and lack of appetite so today, for me, bland foods are the game. Hubby however was greeted by the aroma of beef rogan josh as he came home. I had already defrosted the beef and wasn't going to waste it. He's secretly pleased I didn't eat my portion as he can take it to work tomorrow for lunch.

I used Serena's @ Rock Cakes recipe. I had to make the odd alteration as I didn't have any yogurt in so used creme fraiche instead and I totally forgot the almonds. Hubby enjoyed it and said it had just the right chilli kick.

Curry Monday - Achaari Chicken

Apologies for the brief nature of my posts recently. I'm currently trying to fill in the mother of all applications forms for a job I really want. Not only is the application form long with a detailed supporting statement I also have to submit my CV and covering letter. It seems to be taking forever!

I'm so glad tonight's curry was nice and quick as I wasn't in the mood for anything fancy. Achaari contains similar ingredients to chutney and unsurprisingly resembles chutney in taste. It tasted like a light and spicy sweet & sour curry, Perfect for a summer evening. The original recipe has onion seeds (I couldn't get my hands on any) and a great deal more chilli powder. The only change I'll make next time is to maybe grate the onion to give the sauce a thicker texture.

Achaari Chicken
Serves 2

1 tbsp sunflower oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp tomato puree
100ml water
1 onion, finely sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced
sprinkle of chilli powder
1/2 tsp grated ginger
2 chicken fillets, diced
1 small red chilli, sliced

1) Heat the oil in a wok. Fry all whole spices for 1 min to re lase the flavours.

2) Stir in tomato puree, water, onion, garlic, chilli powder and ginger. Fry for a further minute.

3) Add chicken, cover and simmer for 7 min until chicken is cooked. Stir in chilli slices then serve.

Curry Monday - Tarka Dhal

It's amazing how fast Curry Monday comes around! Due to us being away at the weekend I haven't had the chance to get to the butchers so a Veggie curry was called for. A quick flick through my cookbooks and I found Tarka Dhal. A Dhal is a lentil based curry that is one of the most popular dishes in India and Tarka relates to the process in which the curry is seasoned with spiced oil at the end. It turned out to be the perfect opportunity to try out some of the spices I picked up at Rafi's Spice Box.

It can be eaten as an accompaniment to a dry curry or on its own. We had it with just naan bread and I can now understand why it is described as the ultimate comfort food. It was gorgeous and filling. Also a great standby dish as it uses ingredients that are always available in our house. Even "I don't do veggie food" Hubby enjoyed it.

Tarka Dhal
Serves 2

125g red split lentils (Masoor Dhal)
500ml hot water
1/2 can (200g) chopped tomatoes
1/8 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp root ginger, grated
2 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp sunflower oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
1/2 cumin seeds

1) Soak lentils in boiling water for 10 min then drain. Place in a saucepan, add hot water and simmer for 20 min. Drain again, put back in saucepan then blitz lentils until you have a puree.

2) Stir in tomatoes, turmeric, ginger, coiander and green chilli. Simmer gently.

3) In a non-stick frying pan, heat the sunflower oil then add mustard seeds, garlic, chilli flakes and cumin. Fry for 1 min. Pour the dhal into the frying pan with the tarka, stir then serve.

Curry Monday - Kheema Aloo

The inspiration for this weeks Curry Monday came from my brother. He had originally asked for me to do a Lamb Methi, but as I didn't have any fenugreek leaves decided to make Kheema Aloo, Kheema meaning spicy minced meat and Aloo, dry curry.

My goodness was this curry hot. I didn't put in as much chilli powder as the recipe suggested, but it was still very very spicy! I ended up stirring some cream into mine in an attempt to cool it down.

Things are a bit manic over the next week so don't expect another update until next Sunday or Monday. A week today Hubby and I celebrate our 1st Wedding Anniversary. I can't believe how fast a year has gone. Coincidentally our wedding photos are featured in the Real Life section of this months edition of Wedding Ideas. As to which couple we are...I'll leave you to guess.

Keema Aloo
Serves 2-3

1 1/2 tsp rapeseed oil
2 cardamom pods
2 cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
250g minced lamb
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp chilli powder (less if you don't want it spicy)
1 tsp grated ginger
pinch of salt
3 small potatoes cut into small cubes
1/2 can (200g) chopped tomatoes
50ml hot water
2 tbsp fresh coriander

1) Heat the oil then fry cardamom, cinnamon and cloves for 3 mins.

2) Add the lamb along with garam masala, chilli, garlic, ginger and salt. Stir well then cook for 5 min.

3) Stir in potatoes water and tomatoes. Cover and simmer for 10-15, until potatoes are cooked.

Curry Monday - Oil Free Chicken Curry

Sunday I cooked a chicken so had a load of leftover chicken that I wanted to use in a curry. I bookmarked Sunita's Oil Free Curry recipe a few weeks ago as it looked so delicious. Well the delicious looking photos were right. The recipe made a lovely creamy and quick curry. Perfect for a mid-week meal. It has to be one of my favourite curries I've cooked recently.

The only alteration I made to the recipe was to halve the recipe and use chicken that was already cooked. I promise I won't go a chicken curry next week! I'm thinking of lamb.

We're slowing (ok that's a lie!) getting through the batch of Nutella & peanut butter brownies I made on Sunday. They get even more fudgy a day after being baked, yum!

Curry Monday - Chettinad Chicken

Tonights curry was Chettinad Chicken. I should have known from the outset it wasn't going to work as well as I had hoped, it's just been one of those days. As it was cooking I could tell there was something missing, it just looked so bland. I re-read and re-read the recipe again and I had included everything. Tastewise it was nice, but didn't have the spicy kick and depth it was meant to have. Only after a google search I noticed that all other recipes for Chettinad Chicken featured tomatoes and a great deal more chilli, mine didn't and may explain why it just didn't look or taste 100% right.

I won't include the recipe as in my eyes it isn't right, so here are some links to some better sounding Chettinad Chicken.

Chettinad Pepper Chicken - Madhur Jaffrey
Chettinad Style Chicken Curry

Ah well, it still won't put me off my Curry Monday challenge. I'm very much welcome to curry suggestions so feel free to leave me a message or email me.

Curry Monday - Spinach & Chickpea Curry

My personal Curry Monday challenge has got me pondering as to what exactly the word "curry" means. Wikipedia and google couldn't come up with a decent definition so in my eyes a curry is a dish with an Asian influence featuring vegetables, meat or fish, highly flavored with various spices, and often eaten with rice or a type of flatbread.

When I first started my Curry Mondays a couple of weeks ago Muffin left a comment pointing me towards kale & chickpea curry by Sarah Raven, last week Claire did her own verson of the recipe and tonight it was my turn. Like Claire I was unable to get hold of kale so used spinach instead. I did intend on making some naan bread to go with it, but what with the gorgeous weather the last thing I wanted to do was knead dough.

Spinach and Chickpea Curry
Serves 4

1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp rapeseed oil
1/2 heaped TSP garam masala
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 green chilli, finely sliced
salt and pepper
1 tin of chickpeas
200ml coconut milk
100g mushrooms, sliced
juice of 1/2 lime
1 lemon grass stick
250g baby spinach, wilted
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp thai fish sauce

1) Fry the onion and garlic until softened. Stir in garam masala, chilli, ginger, salt and pepper.

2) Pour in the chickpeas, coconut milk, mushrooms, lemongrass and lime juice. Simmer for 30 min.

3) Stir in spinach, soy sauce and thai fish sauce and simmer for a further 5 min. Serve.

Cashew Chicken & Puris

Today in our house, Monday has been officially declared "Curry Monday", with the aim of me trying more or less every recipe in my new favourite Indian cookbook. What makes it even better is that all of the curries in the book can been made within 30 min, quicker than visiting the local Balti to pick up a takeaway! Usually I do a fancier rice like pulao rice to accompany curries, but as were tasting new curries I'm sticking to plain basmati rice for the time being so I don't overwhelm the flavours.

Tonight was Cashew Chicken's turn. The original recipes does use chicken thigh, but I'm a funny one when it comes to meat and don't like the texture of thigh meat (I told you I was odd!) and it also has quite a sizable amount of apricots in. You can add them if you want, but I prefer apricots in my granola rather than curry.

To go with the curry Hubby made some spiced Puris. Puris are puffed up deep-fried bread and are often used as the base of dishes like chicken chat. I left the puris in the capable hands of Hubby as I have a well known fear of frying. Not the healthiest, but goodness are they moreish. They had just enough chilli kick to complement the curry perfectly.



The curry turned out to be very similar to a lovely salty/sour curry I had a few weeks ago in a restaurant. Very delicious. I had to hide the portion I had put aside for my lunch tomorrow from Hubby as he was very tempted to scoff it. I'm sure if you added the apricots it would sweeten it.

Cashew Chicken
Serves 2

3 shallots, roughly chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
30g cashew nuts
1 garlic clove
1 tsp garam masala
1/8 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sea salt
1 dsp lemon juice
1 dsp plain yogurt
3 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
2 chicken fillets, diced
150 ml chicken stock

1) Blitz the shallots, tomato puree, cashew nuts, garlic, turmeric, salt, lemon juice and yogurt until you have a smooth paste. In a pan fry off the paste for 2 min.

2) Add the chicken and coriander to the pan. Fry for a further 2-3 min. Pour in chicken stock. Cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes until chicken is cooked.

Spiced Puris
Makes 8

110g atta (chapatti) flour
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp water
sunflower oil for frying

1) Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Gradually add the water until you have a soft, but not sticky dough. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic. Split dough into 8 balls, then roll out to make rounds about 3 inches across

2) Fill deep pan with about 2-3 inches of oil. Heat to 180oc (when a cube of bread browns in 30 sec). Cook puris in small batches. After a few seconds of being in the oil the puris will puff up. Turn over and continue to fry until golden. Drain on kitchen paper.

Bombay Chicken Masala

On Sunday evening I had all good intentions of writing an account of our cold, blustery, but fun weekend camping in the Peak District...however I borrowed someones compact digital camera and am struggling to get the photos off. That post will have to wait!

I'm a big fan of Indian food and slowly I'm learning how to cook curries at home from scratch that are just as good as the local Balti House. When we first moved into our cottage 3 years ago my Mum gave me a copy of 30-minute Indian by Sunil Vijayakar. Back then I wasn't the most confident cook and the list of ingredients scared me, so the cookbook sat at the back bookshelf. In the summer of last year, I dusted the book down and decided to have another go.

Tonight I wanted to cook a curry that didn't involve cream/coconut cream (like most curries I cook do) and found a recipe in 30-min Indian for Bombay Chicken Masala. What I like about this cookbook is that it tells you how to cook a curry from scratch, unlike the majority of food mags that tell you to use ready-made curry paste. I'll hold my hands up to using Thai curry paste at the moment as I can't get hold of the right ingredients near me, but considering I'm not too far from the Curry Capital of the UK I can get my hand on Indian ingredients relatively easily. Along with the curries, it also tells you how to make the accompaniments including paneer, barfi and puris.

I have to admit I was a bit scared when I saw the amount of chillis going into the curry, but there was no need to worry. It produced a beautifully fragrant, light curry where you could taste the chillis rather than having your head blown off by them. We really enjoyed the curry and am planning to cook some more from this cookbook soon.

Bombay Chicken Masala
Serves 2

3 shallots, roughly chopped
3 green chillies, deseeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
handful of fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
70ml water
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 chicken fillets, cut into strips
125ml chicken stock
salt & pepper

1) In a blender blitz shallots, chillies, garlic, ginger, ground coriander, cumin, coriander leaves and water until you have a paste.

2) In a wok, heat rapeseed oil then fry paste for 1 min. Keep stirring, or it'll stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken, stir until thoroughly coated in the paste and cook for a further 2-3 min.

3) Pour in stock, cover and gently simmer for 10-12min until chicken is tender. Season with salt and pepper before serving.

Lamb Biryani

Ever since seeing the recipe for Lamb Biryani in this months Delicious I couldn't wait to give it a go. I'm a fan of Indian food, but struggle to find recipes that make dishes as good as the local Balti house.

The original recipe is for 6 so I had to tweak it slightly. The recipe also calls for ghee (clarified butter), I didn't really want to buy ghee from the supermarket as I can't see me using the rest of it so I made my own. I also don't own a casserole dish with a lid that is hob safe do had to dramatically alter the times to take this into account (the times here are the times I used).

We had it with naan bread and some riata I made. I was nice and certainly smelt of a biryani, but I felt it needed more of a spicy kick. Next time I'll make a basic vegetable curry to accompany it. It would have looked far more photogenic if I had remembered to buy fresh coriander!

Lamb Biryani
Serves 2 with leftovers

Marinade (prepare the night before)
125ml natural yogurt
400g lamb leg steak, cut into bite sized pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small green chilli, sliced
1 inch ginger, grated
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin

1) Mix all the marinade ingredients together, ensure lamb is thoroughly coated. Cover, chill and marinade overnight.

2) Next day, remove from the fridge and allow to get to room temperature.

Biryani
50ml milk
1/2 tsp saffron
40g ghee (if you are making your own, 50g unsalted butter will make enough ghee for this recipe)
1 large onion, finely sliced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
180g basmati rice, rinsed and soaked for 30 min in cold water
6 cardamom pods
1/2 cinnamon stick

1) Preheat oven to 180oc. Heat milk and stir in saffron, put to one side. Heat all but 1 tbsp of ghee in pan. Gently fry onions for 15 min. Stir in cumin and coriander for the final minute.

2) Boil rice, cardamom and cinnamon in pan of water for 2 min, then drain. Stir in onions.

3) Melt remaining ghee and pour onto the bottom of your casserole dish. Spread a small amount of rice at the bottom of the dish. Pour over with half of the lamb and marinade, top again with half of the rice. Cover with the remaining lamb and finally the last of the rice (think, layering up a lasagna!). Drizzle the saffron milk over the rice.

4) Tightly cover with foil, then place the lid on top. Bake for 45-55 minutes until rice and lamb are tender.

Thai Green Curry

While we were at my parents for Christmas we popped to WH Lung, a Chinese supermarket, in Liverpool. I've never been in a Chinese supermarket before and I was like a child in a sweet shop! There were so many ingredients I struggle to find where I live, so I stocked up. My haul included kaffir lime leaves, creamed coconut, spring roll pastry, dried shittake mushrooms and sesame oil.

Tonight's meal was Thai Green Curry. I don't think I've had a proper Thai Green Curry, but have always like the sound of it so decided to give it a go. I know green curry is meant to be hot, but although it was beautifully flavoursome it blew my head off!

I had read a tip somewhere about adding sugar to reduce the heat, I did this and it did work to some degree, but my lips are still tingling. I should have known it would be hot as the main ingredient in the paste is green chillies. Next time I'll 1/2 maybe even 1/4 the paste amount or even make my own paste.

Thai Green Curry
Serves 2-3

1 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 tbsp green curry paste (half if you don't like it hot hot hot!)
1 tbsp soft dark sugar
2 chicken fillets, diced
8 kaffir lime leaves
400ml coconut milk
1 tsp Thai fish sauce
1 tbsp chopped coriander
juice of 1 lime

1) Heat oil, paste and sugar on a high heat for about a minute. Reduce heat then add chicken and leaves until coated in the paste. Add coconut milk, fish sauce and simmer for 25 min.

2) Stir in lime juice and coriander. Taste sauce. If it is too spicy add some more sugar. Remove kaffir lime leaves. Allow to sit for about 5 min before serving.

On the talk of chicken please sign the petition Chicken Out! This campaign is very much in the news at the moment plus I'm a big fan of Hugh's beliefs and ethics.

Coconut Chicken Curry with Onion Bhajis

While I was sorting out the kitchen yesterday I came across a cookbook I haven't used in ages; 30-minute Indian - Sunil Vijayakar and with this weeks ingredient challenge being chillis I knew it had to be something Indian. I was really pleased how both the bhaji & curry worked out. Even though the curry was meant to be coconut curry it certainly had a strong chilli & garlic kick!

Onion bhaji
Makes about 8

1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
5 tbsp gram (chickpea) flour ....you can use plain flour
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped coriander
3/4 tsp baking powder
2-3 tbsp water
sunflower oil for frying

1) Mix all ingredients together (apart from the frying oil). Rest for 10 min.

2) Heat oil to 180oc-190oc or until a cube of bread browns in 30 sec. Drop spoonfuls of mix into oil. Fry for 1-2 min until brown.

Coconut chicken curry
serves 2

1 tbsp ground almonds
1 tbsp desiccated coconut
250ml coconut cream/milk
2 tsp chopped coriander leaves
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
2 garlic cloves crushed
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp veg oil
2 chicken fillets, diced
4 cardamom pods
1 tsp crushed red chilli flakes
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

1) Dry fry almonds and coconut until light brown. Transfer to mixing bowl. Add coconut cream, coriander, chilli powder, garlic, ginger and salt. Mix well.

2) Fry chicken and cardamom.

3) Stir in coconut mix and chilli flakes. Cover & cook gently for 10-12 min. Add fresh coriander, stir and serve.

Perfect Pulao Rice

We have just returned from a week in Center Parcs - Sherwood Forest. I admit I'm not the sportiest person on the planet and running around the gym, isn't my idea of fun so I spent most of the time in Aqua Sana or drinking/eating. In the spa Hubby & I had a fantastic treatment called Serail Mud Treatment. Essentially you smother each other in a clay/mud mix and sit in your own private steam room for 20 min. Very hot and very messy, but left us both with baby soft skin.

The food in Center Parcs can be very much hit or miss, but their Indian restaurant Rajinda Pradesh is fantastic. Ok, it's not as cheap & cheesy as Balti Towers (yes that is the name of my local Indian!) down the road, but it is a great place for a posh curry.

Whenever we eat at Rajinda Pradesh we go a bit mad. Our order included:
Shuruati Jugalbandi - A selection of starters including bhajie, tandoori chicken, deepfried okra (far nicer than I was expecting!) and mini shish lamb kebab.
Pappadums - with various dips and chutneys
Chicken Passanda - Chicken in a red wine, cashew, tomato and cream based sauce flavoured with garam masala
Chicken Makhani - Tandoori chicken in a creamy sauce with coconut butter.
Tandoori Naan bread
Pulao rice

All washed down with a bottle of Hardys "The Riddle" Chardonnay-Semillion and liquor coffee. Heaven!

Just before we went on holiday I manged to cook the perfect pulao rice. Has been many years in the making, but I got there eventually!

Perfect Pulao Rice
Serves 2

200g basmati rice
1/2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 cloves
2 cardamom pods
1 inch cinnamon stick (don't break it up, or it's a pain to fish out!)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp salt
300ml boiling water
1/4 tsp lemon juice

1) Heat oil and add whole spices. Cook gently for 1 minute until you can smell the spices.

2) Stir in bay leaf, salt, rice and water. Cover and cook on low for 10 min.

3) Take rice off heat and leave for 5 min.

4) Fish out bay, cinnamon, clove and cardamom then serve.