Making cooking curry at home a little easier.
I know it’s hard for all businesses during this time, but the enterprising ones have managed to do something different while their restaurants are closed.
My Delhi have launched recipe kits for cooking at home, which though a small thing, keeps you in touch with the brand, and means you can cook something pretty good at home, and support the restaurant.
Their first product is a chettinad chicken madras spice blend. It’s £4 which to be honest I’m happy to pay for some fresh spices, ground for me. I’ve got some cloves in the cupboard from I think 2014. I mean who’s using that many cloves for anything 🤷🏻♂️
This contains 12 spices – usual coriander, cumin, fennel, cardamom, and interesting coconut milk powder which I guess provides some body and makes this whole package easier to post. On post – this literally comes in an envelope. Smells beautiful, but could imagine easily damaged in transit.
Additional ingredients required –
500g chicken
2 medium onions
3 tomatoes
1tb ginger
1tb garlic
They’ve put ‘difficulty 2/3’ on the packet but honestly this couldn’t be much simpler.
Chopped onions, garlic, ginger, brown. Try to be patient with your onions, more colour = more flavour. Add tomatoes and soften. Then saute with the chicken, and add some water to get a sauce.
I was pretty happy with the end result – lot of punchy flavour. Lot of chilli heat, so if you can’t handle the claimed 🌶🌶🌶 level, it’s probably not for you (even with a cooling spoon of yoghurt).
I made these very basic naan-stlye breads to go with it. Didn’t really follow a recipe but something like 250g flour, 1ts baking powder, 1ts salt, 1tb vegetable oil, 2tb yoghurt, enough milk to form a smooth dough. I always find Indian breads fairly forgiving and as this isn’t yeasted, it was ready in the time it took to thicken the curry. Mix all ingredients, knead for 5 mins, rest for 20 mins, and then roll out and put under a blazing hot grill until browned. Brush with butter and serve hot.
To do them properly, you need a pizza oven or similar, but these are OK – nice pillowy texture. Bit of basmati and some sorely missing veg and you’ve got a solid meal.
Total cost: ~£9 all in for this which is you compared to a takeaway is obviously canny. Certainly does 3 portions – we had the rest with some fried potatoes the next day.
Improvements for next time:
- I’d make this with paneer. I’ve been replacing chicken with paneer in most of my curries and don’t miss it much. Alternatively, goat or mutton would work well.
- I couldn’t get any coriander in the shops but definitely pep it up with some green.
- More of an experiment for My Delhi: I’m sure even a basic cook can add some spices at different times in the cooking. Would make it feel a little more like doing something if there were spices to toast pre-onion, and a garam masala or something to finish with.
Spice kits are £3.95 and available direct from the restaurant or by post: https://www.mydelhistreetfood.com/shop
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