The lovely, fresh-tasting Ginger Chicken
Spice of India, London SE1
A rambling, long menu is often worrying. How can a chef know, and cook, all these dishes properly methinks.
But somehow it seems perfect for the Spice of India. This is a proper curry house. Packed with an adoring after-work crowd all tucking into popadoms and dips and loving the array of old-school dishes on offer, the place is buzzing midweek.
This Waterloo favourite has stayed true to what most of us fell in love with when it came to Indian food – good, tasty food with no nonsense. It may not have that stark (cool, you know) Scandinavian-inspired interior design and astonishing unheard of dishes we can boast about at work the next day as if we are great culinary sub Continent explorers, but it does serve decent curry at decent prices.
The Spice of India might not be new and shiny but it certainly doesn’t feel dated; it’s just happy in its own curry-house skin. And I’m happy it’s there. Chicken Rogan (£8.25), Prawn Bhuna (£8.75), Pilau rice (£3.25) and a nan bread (£2.95) hasn’t tasted so good in a while.
Spice of India, 65 The Cut, South Bank, London, SE1 8LL. Tel: 0207 1286 or 0207 928 5280. Open: daily noon–2.30pm and 5.30pm–11.30pm.
Scores on the tandoors
Food 7.5
Decor 6
Service and friendliness 7.5
Vibe (early Wednesday night) 9
Value 8
Shezan, Oxford
In the glory days of Oxford the Cowley Road was rammed with Indian restaurants. Indian restaurant, Indian restaurant, pub, Indian restaurant, that’s how it went. Which was perfect for us.
I should explain. The glory days were the late 1980s when we were students in this fine scholarly city. Us is four friends who used to live together in those glory days who have met for a reunion. It’s 30 years on.
We meet in the New Inn, at least that’s still there. Blimey, the prices have gone up Roger. The Indians have been invaded by Mesopotamian skewers and forced from their land. And then, as if to plant a warning flag to any counter invasion the Mesopotamians have inserted huge chunks of lamb and chicken in the windows, continuously dripping fat and spice from their bulky masses.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a kebab as much as the next half-drunk person who is wildly hungry at 11.30pm. Don’t diss a kebab, it does the trick. But Turkish food, eaten with friends as you stumble along the pavement dribbling into the pita as you search for another bit of sliced meat while dodging people looking at their phones, doesn’t do much for a shared dining experience.
Indian food does, however. It’s all sharey is Indian food. The saddest Indian casualty along the Cowley Road, says Jon, is the Jomuna. He’s right. The Jomuna was our second home in the late 1980s. We must have eaten there three times a week at least. Ralph was the wonderful manager. We once turned up with a (very small) handful of change as the pubs were shutting and asked, “what can we get for this?” He picked up the change without counting it and replied: “whatever you want boys.” He worked for Oxford council in the day and in the restaurant at night and, if my memory serves me right, was studying part-time as well. For someone who thought getting up for an afternoon lecture was commendable I was in awe of the man. That night, out of respect for Ralph and being well brought up young men we opted for a basic curry and rice despite him repeating the all-in-offer.
But what we really wanted was a Chicken Tikka Masala. This glorious dish had just been invented (although we didn’t know that at the time) and the Jomuna had it on its menu. My goodness it was wonderful. But as it was a couple of quid more than the other dishes it was most certainly only ordered on special occasions, such as birthdays or when we’d found a pound note (yes, it was that long ago) on the pavement.
The only other time we had a Chicken Tikka Masala was when Rob (you’ve met all of Us now) returned home from a weekend triumphantly waving a £50 that his grandad had given him above his head. “Beers and a Jomuna?” he asked.
We eked out a couple of games of pool at the Bricklayer’s Arms and Britannia and squeezed in a pint at the White Horse, but frankly there was nothing else on our minds other than visiting Ralph.
Chicken Tikka Masala was better in those days. And I know it is not my memory playing nostalgic tricks with me because I still make it using a recipe from Pat Chapman’s iconic book, Favourite Restaurant Curries, which was first published in 1988. It was before the phrase British Indian Restaurant (BIR) curries had taken hold, but this book was exactly that: curries how the Brits liked them. The recipe in the book is an amalgam from the Oakham Tandoori in Leicester, Dilruba in Rugby, and Koh-i-noor, in Newport. This is how Ralph’s Chicken Tikka Masala tasted and if you want to know what this and other 1980s curries were like then this is the book for you.
But Jomuna is gone so we head across Magdalen Bridge and up the High Street to the Shezan. They look somewhat surprised to see us, even though it has just passed 10.30pm. That’s another thing that has changed: Indian restaurants are much more respectable now and a lot don’t even bother with the after-pub crowd. Leave that to the Mesopotamians.
But we are just in time to order says the young waiter, who is friendly enough but wasn’t even born when they were inventing Chicken Tikka Masala. The decor is all contemporary Mogul style and the snappily dressed owner Salim has the story of the place. This superbly located restaurant has been a dining room since 1915 and he has been here since 1978, when he started out as a pot washer and general this-that-and-the-other type helper. He’s a nice guy and advises me to have Lemon rice (£3.95) with my main, which is a winning recommendation.
Tonight we are also ordering Paneer Tikka (£5.95) starters, Goan Chicken (£10.95) mains, Peshwari nans (£3.95). But, I am delighted to say, there is still one Chicken Tikka Masala (£9.95) on the table.
It’s lovely to know that not everything has changed.
Goan Chicken Curry (very good with Lemon rice) and Paneer Tikka.
Shezan, Ist Floor, 135 High Street, Oxford, OX4 1DN. Tel: 01865 251600. Open: Mon–Thurs noon–2.30pm and 5.30pm–late. Fri–Sun noon–3pm and 5.30pm–late.
Scores on the tandoors
Food 8
Decor 8
Service and friendliness 7.5
Vibe (late Friday night) 5
Value 7.5
You certainly won’t come across this dish in many places outside of East Africa.
Kuku paka – Kenyan chicken and potato curry – is both simple and delicious. Mildly spiced and creamy, my girls both love it.
Unlike many curries, the chicken are cooked separately – which keeps the flavours and textures distinct– and folded into the coconut curry sauce just before serving.
(Which is similar to chicken tikka masala, now I think of it.)
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You won’t come across this Keralan dish in many places. But just look at the colour of that chicken. Mmmmm…
It is a delicious and very tasty stir fry . Usually we prepare stir fry with veggies, but this is using chicken as the main ingredient. It is very simple to prepare also. You can have it as a side dish for rice or chapathi.
Ingredients
Preparation
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This was discovered in a Marks & Spencer Christmas chocolate box, one of those things where an elaborate box holds a handful of (it must be admitted) rather delicious chocolates. This chocolate is called Chai Latte (the pic is not actual size obviously) and is described as “a creamy white chocolate merged with Colombian coffee, spice and chai flavour.” It’s not like any chai I’ve had but it looks good and tastes good. It was in what M&S call a Golden Jewels Box, but I guess you’ll have to wait till next December till these are rolled out again.
Serves 4 (as a main dish)
Cooking time: 35 mins
What you need
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil
• 4 tablespoons cornflour
• 1 tablespoon red chilli powder
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 500g paneer cheese, chopped into small, evenly sized chunks or strips)
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 each of red, yellow and green capsicum peppers, chopped into bite-sized chunks
• 20g garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons Baj’s Blazin’ Original Hot Sauce*
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 4 green chillies, sliced down the middle and cut into chunks (deseed if you wish, but what a waste!)
• Small handful of coriander to garnish
How to cook
1. Mix the cornflour with 20ml of water, the red chilli powder and some salt and pepper. Coat each piece of paneer in the cornflour mix.
2. Heat a little oil in a frying pan to a medium heat and shallow fry some of the paneer for a couple of minutes until slightly golden. Set aside on kitchen towel. Repeat until all the paneer has been cooked.
3. Add the onions, peppers to the oil and cook for 3-4 minutes on a medium heat.
4. Add in the garlic, Baj’s Blazin’ Original Hot Sauce, soy sauce and brown sugar to the onions, peppers and garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes on a medium heat.
6. Add in the paneer and cook for a further 3 minutes, then add in the chillies, salt and pepper to taste and stir well.
7. Once everything is warmed through, sprinkle on the coriander leaves and serve.
* Recipe courtesy of Baj’s Blazin’ Sauce from Greenwich.
Egg curry street style
Serves 4
What you need
• 8 eggs
• 3 potatoes
• salt to taste• 3 tbsp oil
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 tsp roughly chopped garlic
• a 2-3cm piece of ginger peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• a small handful of coriander (tear the leaves off and chop the stems)
Spice mix 1
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 cloves
• 2 cardomom pods (cracked open slightly)
• 6 peppercorns
• 3 whole dried red chillies (or a tsp of crushed dried chillies)
• 1 bay leaf
Spice mix 2
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp cummin
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder (add more if you like your curries hot)
How to cook
1. Hard boil the eggs and remove the shells.
2. Peel and slice potatoes and pat dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle potatoes with salt.
3. Heat the oil and fry the potatoes until they are cooked through and just start to brown. Set aside.
4. Fry the eggs in the same oil for about 5 minutes, rolling them frequently to avoid them crisping. Remove eggs and set aside.
5. Turn up the heat to ensure the oil is piping hot. Add the whole spices and cook for 20-30 seconds (cover the pan with a lid as it may spit). Timing is important. You want to infuse the oil with the flavours of the whole spices but if they burn you will have to do stage 5 again.
6. Add onion, garlic, ginger and tomatoes and turn down to a medium heat. Cover and cook for about 12-15 minutes, stirring from time to time to avoid the sauce sticking.
7. Add the Spice Mix 2 with some salt, and stir in thoroughly. Cook for another 10 minutes. You may need to add in some water if the sauce is too thick.
8. Add the potatoes and eggs. Stir so the eggs are covered with the sauce but be careful not to break them up. Heat through for about five minutes.
9. Spinkle on the coriander.
The Royal Curry Club 