A paw full of spice makes everything nice
The Chicken Tikka Masala Origin Story Chicken Tikka Masala was supposedly born in Glasgow when a customer complained about his chicken curry being dry. To remedy this situation, the restaurant chef added some tomato soup to the mix and VOILA! This British-Indian dish was born. Many people speculate on whether or not this is actually…
Years ago I decided to expand my culinary horizons by attending a Pakistani cooking class and this curry, Aloo Palak or Pakistani Spinach curry was one of the first things I made. At that time, I knew nothing about Indian and Pakistani cuisine. I wasn’t even a big fan of it back then. However, if…
A curry here, another curry there… Compare a local mamak (eatery) here in Malaysia with an Indian restaurant back home and you will be puzzled. Granted, a mamak serves a wide range of different Malaysian foods from three (or more) different ethnic groups, not just food from the subcontinent, but if you fancy a curry…
Why do we need a base gravy for this dish? It’s tough to pick a “biggest difference” between British Indian food and “real” Indian cooking – beyond the fact that one has come through the lens of the restaurant industry rather than the homes and street stalls of the subcontinent. At home, most curries are…
Rogan Josh is delicious mutton or lamb curry: the name literally means ‘stewed in butter’. No wonder I love it so much. I can’t think of anything that I wouldn’t like if it was slow-cooked in butter. Especially if that something was tender bits of lamb with spices. The entire dish is as comforting…
How curry laksa was born The story goes that when Chinese immigrants settled in Malaysia, they married locals who learned to cook Chinese recipes but put their own twist on them by using local ingredients. Hence, Peranakan cuisine (aka Nyonya cuisine) was born and still remains a delicious staple in Malaysia…
What is kedgeree? Kedgeree is a British breakfast dish inspired by the Indian rice and lentil dish of khichdi. To anglicize to fit to British tastes, the lentils were swapped out for the beloved breakfast fish that is the kipper (smoked herring). When it came upon my turn to make this dish, I…
Chana Masala, the humble curry Chana masala does not have the ‘pizazz’ that some Indian dishes seem to carry. There aren’t any bright colors nor does this curry give off that chili pepper heat that makes you sweat. It’s a simple curry with simple ingredients, like the humble chickpea,…