How curried shrimp/prawn toast came to be… As is the case with most recipes on this blog, I must say that my husband, or rather his incessant requests, is again responsible for this recipe. To be honest, I had never even heard of shrimp toast (or prawn toast as the Brits like to say) until…
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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…
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How my love of curry began 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…
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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…
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Why do we need a base gravy for this dish? It’s tough to pick the “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…
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What is a Rogan Josh? Rogan Josh is a delicious red curry most notably made with lamb or mutton. The name, Rogan Josh, 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…
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The birth of Curry Laksa Laksa is the result of two cultures coming together. 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…
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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…
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Chana Masala, the humble chickpea curry Chickpea curry 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, simmered in a tomato gravy. …
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