Roti Chai - Oxford Street

A few weeks back, my lovely friend Anna invited me to Roti Chai for dinner with our sisters'. Roti Chai is an Indian restaurant split into two separate restaurants, a dining room serving rather expensive curries and a sort of canteen serving street food. We opted for the street food as we wanted somewhere relaxed and student budget friendly.

Papri Chaat

We drank sharp but sweet lychee martinis from tea pots, which reminded me of many lost evenings in World Bar in Queenstown. They also serve all the usual Indian beers and a good selection of wine.

Pea & Potato Samosas

To start we shared papri chaat; crispy wheat puffs smothered with yogurt and topped with pomegranate seeds, mint and a spicy sauce. These were really delicious, the rich yogurt with little bursts of sweet pomegranate and the crunchy wheat was a great combination. We also shared some spicy pea and potato samosas, served with a coriander sauce and chickpeas, also very yummy.

Hakka Chilli Paneer

My favourite dish was the hakka chilli paneer, stir fried with spring onions, chilli and coriander, with a light but firey sauce. The flavours and textures were much more exciting than the usual saag paneer served up in Indian restaurants. The cheese was fried until crisp but still soft and salty on the inside, with crunchy peppers and spring onion and spicy chilli heat it was an excellent dish.

Macher Jhol

We shared a lamb curry which was served with chapatis for dipping, the sauce was rich and the meat tender. We also ordered a fish curry, with a light but well spiced sauce, plenty of coriander on top and crispy fried fish. Whilst the curries were good, it's the street food that makes it worth a trip to Roti Chai.

Mixed Roti

We all really enjoyed our meal at Roti Chai. I'm a big fan of street food as the small portions allow you to try lots of little bits rather than just one big main course. Indian food available in the UK has too long been dominated by Anglicised curries heavy with oil and cream, so it's great to see more authentic and exciting dishes getting a look in. The service was friendly and quick and the canteen itself is bright and clean. It's certainly a welcome addition to the area, which is in dire need of cheap, quick and interesting food joints.

Railway Lamb Curry

Rasa Travencore - Stoke Newington

After living near Stoke Newington for over 4 years, I finally made my first trip to Rasa to celebrate the end of the dreaded first week back at work. Multi-award winning (albeit several years ago) and with half a dozen branches around London I had high hopes, but unfortunately the meal we had was verging on inedible.

Kathrikka

There are two branches on Church St, one specialising in vegetarian food and one for the meat-eaters, Rasa Travancore, which is where we ate. Rasa serve traditional Keralan food; I will happily admit that I've no idea what distinguishes the food of Kerala from the rest of India, however, I presumed it would be full of flavour and well spiced. I've often heard that the anglicised curries served in most Indian restaurants pale in comparison to authentic Indian food, unfortunately all four dishes we were served were under seasoned, under spiced and bland to the extreme.

Mysore Bonda

As it is famous for its vegetarian food we started with mysore bonda (or potato balls to you and me). The potato was supposed to be 'laced with fresh ginger, curry leaves, coriander and black mustard seeds and crisply fried' however what we were served was a bland and soggy ball of potato, which tasted more of cooking oil than anything else. We also ordered the kathrikka, slices of aubergine fried in a coriander and chilli batter, which were equally as unappetising. Both starters tasted as though they had been cooked earlier in the day and reheated in the microwave, although it must be said that both were served with a reasonably good salsa.

Nadan Kozhy & Konju Thenga

We ordered two curries, the nadan kozhy (a pepper massala chicken curry) and konju thenga (tiger prawns with coconut and green chilli), both of which were luke warm and insipid. It's not that I love spicy food and need a curry to be hot, I just want it to taste of something. I've never known Chris to leave food, but even he couldn't finish off either of the curries. The one saving grace of the meal was the crispy paratha, which really was delicious.

Paratha

The service was quick, although not particularly friendly and the decor was in need of some TLC. I don't like to bad mouth a local, independent restaurant, but it was a thoroughly disappointing meal. I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts on Rasa; is the vegetarian restaurant better? Did we simply choose the wrong curries? Is this what traditional Keralan cooking should taste like? Any feedback welcomed.

Spicy Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

I made this winter soup in December and froze half which we ate for dinner on new year's day. There's nothing more comforting than homemade soup, it's simple and cheap to make and so much nicer than the watery, bland versions you can buy in the supermarket. I served this with a little fried chorizo on top as I had it in the fridge. You can play around with the toppings using whatever you have availiable to you. My mum made something similar over Christmas topped with finely sliced spring onion & red chili, some whole cumin seeds gently dry fried until they begin to release their spicy aroma would also make a good addition to this simple soup.

Serves 4
Butternut squashed, peeled, deseeded and cut into small chunks
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
100g split lentils, rinsed
2 bay leaves
750ml vegetable or chicken stock
1 or 2 tbsp Pataks curry paste (I used madras)
1/2 tin low fat coconut milk

1. Roast the squash in a pre-heated oven for 45 minutes, or until soft. Meanwhile soften the onion and garlic in a little oil for 10 minutes. Add the lentils, stock, bay leaves and seasoning, cover and simmer for 30 minutes until the lentils are soft
2. Add the butternut squash to the soup and simmer for a further 5 minutes. If the soup is too thick add a little extra stock. Remove the bay leaves, then blend the soup until smooth. Return to the hob and add the curry paste (to taste) and coconut milk, make sure the soup is warm and serve with warm crusty bread and a swirl of creme fraiche

Chicken, Spinach & Butternut Squash Curry

Last week I made this super tasty chicken curry. I don't tend to cook authentic Indian food at home as I can rarely be bothered to make my own curry paste and to me the shop bought ones taste pretty good. This takes about an hour and a half to make, so maybe not ideal for a school night, but it's well worth the time and effort.

I used chicken thighs and drumsticks as they're so much cheaper than breast meat (it was less than £4 for enough free range meat for 5 portions). Adding butternut squash and spinach is a handy way of getting a few of your five a day and in my opinion they're a great addition to any curry. The lentils help to thicken the sauce and absorb the excess liquid so you get a deliciously thick sauce, perfect for mopping up with some naan bread. I also nabbed some onion bhajis from work, which were perfectly crisp and full of flavour.

Serves 4-6

800g free range chicken drumsticks and/or thighs
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped
1 butternut squash, cut into bite size chunks
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp hot chili powder
2 tbsp curry paste (I used Pataks)
1 tin reduced fat coconut milk
1/2 jar passata
1 bag of spinach
6 tbsp red split lentils 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Put the bite size chunks of butternut squash into a large baking tray in one layer, drizzle with oil and cook for 45 minutes or until soft.
2. Meanwhile mix the spices and garlic with a little oil to make a paste, spread the mixture over the chicken and leave to marinade for 20 minutes (or longer if you have time). 
3. Heat a little oil in a heavy based pan and fry the chicken until browned. Remove the chicken from the pan and add the onion. Gently fry for 10 minutes, then add the curry paste & lentils and fry for a few more minutes. 
4. Add the passata, coconut milk and chicken. Bring the mixture to the boil, then turn down the heat, put the lid on and cook for 40 minutes. Add the roasted squash for the final 15 minutes of cooking.
5. When the lentils have plumped up and absorbed the excess liquid, add the spinach a handful at a time and let it wilt. Once all the spinach has been added serve with brown rice.

Chicken marinading:

 Chicken, spinach & butternut squash curry:

Deliverance onion bhajis:

The finished article:

Spinach & Lamb Curry with Coconut Dhal

For last weeks Sunday night dinner I decided to make an Indian feast. I love homemade curry, but I normally end up making it with Patak's paste for ease, so I decided to make it from scratch.

The recipes were both from Good Food, which always offers a good range of recipes. For the lamb and spinach curry I used 400g lamb rather than 600g and doubled the amount of spinach, but other than that I kept to the recipe. It had a good amount of heat, but maybe could have done with some extra cumin, coriander and turmeric. By not using an oily paste and adding plenty of spinach it tasted a lot fresher than your average curry. I only made half the lentil recipe, as I just wanted it as a side dish. I added twice the amount of water and cooked them for a hour until they were really soft, I also added a teaspoon of madras curry paste to spice them up a little.

Both dishes were really tasty and simple to make, it's well worth buying your own spices although I do still think you can make a great curry if you use a good paste. The left over lentils made a quick and easy Monday night meal, with some naan bread for dipping.

Lamb curry cooking:

Amazing lentil curry:

Finished lamb curry: