Bipin’s Curry – Methi Masala

 

After reading my review of Gordon Ramsays Seriously Good sauces a while ago , I was kindly approached and asked if I would like to try out BIpins Curry Pots … to see what I thought of them ! Well … you asked the RIGHT girl .. as a Curryaholic I very nearly snapped the cyber hand off ….. as it were !!!!  I eagerly awaited the postman and already had the meal planned ….. so when the postman came a knocking .. I almost sent him flying in my eagerness and my overly excited chatter of  “A parcel for me .. really .. Gimme Gimme Gimme …. ” Good job our Postie knows me !!!!!

It had arrived .. this wonderful pot of curryness .. ! I read the instructions carefully .. and got dizzy with wonder over the thought of this little tub of ” fresh authentic herbs and spices ”  ! The thought of  all that ginger , garlic , chili , lemon, coriander and a “special methi (fenugreek) Gujurati spice blend ” .. Now I am quite a fan of fenugreek (methi) after a colleague of mine introducing me to green roti  … something I was sad not to have had available to eat along side this Methi masala !!

So when dinner time came … I got cooking ! The aroma of authentic Indian food filled my house and spilled out into the street …. Anybody could have been forgiven for thinking I’d got a real chef in  my kitchen conjuring up a feast of Indian amazingness … when in fact it was just little old me and a pot of Bipins magic** spices (**not actually magic ….) . The absolute simplicity of using these curry pots is wonderful …. fry , add and simmer ….. et voila ! You couldn’t actually make it any easier ……! Tastier , quicker and totally more fantastic than a takeaway … PLUS you choose what goes in it .. so you control the fat content (perfect for the likes of us watching our waistlines .. ahem) and you control what “kind” of curry you have ….. I made a chicken masala and added single cream at the end of cooking for a creamier dish ….. Next time I think I’ll go for a vegetarian/mushroom curry … hmmm the choices are endless … (not actually endless but you get my drift …)

So in all .. You can have an amazing curry quite literally in 20 minutes ….. Made in your own kitchen … Just think how proud you’ll feel when all the compliments roll in about your amazing Indian cookery skills !!!!

Nice one Bipin !!!!! Brilliant !!!!

You can purchase Bipins Curry Pots online at www.bipins.co.uk and follow them on Twitter @BipinsCurryPot

Go On … you won’t be disappointed 🙂

 

Liquorice Brain Leakage Cake

 

Yesterday I hosted Derby’s first EVER Clandestine Cake Club and even though I do say so myself .. it was a resounding success ! The theme I had chosen was TRICK OR TREAT … with it being a week before Hallowe’en I thought this was a pretty relevant theme ! Admittedly I hadn’t expected a gloriously warm day with sunshine …. but you can’t win them all … Now I will blog all about the afternoon itself in due course ( when I have more than 5 minutes in which to blog) but in the mean time I wanted to share with you my cakey offering at yesterday’s meeting !!! The Liquorice Brain Leakage Cake ….. Now this cake has caused me nowt but trouble .. I’ll be honest .. and right up until yesterday morning I was still plotting alternatives !!!!! I originally made this cake in an 8″ tin as the original recipe had specified … I followed the recipe to the letter and was really quite excited by it .. until the 35 minutes of baking was up and my cake was still wibbly wobbly in the middle ! Harumph ! I ended up baking it for over an hour .. 65 minutes to be precise before the cake was baked through .. and thankfully only a little over browned on the edges ! This cake was very much appreciated by my eldest son who declared he would eat a chunk for breakfast … and did !!!!!! (**disclaimer .. the cake does have fruit in it ! lol)

 

When the time arrived to bake the cake again I decided to up the amount of sultanas and liquorice in the cake .. I also decided to use a 10″ round tin …. and I was fully in the “lets wing it” category on the timing issues …. ! So with my heart in my throat I embarked on THE cake …. It worked .. It was bigger and flatter … fully expected .. and only took 45 minutes to bake ! PHEW .. success !!! Here’s the recipe….

Liquorice Brain Leakage Cake (adapted from a recipe by Allegra Mcevedy …. The only liquorice based cake I could find on that tere tinterwebby thing)

200g sultanas soaked in a mugful of black tea for 15-30 minutes (I used a couple of normal tea bags )

200g Pontefract cakes chopped into quarters (or smaller if you prefer .. I kept it chunky)

150 g softened butter

200g caster sugar

300g Self raising Flour

2 Eggs

1tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp Black teacle

Grease and line a 10″ ROUND tin . Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

Cream the butter and suagr together until fluffy ! Add the flour and the eggs … mix well (the mixture is quite doughy).

Pour away half of the tea from the mug and then add the rest and the sultanas to the mixture .. mix well ! Add the pontefract cakes , cinnamon and treacle … Mix well into incorporated and looking all brown and gooey and lumpy !!!! (Its should smell a bit like Christmas)

Pour the mixture into the tin and bang it in the oven !! After 30 minutes place a circle of greased proof paper over the cake to prevent burning & drying out …. bake for a further 15 minutes ! check that the cake is cooked through with a skewer …. Remove from the oven and allow to cool !!!

To Ice this cake and make it into its Brain Leakage Glory … I mixed 250g of Fondant icing sugar with the zest and juice of 2 small oranges ! I then poured this all over the cake …..I then used Silverspoon Lilac colour creator (Kindly sent to me the people at Baking Mad) and splattered it over the cake before swirling the handle of a wooden spoon through it to create a purpley psychedelic leakage effect)

And so it came to pass that the cake was born ……… Give it a try ! Hallowe’en won’t be the same without it ……………