Lentil Curry

I love my slow cooker. Here is one of my favourite recipes, which went down very well at my birthday party on Saturday. As with most things that are spiced, in reality I throw in whatever and however much I feel like on the day, but the following is a pretty good guide to how much.

Serves 5000 (well, it feels like it). I honestly wonder if this is how Jesus fed the masses sometimes after I've well fed a group of mates and then am eating it for lunches the next week as well.

2 mugs of dried red lentils - about a pint.
1 tin chopped tomatos
A couple of potatos, cubed very small.
A green pepper, cubed
A red pepper, cubed
A large handful of chestnut or closed cup mushrooms, quartered
A small onion chopped finely
Half a bag of spinach
Plenty of garlic, finely chopped
Large bunch fresh corriander, stems trimmed and chopped, leaves reserved.
4 or 5 green cardoman pods
1 star anise
6 cloves
1 tsp ground cumin or cracked cumin seeds
1 tsp ground corriander or cracked corriander seeds
Chille powder or chille seeds to taste
2 tsp Marigold vegetable stock powder
Salt and pepper

Optional: Cubed lamb.

Throw all ingredients apart from the spinach and coriander leaves in a 3.5 L slow cooker or crock pot. Mix, and then fill up with boiling water. Turn to high and leave to do it's thing for about 3-4 hours, until the veg is cooked and the lentils have disintegrated. Throw the spinach onto the top, put the lid back on and let it steam and wilt down, then stir in. Stir in the chopped corriander leaves just before serving, check spice and seasoning and adjust and serve.

Mix a little bit of hot water in when reheating to loosen it up again as the lentils will absorb any moisture that is left over time.


Serving suggestions: With brown rice for a really healthy and filling main course/ on it's own for a lighter meal/ with a buttered plain bagel or english muffin and a poached egg.

My New Favourite Curry House

In Bradford, when you arrive as a student having heard all about Bradford's reputation as a curry capital, one of the first and most obvious things to do with your new friends is to try a curry house. But, not knowing which are the good ones, many of us see Omars on Great Horton Road. Omar's offers 15% student discount, and for many students coming from more affluent areas, the prices look pretty good (when I moved here, you could still get curry and rice for £3.50).

The biggest thing though (and whoever had the idea to implement it there was a business genius), is their loyalty card. The loyalty card is very generous, and so so many of the students when they arrive have a curry at Omar's, get a loyalty card, and so always end up going there with their mates. I did the same, until I moved away to York for a year. In that year, the portion sizes went up, the quality down, and the prices drastically up. Although I have been a couple of times since getting back to Bradford again, and it has got better quality again, I decided it was time to seek out the decent curry houses in Bradford.

You know the ones I mean: the magical ones that you can buy authentic curry at cheap prices from, where all the locals eat. The first on my list therefore was one I only found out about at the weekend. It was recommended to me by the absolute sweetie who owns Nomad who, it turns out, studied in Bradford. As he cooks fabulous curries himself, even on a field in a tiny van, I trusted his judgement, especially when I found out it is featured on tonight's Gordon Ramsay's Best Restaurants. When my brother emailed me last night to say he was driving by Bradford, and did I fancy a curry it was the first my mind jumped to.

Prashad is on Horton Grange Road, about 5 minutes from University (at the speed I walk anyway). It's a tiny little restaurant - basically its a converted end of terrace with the front room now the take away and the back a 20 seater restaurant, with the kitchen in the middle. The decor was simple, modern and bright, and in good condition, the chairs comfortable, and despite the small size of the room it did not feel cramped (although there were only about 10 customers eating in). After scanning the menu we both decided to order the Special Thali, which was £11.50 each. Forgive me for not being able to name the dishes: the waiter had quite a thick accent and I didn't catch all he said, but I shall describe them as best I can.

So, let's begin at the start (as someone once said - a very good place to begin). Forget those pale, flat, slightly greasy things you get at most Indians - the poppadums were indeed crispy and melt in the mouth, but they were also somewhat more flavoursome, and a slightly brown colour. Not being an expert, I have no idea if this is down to the type of flour used, or whether it is a regional difference or what. All I know is they were some of the most delicious poppadums I've ever had. The dips were the usual lime pickle, mango and chilli and mint yoghurt dips, but also a delicious bright green paste that had corriander, mint and chilli in it.

The Thali itself was what I have been told is a more traditional way of eating Indian food-lots of different dishes on the table at once, with sweet and savoury alike. There was another poppadum, perectly light, soft, fluffy plain rice, three delicious rotis, obviously fresh made. Some kind of bargee type thing that had vegetables and potato in it and was soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside like a dumpling (Tom had a bright yellow ball of spiced and fried lentils - we assume this was because he is allergic to nuts and that it was a replacement, although I didn't actually taste any nuts in mine). There was Daal like I've never had it - a thin broth type soup rather than the thick lentil curry I've always had before, a really spicy potato curry and a pepper curry that was a little sweeter. All were beautifully balanced and seasoned - enough heat for me, the regular curry eater, but not so much that Tom, who claims he has lost his ability to cope with large amounts of spice since moving north, was still able to clear his plate quicker than I could.

The real highlight for me, however, was the dessert. In Britain we have this idea that there isn't really much in the way of Indian deserts, butI rather suspect we are wrong about that. Certainly, the dessert on our plate this evening was an absolutely fabulous mango shikand. The sweetness and creamyness was the perfect palate cleanser to end the spicy meal. It was as thick and smooth  - almost glossy feeling in the mouth - as really good custard should be, and filled the last little corner nicely, without leaving me feeling bloated.

All in all, it is by far the best curry I have yet had in Bradford, for a very good price.  Omar's, you now have to give me a very good reason to go back.

I will leave you with Tom's comment though:

'That was really good. We should do this again. Next time though, take me somewhere they serve meat.'