Having planned a BBQ for friends who sadly we’ve not seen in a while our plans were ruined by the British summertime weather!

Plan B. Indoor BBQ with the standard food.

However, I’m at my happiest when I’m cooking for others. As well as your ‘standard’ BBQ food I added 3 Indian inspired dishes.

British Raj beef curry taken from Rick Steins Indian cook book and two chicken dishes taken from Dan Toombs Indian cook book.

These dishes are perfect ways to showcase basic food and flavour knowledge and show off to friends 😄.

The chicken dishes are all about the marinade. Two separate marinades can be prepared, left alone to have a flavour party then you can prepared the beef curry which has a slow cooking process which enables you to entertain your guests.

The tandoori chicken is something I love making. The whole marinating process is a joy. I think I enjoy it more as you can completely lose your mind when playing with this process. All your troubles are forgotten. For me the past 18 months have been difficult. Having created a new brand 10 years ago then making the tough decision to walk away due to a number of reasons the main one being a bullying culture which the Directors turned a blind eye affected me deeply. The family suffered which was unacceptable. That brand was my heart and soul. That’s the reason I got so involved with food to distract myself due to the impact.

Food is really my passion now. I’ve stepped away from that company and started a new journey. The pressures are different but nothing like before.

So to get in the kitchen yesterday to cook for friends who I’ve hardly seen due to me head state was a joy. Also to hear the comments was heart warming. I’m determined to get further into food understanding flavours and spices. Not for a professional career. I have my career which I’m very passionate about. I love food and I love have food and cooking can bring people together. Hopefully food can help bring our lives back on track with some focus.

Back to the food….

I bought 10 drumsticks for £1.79, with a little bit of magic and frying the marinated drumsticks were a fantastic dish.

Whilst the drumsticks were having a flavour party I could start on the tandoori chicken. Slightly different as two steps to this process.

The chicken thighs are placed in garlic and ginger paste, the juice of two lemons and salt. If you want authentic tandoori chicken add red food colouring. Leave this to sit whilst you prepare the rest of the marinade.

The rest of the marinade was made up with the following ingredients –

1 cup of natural yogurt whisked. Add to this 1 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of ground pepper, 2 diced green chillies, 1 tbsp of garam masala, 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp ground coriander, 1 tbsp of tandoori masala, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp chilli powder, 3 tbsp of grated parmesan, handful of chopped coriander, mix well to make your paste.

Mix the chicken in with your paste and leave between 30 minutes to 24 hours.

The British Raj Beef curry is one of my favourite dishes to cook. Simple dish yet stunning.

Heat your ghee, gently brown off your beef is small batches and remove from the pan to rest.

In the same pan, brown two diced onions soaking up the flavours of the beef. Allow these to colour for 10 minutes or so.

Add 2 tbsp of garlic paste and fry for 1 minute.

Add back to the pan your beef and any juices. Add 1 tsp of chilli powder, 1 tbsp of garam masala and 1 tsp of turmeric. Mix well and add 600ml of beef stock.

Add a handful of sultanas and 100g of dedicated coconut. Bring to a simmer, lid on the pan and cook for an hour so it reduces down.