Butternut Squash and Coconut Curry

Butternut Squash and Coconut Curry served with chapattis!

They say that owners look like their pets (I’m hoping to be the owner of a pug soon...does this mean I look like a pug?!)

They also say men marry women who look like their mothers (does that mean Mr KG thinks I look like his Mum?!)

But what does the food someone eats or cooks say about them?



Self portrait?

I often think that people who cook exotic food must be reasonably well travelled. There’s a big difference between someone who likes to order the odd Chinese or curry and someone who cooks pasta from scratch, or has an authentic recipe for lamb tagine.

And so I wonder – what do the recipes on this blog say about me?!

Unfortunately I am nowhere near as well travelled as I would like to be. I have been to all of the obvious places in Europe – France, Spain, Germany and Greece. I’ve also been to Prague. But that’s really where the extent of my “travelling” starts and stops.

From a young age I’ve had a desire to go to new places and when I wrote my first ever bucket list when I was 13 it included travelling to India, Japan, Russia and China. These are most definitely still the 4 places I would like to visit the most. Since beginning to learn Mandarin I feel like my dream to visit China is becoming more and more possible. I’d love to fit in a month long tour of China before I start my training contract but I just have to keep on hoping for now – after all a temporary job and a flat with Mr KG are way higher on my list of priorities.

I may not be well travelled but I am well eaten – if that’s even a saying! I’ve certainly tried my fair share of curries, some of which were more authentic than others.

Wherever I’ve lived (or Mr KG has lived) we’ve always been in pursuit of a good curry. I’ve also been fortunate enough in the past to have a friend from Bangladesh who’s Mum LOVED to cook us curries for revision sessions back during my A-Levels. Another friend spent a lot of time in Nepal and brought home recipes for authentic Nepalese curries.

Silky coconut curry with butternut squash, red chilli and lentils

One day I hope that I will be able to share a traditional recipe passed down to me on one of my travels, but that might be for a while yet.

Until then, all I can do is share with you a recipe for one of my favourite curries which I cook at home. The idea has come from a variety of dishes I’ve tried both at home and in restaurants so it may well be a twist on a classic, who knows!

[Review + Recipe] LovePickle and Low Fat Chicken Korma

NB. A jar of this product was given to me free for me to review. All opinions are my own!

Hey everybody! Today I’m brining you a double post – half review half recipe. I’m sure you’ve all noticed that I’ve been quite quiet on the blogging front recently, and not without good reason. Throughout February I was taking some very important law exams. Results don’t come out for ages yet, but I don’t think I had any disasters. I’ve also been on holiday! Just two days after I finished the last of my six exams, Mr KG and I hopped on a plane to Prague and I’ve just got back from a lovely long weekend filled with food, drink, sightseeing and Jazz. I hope to do a post on my trip soon as I discovered lots about the city that I would like to share (and not just restaurant recommendations). I’ll also be trying to recreate a dish I had while I was out there.

Over the last month or so I’ve also been inundated with requests from brands and PR firms. There have been so many I couldn’t possibly (and wouldn’t want to) say yes to them all. LovePickle however was a brand I was more than happy to give a try...

I was instantly intruiged by LovePickle because they looked like a fresh and funky company selling one of my favourite things – Indian pickles. They kindly offered me a (free) jar to review: all I had to do was decide the heat! (Mild, medium, hot and extra hot). I went for hot, and was pretty confident I could stand the heat.

One of the things that instantly drew me to the pickle, was that I wasn’t bombarded with an array of fancy flavours. Now they say variety is the spice of life, but it’s never a good thing to be a jack of all trades and master of none. The LovePickle pickle is handmade from ripe tomatoes, fresh chillies, garlic, ginger, mustard oil and seeds plus a selection of carefully selected quality herbs and spices. They have perfected their recipe only ever tweaking the heat of the finished product so that they know the taste is the best it can be every time.

LovePickle stress how it can be used in a whole variety of ways – either served with poppadoms and naan bread, as an accompaniment to main courses or as an alternative to chutneys, relishes and ketchups. So far I’ve served it up alongside a variety of home-made currys, and it goes particularly well with the korma which I am sharing with you below.

So what did I really think of the pickle? You can most definitely tell that it is a tomato based pickle, and I must admit I usually opt for lime or other fruit based pickles with my meals. However, unlike some, this pickle is not too sweet. You get a rich, deep tomato flavour as a base which the spices and chilli heat is built on top of. It is a very well rounded pickle and I think this is what makes it so versatile! I would happily serve this as a dip for crisps at a party, or alongside poppadoms and curries at dinner time.

Priced at £2.95 a jar it is a little more pricey that the likes of Patak’s or Sharwoods, but the quality is far far far superior. I couldn’t fault the sample I was given. (Except that it didn’t automatically refill itself! With a hungry family I think the jar only last 4 meals.)

If you want to try the pickle for yourself you can find the whole range on the LovePickle website. or follow their facebook or twitter pages (@Lovepickle_uk).

Now, on to the korma I’ve been serving alongside this pickle!

The Indian takeaway is one of the nation’s most loved dishes. But with many recipes including ghee or copious amounts of oil, the kind of curry that gets delivered to your door is also filled with extra fat and calories you just don’t need.

I’ve been cooking my own curries for years now, but never have I even tried to recreate a “take-away” style curry before, until now. Low-fat creamy sauces have become a bit of a ‘thing’ of mine recently and I’ve been trying to find ways to recreate indulgent dishes with less of the fat. This korma is another attempt at doing just that!

It is delicately spiced, with all the traditional spices you would expect to find in a take-away korma, however, by replacing cream with crème fraiche, and by using a food processer to get a thick and creamy base for my sauce I am able to bring a taste of India into your kitchen.

The tumeric and saffron give the sauce a brilliant yellowy colour in true take-away style so you don't feel you're missing out on any part of the experience.

This recipe also creates a good helping of the creamy sauce, so is great for mopping up with a sweet peshwari naan, wholesome chappathi or vegetable stuffed paratha!

Sound too good to be true? Give this recipe a go and let me know how you get on.

Nepalese Curried Vegetable with Lentils and Home-made Chapathis

A week ago, my family had an old friend come to stay. Her name is Aurelia, and when she was a child she came to stay with my family every year as an exchange student from France, in the hope that we would teach her some English! It’s a tradition my family has had for generations, her father staying with my grandparents when he was a child too!

I think it’s fair to say that in the time she’s spent with us she has taught us just as much as we’ve taught her!

When she came to stay this time round, she decided to teach me a new type of food – Nepalese. She visited Nepal for a couple of months and lived with a number of families eating their traditional food.

Below is our interpretation of the dishes she ate on her travel – as authentic as they can possibly be.

So here is Nepalese Curried Vegetables with Lentil and Home-made Chapathis! (aka chapattis, chapatis).

Chapathis are my new favourite thing to cook!  SO quick and easy, and good fun to make! (Though do not set your tea-towel on fire as I did!!!!!)