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The Best Curry You Will Ever Make At Home

I am a curry fiend. I love the stuff but have spent years poring over recipe after recipe that just doesn't turn out like the little foil tubs of wonderment from my local takeaway. If you're the same, take heart! I have finally found the ultimate authentic curry recipe to make at home.

I say finally... I originally found it back in 2009 when the Observer Food Monthly published a special edition featuring chefs' favourite recipes. This 'home style chicken curry' was shared by Benares founder Atul Kochhar and it changed my homemade curry world overnight. I subsequently moved house and lost the mag, but when we moved to our current flat two years ago, it dropped out of a book as we were unpacking. I admit there may have been a yelp of joy at its return!

There are a lot of dried spices in this, but they're not expensive to buy and last for ages. They're all available in normal supermarkets and I honestly think it's worth getting them all as the combo is the key to the authentic flavour. As with all recipes it's open to tweaks, I prefer my curry a little less dry than the original recipe which suggested just fresh tomatoes, so I use fresh and tinned. I find it works best with leftover lamb or fresh chicken, but you could put whatever you like in, just remember to tweak the cooking time accordingly.

This isn't a spicy curry so I tend to add fresh chilli or dried chilli flakes on top of the chilli powder for an extra heat hit. I also adore saag curries so I add spinach (and sometimes mushrooms and/or green peppers) - it just depends what you like.

As long as you stick to the main spices, you're laughing. As Atul Kochhar himself says in the article: 'You can't go wrong cooking this unless you leave the pot on the stove and go on a long vacation'.

One other thing - if you like me are not a fan of the odd crunchy fragrant mouthful, remember to fish out the 4 cardamom pods, 1 bay leaf and any large bits of cinnamon stick just before serving. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

THE BEST CURRY YOU'LL EVER MAKE AT HOME

Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 tsp oil
1 bay leaf
* 4 green cardamom pods
* 2.5cm cinnamon stick
* 10-12 black or green peppercorns
* 1 tsp cumin seeds
* 2 cloves
250g onions, sliced
1/2 tsp garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
** 1 tsp chilli flakes or half a fresh chilli
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
salt
100g fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
** 150g / half a can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp tomato puree
600g boned meat, diced - this could be lamb, chicken, beef or even prawns or fish
** 200g spinach (fresh or frozen)
** 100g button mushrooms, halved
** 1 green pepper, deseeded and chopped
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ginger - powdered or finely chopped if using fresh
a handful of fresh coriander to garnish, chopped

* These ingredients all need to be pounded together in a pestle & mortar, or if you don't have one put them in a plastic bag or between two sheets of clingfilm and bash with a rolling pin
** optional

To serve:

200g basmati rice
popadums and chutneys
naan bread

Method:

Heat the oil in the pan, add the bay leaf and pounded spices and stir until they crackle and change colour. Add the onions and saute until golden, then add the garlic. Keep stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent the mix burning.

Add the powdered spices (EXCEPT garam masala and ginger) and mix quickly to prevent burning.

Add the salt, fresh tomatoes and tomato paste and lower the heat, stirring slowly. As the tomatoes melt to form a sauce, add the meat, and chopped tomatoes, green pepper and mushrooms if using.

Cook on a slow heat for 10 minutes if using cooked meat, or 25 minutes if using fresh meat.

Meanwhile cook the rice.

In the last 5 minutes, add the spinach so it wilts into the mix, sprinkle over the garam masala and ginger and bring the heat back up.

As you serve, sprinkle over the fresh coriander.

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Festival Winning With Brothers Cider

Brothers
See that yellow thing in the sky? That's the sun, that is. Which (allegedly) means summer is on the way. And with summer, come festivals.

Now festivals are't the cheapest way to waste a weekend. Once you've added camping or travel, food and booze to the ticket price, you could have a week away in Europe to replace your weekend in a muddy English field.

However there's nothing quite like a festival, particularly a free one. And what if you could go to loads of festivals this summer, WITHOUT IT COSTING YOU A PENNY? Step forward my friends at Brothers Cider, who are giving you the chance to do just that.

They're looking for a Festival Friend - a correspondent willing to report back from some seriously good festivals this summer, soaking up the sun (hopefully) and the cider (definitely) and reporting back on their behalf. I know, I know, it's a tough job. But if someone's got to do it, why not make it you?

The top prize includes tickets to loads of festivals including Creamfields, SW4 and Boardmasters, a grand in cash, 20 cases of Brothers cider (is it bad to say I'd do it just for this bit?) and an iPhone, plus the chance to become a cult internet hero with your own Brothers blog site. 

Entry's simple - make a short video (around a minute long) showcasing your festival presenting skills. It doesn't matter if it's about music, cider, festivals, your mates or something else - just make it good and post it at http://www.brotherscider.co.uk/bff  by May 21st at the latest. 

Oh and if you win, let me know... I have a feeling I'd make an excellent co-host / drinking buddy.

Wagyu And Kobe Beef - In Britain!

I know, I know, it's a bloody exciting headline isn't it? Whether you call it 'wagyu' or 'kobe', you're probably familiar with the tender, rich, marbled gourmet beef which normally comes from Japan. And is ridiculously expensive. So when I found out it was being produced in Britain, Mid Wales to be specific, by a family who were very close to my lovely Nan, I got so overexcited I let out a big whoop of joy.

For the uneducated, the reason this meat is normally so darn pricey is the method of production. Wagyu are the only breed of cattle used because they have excellent potential for marbled meat (which means flavour, juiciness and tenderness) and their fat is healthier than other breeds (a higher ratio of unsaturated to saturated fat and more omega 3).

Science bit out of the way, these are seriously pampered cows. They get fed pure grass and grain, they get massaged (yes, really) and they even get fed beer (Monty's, if you're interested, which is local too). All this results not in tipsy cattle but relaxed cows which equals ridiculously tender beef and some serious flavour. Ifor the farmer really has his work cut out but having now tasted the products, I can say it is more than worth the effort.

The farm sells all their produce online and the shop - at http://www.iforswelshwagyu.co.uk/ - is a thing of joy and wonderment. Steaks, joints, mince, even mini sliders for dinner parties, there are all sorts of options to get your drool juices flowing. Prices start at a ridiculously bargainous £2.60 and for the indecisive there are taster boxes to get you started. 

I snapped up a parcel for my other half's birthday and was initially disappointed to see the fillet steaks were unavailable, but soon realised this actually made me happy in a weird way as they only have a small amount of cows and had simply sold out. Factory mass production this certainly ain't!

Instead I ended up with sirloin steaks and burgers and trust me, that wasn't a compromise. They arrived promptly in a chilled box and the steaks went straight into the pan that evening. They were huge, and the marbling was gorgeous to look at. The flavour was amazing, rich, almost creamy and deeply deeply beefy. And the burgers, combined with crusty buns, pickles and all the trimmings (on another night mind you, I'm not an animal) were some of the best I've ever eaten.

Its not often you can say you've been to the place of production of your food, but I have been to the little farm up on the beautiful Powys hill where Ifor's cows are based. It's a slice of heaven. I hope you won't suspect me of bias in this post because I'd be genuinely excited about wagyu production anywhere in Britain and for me it's just a bonus that a lovely family I know are involved. 

My Nan would definitely call this "BL" (bloody lovely) which was her standard term of praise for any fantastic meal. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. 

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A Foodie Weekend in Oxford

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Oxford is a seriously foodie place this weekend, so if you're at a loose end get your coat - you have two days of eating ahead.

Today is the first Oxford Bake Off, raising money for four local charities including Oxfam and Cecily's Fund.

Entrants have been frantically perfecting their recipes all week with judging at the Town Hall between 11 and 2.

After that, most of the produce goes on sale. Plus there'll be stalls, workshops and a tea shop to enjoy.

If you're less about the cake and more about the chocolate, the Chocolate Festival is in Broad Street today and tomorrow between 10am and 6pm.

There'll be master chocolatiers, stalls, samples, and even some local producers including a former F1 engineer who now crafts his own chocolate.

But spare a thought for event director Yael Rose, a chocoholic who's given the stuff up for charity. I'm guessing she 'll be the miserable looking one. And if all of that doesn't fill your belly, don't forget the afternoon tea option. While the Randolph Hotel's version is classy enough for Morse, with weather like this a rooftop cake fest at the Ashmolean Dining Room would be just my cup of tea.

Whatever you get up to, enjoy!