An Indian evening, all courtesy of Rick Stein…

Coconut Chill Prawns with Cumin Puris
We started with Coconut Chilli Prawns and Cumin Puris, a dish I have cooked several times from Rick Stein’s Seafood Odyssey. This book dates from 1999 and my edition shows it. But then I have cooked not far off half the recipes…

Despite my attempts over the years, I can never get the puris to look neat. The last ones of the batch are always the best (and therefore the ones in the photo!), but I wish I could get nice, neat discs. They are, in fact, the only remotely difficult thing about this simple dish.

For a starter for two, I use half the quantities in the recipe. So, I sifted 50g of wholemeal and 50g of plain flour with a little salt, then massaged in 1 tbsp of sunflower oil and added ½ tsp, or slightly more, of cumin seeds; it helps to bash/bruise (but not crush) the seeds. I kneaded the dough for five minutes, brushed with oil and left for 30 minutes. This dough produces six 5-inch discs, which need brushing with a little more oil before going under the grill – Rick Stein says a minute on each side, but it takes a little longer with our electric grill.

The prawns are dead easy (not least because the recipe suggests using a ready-made curry paste). I again halved the quantities. I fried half-an-inch of grated ginger and two crushed garlic cloves for 30 seconds, and added 1 tbsp medium curry paste (Rogan Josh) for a couple of minutes. Next come the prawns – I allowed four each this time, and cooked them for 3-4 minutes. When the prawns were cooked I stirred in coconut cream – the recipe says 50g, but I added slightly more than half that – plus about 75ml hot water.

I stirred while the coconut melted and then added chopped coriander (as usual with my herb use, probably more than the suggested 1 tbsp), a thinly-sliced spring onion and half a long red chilli, chopped (the recipe suggests two birdseye chillies).

Easy, but really tasty, and you can adapt it to taste by changing the quantity of creamed coconut and chilli.

Lamb Korma
The next course was the revelation: a Lamb Korma from Rick Stein’s India. I had always assumed that Korma relies on cream or yogurt, but there’s not a hint of either here. Online definitions say that it requires yogurt, cream, nuts or seeds, and the key to this recipe is a combination of plenty of sliced almonds and onions that are processed to a paste. The recipe also calls for a lot of ghee, but I used clarified butter instead and significantly less than the suggested ghee, so that doesn’t seem vital to the outcome.

Although I was cooking for two, I used the full recipe ingredients (for four to six) so that we would also have leftovers. I cannot find an online version of the recipe.

I blended two onions to a paste and then fried that paste for 10 minutes in clarified butter (I started off with a little under 100g of butter but once clarified there was considerably less than the 100g ghee suggested by the recipe). I added a couple of inches of grated ginger (the recipe suggested 75g) for a further couple of minutes and then c.750g cubed leg of lamb, stirring well to coat the lamb with the onion and ginger.

Once the lamb had cooked for about 20 minutes, I added a few tbsp of water and scraped up all the bits from the base of the pan, then 2 tbsp desiccated coconut, 50g blanched almonds, which I had cut into slivers lengthways, and 1½ tsp Garam masala. I am always pleased to use Garam masala (on this occasion the side dish needed it too) because I made a big batch months ago.

Once all that is mixed together, it goes in the oven for 30 minutes at 150ºC (140º in our fan)/Gas 2. And that’s it. What emerges is unmistakably Korma in its mildness and nuttiness, but with beautifully juicy lamb and a sauce that might well be described as dry but is more than ample to bring it all together.

Smoky Aubergine with Tomato, Ginger and Coriander
Alongside the Korma, we had Smoky Aubergine with Tomato, Ginger and Coriander, also from Rick’s Stein’s India. It was a good match.

The slightly boring, but in my view essential, trick to this dish is to char the aubergines over the naked flame of a gas ring. I prop the aubergines on the frame above the rings so that the low flame just touches the flesh and turn them frequently: this takes a while – as much as 45 minutes – it’s fiddly and you cannot take your eyes off the aubergines for very long, but it produces a wonderfully smoky flavour.

Once the aubergines were done almost to the point of melting, I peeled them and chopped/mashed the flesh. I fried an onion on a fairly high heat until nicely browned (c.10 minutes) and added 1½ inches or so of grated ginger for another couple of minutes. Then I stirred in 350g chopped tomatoes – I use fresh tomatoes, chopped but not first skinned – some salt and ½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder. Rick Stein suggests cooking for a further 5 minutes, but I left it a bit longer so that the tomatoes broke down and the juice thickened.

One thing that makes this a convenient side dish is that it can now be left to one side. Then just before serving I stirred in the chopped aubergine and ½ tsp Garam masala, heated everything through and sprinkled over some more coriander.

There was something about this dinner that made it feel nicely-balanced: seafood, meat and veggie and a mix of spices – and any leftover puris from the starter can easily accompany the main dish.