my kitchen smells like an indian takeaway right now...

felt a little experimental today. and i had the urge to make bread, but then again, since i had made pasta for the past two days for dinner, and pasta was, generally speaking, the dish which i would usually make bread to go with as an accompaniment - I felt as if it was only right that I did something a little different. So...what I decide on? Well, tonight Ganache-Elf decided to go Indian, rather than Italian. And so that meant that homemade fish and tomato curry, and freshly baked naans, were on the menu.

This fish curry is yet another culinary endeavour of mine inspired by our Mallorca holidays. In the very same little town where Mam can get her mushroom ravioli, there was a quaint little Indian restaurant-takeaway place which did a very flavoursome, aromatic tomato and yoghurt fish curry. My version is a little different of course. Instead of yoghurt, my recipe uses coconut cream, and a few tablespoons of korma paste (hope this doesn’t make my claim of “homemade” curry any less true.)

Well anyway, if I cheat maybe a teensy bit with my curry, I can rest assured in the knowledge that my naans are definitely made purely from scratch. It’s the same kind of process which is involved in bread-making. A soft, satiny dough containing natural yoghurt and just a little butter is brought together, kneaded, and then left to rise for 2-3 hours. Then, on being knocked back, it is then divided into balls which are then rolled and stretched into the distinctive teardrop shapes. Then the fun part – choosing your flavour. Of course you can leave them plain if you prefer, but I always like to smear each teardrop with a good half a teaspoon of crushed garlic.

So don’t go into your local Indian and stare longingly at those enticing plates of steaming, fragrant curries; and those gorgeous-smelling baskets of fresh naans which look oh-so-difficult to make. Trust me, naans are no more trickier than bread, really – the shape’s just a little different, that’s all. And homemade curry shouldn’t be an unknown enigma, either. Oh, let’s just say using korma paste doesn’t mean it’s not homemade, right? You resisted the temptation to just not make the effort and rush down to the Indian for the convenient, but far less superior option…and for that, you should be feeling very pleased with yourself, indeed. ;)