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food and drink Weekend

Tandoori marinade – lamb tikka massala part 1

Tandoori marinade mixed with cubes of lamb fillet in a bowl and left overnight.

All broadband and no curry makes for a dull life. This post describes how to make a tandoori marinade which, mixed with lamb cubes, is left in the fridge over night before proceeding to part two of the process which involves cooking the meat.

In our house the boss, the lovely Mrs Davies has been away for a few days and us lads, me and kids 3 and 4 have been left to fend for ourselves. In times gone by we will have survived on takeaways and miscellaneous home cooked junk food protein and carbs. However Anne has been making numerous trips away and the takeaway existence has proved to be unsustainable. We have been yearning for proper cooked meals.

This trip/absence, in all fairness to me, we have done reasonably well. Yes we have had our fair share of bacon, sausages, beans and baked potatoes or toast. We are blokes after all. However I have been attempting to have the lads in a reasonably healthy condition for when their mum comes home, which is tomorrow.

Last night I cooked fresh tagliatelle pasta with a tomato and vegetable sauce. Tonight we have fended for ourselves from the fridge due to the intervention of a school cricket match (we won yay). Tomorrow however Anne comes home and it felt only reasonable that I have something decent waiting for her tea.

Tomorrow night we have escalopes of pork marinated for 24 hours in Levi Roots Reggae Reggae sauce. This will be served with Brazilian rice (whatever that is – it sounded alright) and green beans and broccoli on the side (not for me – I’m a grown up – I don’t understand the point of broccoli).

At the same time I have decided that on Thursday we will be eating lamb tikka massala. Nome of this pre-made sauce rubbish though. This one is going to be cooked from first principles, prompted largely by the fact that whilst  wandering through Lincoln Cornhill Market a few weeks ago I came across a stall selling Indian spices. Impressed with the range of ingredients available I bought an armful including a huge industrial bag of garam massala.

All this fine foodstuff has been sat in the cupboard. Until now. Waitrose this afternoon offered up some lamb fillet together with a miscellany of other ingredients. Back at home I dioscovered that I also needed root ginger, natural yoghurt and some fresh coriander so another trip, this time to Tesco, was initiated.

The intent here is to marinate the lamb overnight in a tandoori marinade and tomorrow I will cook the meat in a tandoor. I have a clay tandoori pot which you stick in the oven and which simulates a real tandoor. The tandoori marinade is simple to make. Dry fry some cardamon pods, coriander seeds and cumin, grind together with a couple of red chillies, garlic and the root ginger.  I’m not going to bother you with quantities – look it up – this is not a cookery blog. Chuck in some lemon juice,  turmeric, mix into some natural yoghurt and then add the meat.

This concoction, which btw smells wonderful, is covered with cling film and left in the fridge overnight. Look out for parts two and three tomorrow. I want to get the lamb tikka massala finished tomorrow night so that it can benefit from another night of spice infusion.

If you like your food you should check out The Burton Road Strip, a series of poems about food emporia on Burton Road in Lincoln.

Yowser…

Trefor Davies

By Trefor Davies

Liver of life, father of four, CTO of trefor.net, writer, poet, philosopherontap.com