Curry Diary 3. Curry Retrospective

They often ask, if you could say three words to your eighteen year old self, what would they be?

I would have to give it some serious reflection, but its highly likely that I would say something deep and profoundly meaningful and important.

“Journal Your Curries!” I would say.

I cannot change the past. I cannot revisit those delightful dishes and document them for posterity like I should have done, but I can change the future. I can journal the future curries that are yet to come, for the good of humanity.

In the meantime. I can look back on some of the curries I have enjoyed previously, and the ones I had the foresight and wisdom to photograph, I will share here.

Lamb Katmandu

The Lamb Katmandu is a lentil based dish that I enjoyed at the Indian Garden in Kirkwall. I am only recently starting to enjoy lentil based dishes, having been turned against them in childhood by an Episode of The Young Ones.

It was a very tastey and perhaps over salted dish. The excess salt would not normally be a problem, but this was an unlicensed restaurant, and there was no beer.

Also of note was the absence of the lime pickle on the pickle trays. Not a deal breaker, but highly irregular. I am in two minds whether I would go for the Katmandu again.

Lamb Kabuli

Although I don’t take formal notes, I did begin sharing curry highlights with my Southern Curry Bud. On this occassion I had the Lamb Kabuli at the Sultan in Lancaster.

I noted that it was Lentils and Chickpeas, tangy, with a little spice, not much heat, and that I would have it again.

My Northern Curry Bud had the Lamb Deewana if I remembered correctly. I noted that while it looked appealing, it had a sweetness that I cannot abide in a curry, and that I must remeber not to order it in future as its not the one I was thinking about.

The Sultan is s good and long standing Curry House in Lancaster. It has been there for as long as I can remember. I note that they do an excellent Lamb Naga, and their mushroom rice is the finest I have had anywhere.

Chicken Makhani

I had the Chicken Makhani the Holiday Inn in Derby. Not strictly a curry night, but it is a curry, and I did enjoy it. I noted at the time I paid £16.50 for Marinated chicken breast in a rich curry sauce, served with basmati rice and sourdough Naan. 1080 kcal. I also noted that I was tempted to look up the recipe for this one.

The internet tells me that it’s made with marinated chicken (often tandoori-style, grilled or baked first) simmered in a rich, creamy tomato-based gravy flavored with butter, cream, spices (like garam masala, cumin, coriander, and chili), and sometimes fenugreek.

I do look for this one menus in proper Indian restaurants. Nice as it was, at the Holiday Inn, for all I know it could have come out of a can.

Others?

I don’t have access to many others at the moment, not many that are useable here, which is odd, given the number of curries I had, and how often I take photos of food.

I had hoped I’d have one of the Lamb Methi, one of my firm favourites, or the banana and shrimp curry that my son ordered once but wasn’t edible. I think that one was only on the menu for a joke, do many people really order the banana and shrimp curry? Surely not.

I should mention one of my old favourites, one I oftem try to recreate by can’t quite capture the flavour of the respite in anotherwise arduous thankless day with an employer of last resort. For a time, back when work wasn’t going my way, I would leave my desk for an hour, collect a hot jacket potato topped with chicken tikka masala, and enjoy it in the park by myself.

Though I know how to make the perfect jacket spud, two hours in the oven, skin crispy from the beef dripping, and the creamy buttery insides, dripping with salt and butter, and though there are many options now for chicken tikka, I have to recreate that delicious combination of the jacket spud, the creamy tikka sauce, and the bit of peace afforded to me on my lunch break.

Sometimes the curry is as much about the moment, as it is about the curry. Sometimes.