Ma Rani making the Paneer.

The table is set, now we just need the guests!

So this was to be our third supperclub and probably the most liveliest! We had a real mix of people around the table. We were delighted to welcome Ms Marmitelover for the evening and we had some guests returning for the second time and some for the first. It’s great when guests who are returning feel completely comfortable wandering into the kitchen towards the garden to have a ciggie and in passing say “Everything alright Saira. Do you need a hand taking anything to the table”. That made me laugh and I love how relaxed our guests felt!  Unfortunately two young writers who had booked for the evening were then unable to make it so the evening turned into conversations about film, theatre, travel and I think politics crept in somewhere. (Try and watch District 9. I agreed with Bellaphon it is much better than Avatar.) Sorry, back to the food. We were cooking for both vegetarians and meat eaters so we decided to serve Paneer Keema and Fish Bhuna as alternatives to the Chicken, Lamb and Mutton. The fish found its way around the table with everyone helping themselves to a spoonful! There is always a danger when one is serving up lots of hearty dishes at the same time that it turns into some sort of Tudor style banquet, but as with trial and error we decided to use smaller dishes so the food was at both ends of the table. Firstly the food stayed warm for longer and people didn’t have to reach past each other to serve from the big dishes that we had used for the previous evenings. This has seemed to work and as Ma Rani has said for our charity night on the 27th of February, we are going to try a different way of serving up our food.

Unknown to me, earlier on in the day, Ma Rani, silently, but creatively had made an additional dessert. However this was for people to try and then give their honest opinion about the texture, flavour and presentation.  She had made a Punjabi style Blancmange called Phrini.  Everyone did enjoy it, giving suggestions as to what would make it better for them. For instance two guests loved the flavour but didn’t like the texture. It was agreed that this was a nice little add-on to the evening (nice one Ma). Once Masala Chai had been served, mum and I were then able to sit and chat to our guests before the last trains beckoned. It was a really nice evening and once again thank you to our guests.

I was a bit pants and I didn’t take any photos of the evening in full swing, but please do check out our review from the lovely Bellaphon who took  some great pictures. Our aim, as always at Joginder’s Supperclub is to make people feel welcome (after all it is our home you are stepping into!) and to give a great evening of home cooked food, good conversation and you may even make new friends!

See you at the next one!

Saira x

(click on the link to Fat Les to read the review)

Homemade Carrot & Onion Relish and Apple Chutney