We had another successful and lively supper last Saturday. It was the start of our summer menu and fortunately the weather remained dry and warm so we could start off in the garden. We have been potting up courgette plants as well as peppers and growing some lovely tomatoes and strawberries ready to use in our own cooking and for the supperclubs and private parties. Ma Rani is retiring from teaching this year and she has a whole green house at her school full of plants and fresh produce so it is all slowly but surely being transferred to the home garden!

There were more vegetable dishes on the table this time  – although the Mutton Masala went down very well. Guests started with Spinach and Paneer Samosa washed down with a glass or two of bubbly. The samosa are cooked as the guests arrive to ensure freshness to the flavour – and they are very much homemade!

Preparing the dough the night before

Filled with Spinach and Paneer...

Making samosa can be incredibly fiddly the smaller you make them. Never make the dough too thin as the idea is to really fill the cases. Once ready for frying they don’t need more than a few minutes in the oil. Perfect to have with drinks or as a snack! I love Samosa and there is nothing quite like the taste of a homemade batch.

And sealed ready for frying.

It was great to be able to start using barbeque for some of the cooking, we cooked the stuffed mushrooms, chicken tikka and lamb kebabs on it over a medium heat with the lid on

Preparing the portabello mushrooms

The mushrooms were then cooked over the barbeque for about 7 minutes

And ready to serve

Chicken Tikka Kebabs

We had a real mix of people sitting around the table. A young couple, one of whom worked in the medical profession and her partner worked for a big named company by date (he whispered the name to me so I’m not going to divulge!) and was the songwriter and bass guitarist for an up and coming band by night! The other couple were property developers and our singleton for the evening was a theatre director and record producer with her own label! The conversation flowed (nothing to do with the booze!) from travel to politics, theatre to film, Paul McCartney to Stevie Wonder and why with age Mick Jagger has got better on stage than in the 1960’s. Ma Rani and I served up our dishes from 8.15pm until 10.30pm and the time flew by. We seemed even busier in the kitchen than usual!

Enjoying drinks in the garden. How very civilised!

Served alongside the Spicy Mutton Masala came Green Beans in a Spicy Bean Sauce and Razma & Mirchi Sabji (Red Kidney Beans and Green Peppers) and Lemon Rice which all went down very well. We moved away from traditional Roti and served Maki Roti instead – made with corn.

Maki Roti

Grabbing my plate of food in between courses!

Lindsey and Pete ~ happy and full guests!

We learnt that evening that Pete was in a band. He writes the songs and plays the bass guitar – we both have a love for The Beatles and Paul McCartney! They are playing this Wednesday evening at the WaterRats Theatre Bar on Grays Inn Road in London (nearest station Kings Cross). Look out for THE HEARTRATES  http://www.myspace.com/theheartrates. I’ll be following their progress on Joginder’s blog – who knows theatre bar today – Shea Stadium tomorrow!

We had a really great evening and because we are now using the garden for part of the evening the kitchen is more accessible for anyone who wants to come and have a nose and say hi! Our next Supperclub is on Saturday 10th July and this will be mainly an outdoor affair (depending on the weather again!) with the barbeque and a precursor to the World Cup Final the next evening. So come wearing your colours and share you footballing (or indeed sporting stories), bring your own booze and enjoy our mixture of dishes and we promise you may have to roll home! Please e-mail us to make a booking and we look forward to seeing you!

Let clean up tomorrow...