We hosted our biggest supperclub to date and the first in the garden. The weather was so good to us on the day. I did have to lay the table at the last-minute as the sun was either melting the candles or heating up the wine glasses! We had twelve to supper, including The London Foodie who brought along three other diners, a local couple, a singleton and a group of young people who were enjoying an evening out and our supperclub was the middle part of their evening! 

Our menu was pretty ambitious this time, more dishes than we usually do and two barbeques on the go. One for the vegetarian food and one for our vast amount of Chicken Tikka kebabs. Pa Graham was roped into some of the cooking this time as we served up our Panjabi Tapas style food – not including the main course ( I feel full just writing it!). It was a little nod towards Spain being in the world cup final, but none of the family were supporting them. One guest asked where the Dutch element was for the evening. Erm…something Dutch, I thought looking around the garden, racking my brains for something on the menu that was vaguely Dutch in origin. Just as I was about to laugh at being biased towards the Spanish, a selection of flags from around the world caught my eye. There, in between New Zealand and Cameroon was the Dutch flag…hurrah! I should point out that Action Man is randomly positioned on the trellis and has been for the last 16 years, so having a selection of flags from around the world in the garden was nothing unusual either. 

The Sangria Work Station - I got the recipe from a Spanish friend of mine and yes a whole bottle of red goes into one jug.

We started an hour earlier this time around and boy did we feel the pressure more. Everything was ready but both Ma Rani and I had a real sense of being nervous about the evening. We needn’t have worried because as the first guests arrived and sipped on their Sangria cocktails it was all systems go in the kitchen (I should start doing pub quizzes with my parents as we do make a good team) 

Perfect weather, thank goodness!

Getting ready to barbeque....

With everyone seated around the table, the courses started flowing from the kitchen. Our homemade minted lamb samosa and mixed vegetable samosa went down very well, they are so fiddly to make but well worth it when I collect empty plates! 

Our Paneer kebabs went down well too, the pieces having been marinated in a spicy masala sauce for two hours and then skewered with green pepper and tomato before cooking on the barbeque . We served these with Raita. By now the conversation (and the Cava) was flowing and the great thing about being seated around one big table was that there was either one topic going around the table or two or three going on at the same time. Nobody was shy to get up and move around the table. This is the first time this has happened here at Joginder’s Supperclub, but don’t worry I won’t make it compulsory to swap places after each course! 

Our fish course proved popular, particularly the King Prawns in a spicy sauce served with Paratha. The Talipia fish pieces were slow cooked on the barbeque.

King Prawns in a spicy sauce.

Animated conversation!

We served up Vegetable Biryani and our Chicken Masala for the main course, and not wanting to fill everyone up too much the bowls were distributed at each end of the table for everyone to help themselves. Once the main course had been served it was time for Ma Rani to pour herself a glass of wine and sit down with the guests (my job is never done – she will tell me off for saying that). The ice cream maker was turned on and my strawberry and mint mixture took no time at all to turn into sorbet. The night before I had made a lemon sorbet and a raspberry and framboise sorbet. The three were served together, however the heat meant that everything was melting alot quicker so I ‘marathon walked’ the desserts out to everybody! 

The trio of sorbet

We had a brilliant evening, were rushed of our feet, guests came in and out of the kitchen to chat to us and everyone got on really well ( the last guests left at 1am) I love our supperclubs and how appreciative people. We are appreciative too, because it is something that mum and I love to do and it makes it very worthwhile when you meet new people. Some of whom keep returning, others who feel like friends already and those who have never been to a supperclub before and because of us they are ready to book up for others in and around London. Particular thanks to Stephen and Duncan who live locally, George the cat doesn’t like being picked up but she let Stephen and not a scratch in sight! 

No problem me taking a few snaps of the guests!