My friend Carolyn is a great cook and she was an excellent sous chef on the day. The onions were peeled and finely grated, the chicken was skinned and cut up ( on the bone of course!) and all vegetables were washed and chopped. I got on with making the delicious pakoras.

Then it was time for stage two – cooking the main dishes. There was a lot to do – cook the chicken masala, keema, vegetable sabji, vegetable biryani and the chole. It was time to open up all the wonderful spices I had brought over from England. The french neighbours were seen sticking their heads out and smelling the aroma!

Carolyn also had a lot to do as she was front of house. We had bought lots of material to decorate the table so she got cracking but also decided  to make a culinary contribution by making naan from scratch! It was a fun afternoon and evening. We laughed and chatted as we cooked and created and crashed into bed at 1 am.