We had another great night last Saturday with some last-minute changes to group numbers and menu thrown in. We were already cooking for the lovely Lucy who has a gluten-free diet but one other guest made some changes to her group which included a vegetarian guest at the last-minute (2 hours before guests arrived!) Ma Rani pulled out all the stops and created an extra vegetarian dish. The joy with our cooking is that we do create a lot of vegetable dishes anyway so once the kitchen is in full swing from Friday evening we are prepared for any eventuality (well almost…)

So with the table full and stomachs empty everyone settled down for an evening of chatter and food. We are starting to put dishes on the menu which have featured in a book that Ma Rani started to write nearly 30 years ago but never got around to finishing even though two publishers were keen for it to be completed. If you think that in the early to mid eighties Madhur Jaffrey pretty much had the monopoly on Indian Cookery, it was no mean feat to get publishers interested in a different style of Indian cookery and an unknown author. Nowadays there are so many books on the market, that Ma is reluctant to start writing it again. Hopefully by including these dishes on our menus and with your feedback she may be inspired to write again. We shall see….

The first two dishes of the evening have come from Ma’s book…..

We served a Lentil Patty with Tomato relish and Yoghurt as our first course.

Followed by Spicy Mushroom Masala on Spicy Fillet of Haddock served with Mango, Cucumber and Indian Red Onions.

Followed by a feast of vegetarian and meat curries, including Keema with Peas and Joginder’s Murgh Masala served with a selection of Daal, Rice, Roti, Spicy Cornbread and Seasonal Kachumber.

When you are in the kitchen the noise from the dining room always carries through. On this occasion once I had served up the main courses, the table went virtually silent. Ma and I stopped in our tracks – it is disconcerting when it happens I can tell you! So I thought I had better go and check if the water needed refilling. And breath. Plates were filled with food and murmuring between mouthfuls of ‘this is really nice’ before conversation resumed and the volume rose. All’s well that ends well (got a bit of Shakespeare in here again)

Dessert was our combination of Almond Kulfi and Lemon Phirni, two dishes that we have tried and tested a few times and it seems that on this occasion both were a huge success!

I really want to mention Lucy and John who are in the process of putting ideas together to start their own supperclub in London. We were really pleased to meet them and so glad that they enjoyed our food! When we get more details from them I will post something on our blog. Gotta support each other!

Thanks also to Alia and her friends for being such a lovely and lively trio at the table, we had lots of fun taking about Bollywood and getting some Punjabi going in the kitchen. Sarah, Andy, Emily and Will were a great group and one half had travelled from Cambridge. The lovely Melissa of  ‘The Love People’ took her seat at the table for the evening and last but not least some other regulars to Joginder’s Supperclub who are now good friends of ours, Stephen and Duncan. Thank you everyone for once again making our little supperclub in good old Tufnell Park lots of fun and very worthwhile for the lovely comments we had during the evening.

I had to post this picture as well. We have an eclectic mix of cutlery and crockery which I like to use to decorate the table. These lovely cups and saucers were a gift from Carolyn (whose gorgeous house in France we use for our Charity Supperclubs)

Our next dates are Saturday 16th April &  Saturday 14th May – please do email us to join our mailing list and to receive notification of any last-minute places. Dates for June will be posted soon so watch this space and thanks for reading our blog!

Hi Saira,

It was a delight to meet you and your lovely parents!
We had an unforgettable experience, everyone loved the food and the cosy atmosphere.
I think it is a great idea for everyone to mingle first and then sit at a shared table..I’ve been to supperclubs where everyone sits like in a restaurant with no interaction with the other guests.

I am sure my friends would agree if I said that we would love to visit again!
The pickle (with apple?) that you sell was superb, I will definitely buy it on my next visit.

Warm regards

Alia, Raki and Mariam