We are busy preparing for this Saturday and it really is all systems go. The cooking doesn’t start properly until early on Saturday morning but we always do a trial run of dishes on the menu and new ideas a few days before. Here’s a visual sneek peek at some of our food that you will try at the table at some point this year. Incidentally Ma Rani had the help of my brother who really is a mighty fine chef too! He tried a different take on our Murgh Masala and Saag Aloo. Absolutely delicious! (Can I just point out that I wasn’t allowed in the kitchen – is someone trying to usurp me? It is like Shakespeare but with food and not words)

A different take on Joginder's Murgh Masala

Starting with the Spinach to create....

A particularly mouthwatering Saag Aloo

And ready!...Murgh Masala, Saag Aloo with Spicy Rice and Homemade Roti

So, we look forward to meeting and cooking for everyone on Saturday and thank you to those of you who have asked for our next dates. I promise May and June will up soon! We are really pleased to be getting local support as well. Good old Tufnell Park!

See you at the table

Saira x

I had to post this! Very tasty if I do say so myself and I know you shouldn’t ‘love’ your own food. Apple and Red Onion Chutney on thick crusty white bread with slabs of Cornish Chedder. Perfect for a late breakfast on a lazy Saturday. Add a large cup of tea with it and your set!

Looking forward to cooking for you next week and this chutney will be on the table for you to try…..

Saira x

P.S Don’t forget to have a look at our facebook page and group!

Hot chutney in hot jars with wax discs in place.

This is not exactly a recipe but having spent all day making  40 jars I felt compelled to post a blog. Friends tell me that it is the best thing to serve with a ‘Ploughman’s’  or cold meats!

Rest assured if you ordered this fantastic chutney it will be in the post tomorrow! Thank you for your confidence in our food!

Cooled chutney with the lids and tightly sealed with an extra layer of waxed discs.

Here we go….a quick low down on last Saturday’s supperclub. The first one before Spring! Once again we were so lucky to have a group of friendly, food loving, chatty people around the table. Ma Rani spent more time than she has ever done before dotting out of the kitchen to talk to the guests (maybe she thought I was slacking in my front of house duties…)

Our menu on the 5th included mainly vegetarian choices for dishes and it is always great when avid meat eaters enjoy a lack of it sometimes! Everyone sat down at the table with empty stomachs (which always helps at Joginder’ Supperclub) and ready to feast on the selection of courses served up. The first course of Daal Stuffed Peppers went down very well. This dish is a new creation and works well as an afternoon snack or a supper course to kick of the meal.

Daal Stuffed Peppers served with Mango, Cucumber & Indian Red Onion

We added prawns to the Fish Masala to give the dish a bit of a twist and served with Stuffed Paratha.

Fish Masala served with Prawns & Stuffed Paratha

I am really strict with my timings for each course and compared with our first ever supperclub when we left just ten minutes between the starter courses and the main courses, you now get a good twenty minutes! We don’t rush people with the food – that’s really the reason you are here, to eat good food so what’s the point in having it all done and dusted by 10pm with your guests to full to comment! So learning from mistakes you now have a relaxed meander through North India and more time to enjoy our food.

Homemade Chilli Chutney, Tomato Relish, Mango Chutney and Onion Chutney

Busy Busy Busy...

The guests on Saturday were a real mixture of characters. We had the lovely ladies from the ECB, Ian & Marisa (who I hope weren’t bombarded with too much cricket talk around the table) and the fabulous Melissa. The table went silent on a few occasions and that was when the first mouthfuls of the courses were being taken and then the conversations continued. Everything from making chutney to the royal wedding, cricket to music, theatre to travel…the list goes on. Incidently we are very excited to be hosting a friends and family royal wedding extravaganza on the 29th April so no doubt I will have one bumper write up and photos for you!

We did a birthday supperclub last month and a request for a dessert course was something ‘lemony’. We created a spicy lemon tart for the occasion. This month, Ma Rani experimented with her own recipes for lemon sorbets, tortes, sponges and mousse and what she came up with was Lemon Phirni – her Panjabi take on a Lemon Mousse.  This dessert will be back on the menu as it all went, very quickly and was then followed by our seasonal fruit salad in a sweet masala sauce.

Preparing the Lemon Phirni

I feel hungry writing all of this.

Individual Lemon Phirni served in a Ramakin

We had another brilliant night and once again reaffirms why we host our supperclub. It really is such a nice feeling seeing and hearing people enjoying the evening, the food and each other’s company. I got asked if any two people had met at Joginder’s Supperclub and ‘fallen in love’. The answer is I don’t know.

It would be a Cilla Black moment though, wouldn’t it…if that email arrived saying thanks to you we’re getting hitched 🙂

  So our next date is Saturday 26th March – we have a couple of places free and then Saturday 16th April.

See you at the table!

Terrific evening yesterday! The table was full, the conversation flowing and the atmosphere generally great! Write up and pics to follow over the next day or so but I can’t resist this picture….we went straight from the supperclub into an all night cricket fest watching EnglandV South Africa in the ICC World Cup. The final wicket fell just over an hour ago…..

Saira x

We are very excited about the supperclub this Saturday! I think it will be another lively affair!

We still have some places free for Saturday 26th March. Do take a look at the menu and book with us at jogindersupperclub@hotmail.com

x

I am nearly over it but not quite! My stomach has not yet returned to its normal anatomical position,  even though the game finished 7 hours ago!  I did cook the family spicy pork and spicy beef burgers to eat in front of the TV – Manchester City was playing – thank God they won!!

By tomorrow the loss at cricket will be a distant memory and I will be getting ready for the supper club on Saturday – something to cheer me up as I look forward to cooking for our 10 guests.

Isn’t it strange how one remembers childhood memories. This happened at the end of January when we were cooking for a private supper club booking.  The host wanted something ‘original but different’!!

I thought of so many different dishes that my mother( Joginder Beje)  had ‘fused’ in order to appease her children.  In particular were the difficult times when English friends came to ‘tea’ after school.  Over a period of time Beje had converted them to eating pakoras, samosas, Daal burgers and Lamb burgers – we are talking of 1968! I am sure my Beje invented ‘ burgers’!

What were these delicacies? Well the Daal burger was a pattie made from yellow split pea lentils and the lamb speaks for itself. However they were beautifully flavoured with aromatic spices, char-grilled and then served in a    ‘ bun’ of roti with salad , pickles and yoghurt.  In those days the people did not really understand Indian food, so it was fantastic to hear the mothers of my friends asking my Beje if they could have the recipes!

And so it was that I decided to share these recipes with others after all these years.  I was amazed how well they were received by all – particularly the lamb burgers.

This weekend we are serving the lentil patties as there is so much other meat on the menu and I hope everyone will enjoy them as much as my friends used to way back in the last century!

I have to say that  our supper club is about OUR PANJABI FOOD! We don’t have any gimmicks – just the food!

In fact Jamie Oliver did an ‘Indian’ as a 30 minute meal  and some of it was unusual!  – we do not sprinkle turmeric over the chapatis/roti as raw turmeric is very bitter.

However, I do love Jamie as he has inspired so many young people to cook including my own children.

We  at our supper club don’t want to be millionaires – we just want to share our love of  wonderful home cooked food.

Thank you to all  of you who have come and sat around our dinner table and shared our food. I am really sorry that we are fully booked for the  5th March  but look forward to seeing you on the 26th March, which is our next date!

Joginder's Supperclub Aprons made by Carolyn Agnew.

Towards the end of last year, we were asked by one of Ma Rani’s friends if we would provide the food for his up and coming birthday celebrations in February. Originally we were going to a different venue but then the idea of hosting a supperclub birthday party began to take shape instead. He liked the idea of an informal setting where his friends and family could really relax. Everyone enjoyed an hour of drinks and opening presents before settling down at the table for an evening of food and celebrations. Our supperclub experience was the first time for all the guests.

For starters we served up Pakoras followed by Tilapia Fish Masala and Stuffed Paratha. After a brief intermission (I love that word!) the main courses were brought to the table. We served Vegetable Biryani, followed by Mutton Masala, Murgh (Chicken) Masala and Chole Daal. The homemade chutneys and relishes at the table were Chilli Relish, Tomato Relish and Spicy Mango Chutney. Once people are seated I do like to forewarn them about the ‘temperatures’ of the added extras on the table. Chilli isn’t for everyone – one of the reasons why we don’t put an awful lot in our cooking (you can add it but can’t take it out!)

Half an hour later the bowls were taken away, refilled with hot seconds and returned to the table, where it was all duly finished. We really don’t joke about the seconds thing. If you want more you can have more, that’s the way we like it! Put as much as you’d like on your plate and go in for seconds, thirds…until your nicely full or only able to roll home! So with the wine flowing and the music and conversation battling for maximum volume it was another intermission and a quick reshuffle of seating before the next courses…..

Dessert was a selection of our homemade Almond Kulfi followed by homemade Lemon Tart (requested by Ma’s friend – one of his favourites!)

Homemade Lemon Tart

Our lovely suppliers of Indian Sweets in Kingsbury always make up a varied selection for us and asked us to try a new creation ‘Tutti Fruitti’. It all went, very quickly actually, lots of sweet palates around the table and possibly sore heads in the morning  as the sound of corks out of bottles signalled the the next phase of the evening!

With the last guests leaving at 1am, full and happy, I thought to myself in a profound moment of a post supperclub high that I love our little supperclub in our candlelit basement in good old Tufnell Park. Joginder’s Supperclub loves cooking for you so we look forward to seeing you at the table very soon!

Our next date is Saturday 26th March. Email us at jogindersupperclub@hotmail.com to book your places x

P.S: Thank you Carolyn, for making our Aprons! xx