It seems strange that this time last week the charity supper club was over and  Carolyn and I were getting ready for bed! Tonight I have just finished making my various ‘masalas’ for the chicken, mutton, chole and the vegetables for the biryiani. It was a leisurely affair as I don’t like to rush around. I need to check the strength and depth of each one and it is best done in a tranquil environment. Thankfully the family were all at work most of the day and kept out of my way.

The flavours of my meat recipes come from the marinades and masalas which I use for the chicken, mutton and lamb. The richly flavoured meat dishes have been developed by generations of my family from both my mother’s and father’s side and they go back a very  long way!!  Most Panjabi’s are essentially meat eaters and my family were/are no exception.  For the supper club our signature dish for over a year now has been the ‘ chicken masala’ – on the bone of course. However, recently  we also introduced the ‘ mutton masala’ which was my mother’s ( Joginder Kaur)  favourite dish to cook for special occasions and it has been a great hit and now everyone expects it at the supper club. Mind you I have to dig deep for it because ‘Indian’ mutton is as expensive if not more so than lamb and the only place I can get it from is my Indian butcher.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

We were greeted by yet another beautiful day. I have to say that the day before was such an amazing  sunset that I took a break from cooking and took a few pictures from the garden! 

We took our time getting ready and the car was loaded up by 10.30am for the 30 km  journey. I was only sorry that ‘Ace’ could not come with us – sadly Barbara’s cat did not get on with him!  I promised him a walk when we got back. 

When we got to Barbara and Cedric’s house in Folles we were given the freedom of the kitchen and the dinning room. Thank you again.

Carolyn has hosted two previous Charity supper clubs for us in her home in France  and Saira would have been proud of her as ‘ front of house’. Not only was she responsible for making  the table decorations but did a fantastic job in creating the right ambiance for the ‘lunch ‘ club. She is a ‘quilter’  and loves to play with fabric , colours and her “embellishments”.  Just look at the photos!

Meanwhile I got on with the final preparations of the food.  Twelve wonderful people gathered in Barbara and Cedric’s home by 1pm and were immediately greeted by an ‘ apero’  kindley provided by our hosts.

Everyone was seated by 1.15 pm for the starters and before I could blink it was 4.45 pm and we were getting into the car to leave having raised £140. Thank you everyone – you are a fantastic group of people and you generosity will be going to Cancer Research next week.

Thank you Cedric for the fantastic ‘place mats’!

Thank you Barbara and I promise I will be sending you the spices you need!

A FINAL THANK YOU TO MY FANTASTIC FRIEND CAROLYN WITHOUT WHOM NONE OF THIS WOULD BE POSSIBLE.

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.

This is the third time I have had the opportunity to cook in France and this time a huge thank you to Barbara and Cedric-  who live in Folles- for hosting the club in their lovely home. I love cooking for our supper club and in England it is always in the evening so it was a bit of a challenge to cook food for a lunchtime. In this rural part of France everyone lives so far away from each other that a lunchtime event was more appropriate.The second challenge was to transport the food 30 km. from Carolyn’s  house in Droux to Folles, so I needed to cook parts of the food  which  could be prepared in advance and transported with ease. The next two hours were spent sorting out some of the menu and off we went to see what produce we could find. Naturally the first stop was lunch at a local restaurant ‘ Relais au Limosin’  For speed we opted for the Plat De Jour – what amazing food at 12.30 pm. Three courses plus a glass of wine and coffee all for £13. 25!  Sadly no photos as I had forgotten my camera.

Next stop  was Barbara’s house to pick up home grown produce. We left laden with carrots, parsnips, mange tout and green beans. My mind was working over time deciding what to cook with all these wonderful vegetables! Back in Bellac, in the supermarket we found everything but alas no lamb for a keema so went for the beef instead. The green coriander needed a real hunt and we did find some in the spices section. But then Dai and Phil – friends of Carolyn’s -came to the rescue. They actually had some growing in their garden in February! Back in Droux we were ready to cook.

Good morning everyone! Coming to you from Droux! Here is the menu for our charity supperclub tomorrow. We are holding it at lunch time so we should really call it Joginder’s Lunch Club? Anyway here is the menu for your to take a look at. We have a full table tomorrow, write up and pictures to follow! 

We are using a  lot of local produce as we did last time, so lots of vegetables on the menu!

Starters

Vegetable Pakoras with Raita and Tangy Kachumber

Main Courses

Chicken Masala ~ our signature dish

Beef Keema with Peas

Mixed Vegetable Sabji

Spicy Chole Daal

Accompanied by

Vegetable Biryani

Roti or Naan Bread

Yoghurt

Salad

Dessert

Seasonal Fruit Salad with a Masala Sauce and Ice Cream

All donations going to Cancer Research UK.

Joginder’s Supperclub is off to France next week partly for a nice holiday and to do a charity supperclub (take a look at our blog post from last year, this will be our second!) We were able to use a lot of fresh local produce from the local community who then sat down to eat in the evening. Watch this space for the low down on how it all went! Thanks to Carolyn for letting us use her beautiful home in Droux!

Saira x

Joginder’s Supperclub has started off the New Year with bang! Our first supperclub was on Saturday 8^th January and a very lively and enjoyable evening it proved to be. We tried some new recipes, one in particular, our Channa Samosa with Rhubarb chutney went down so well that plates were being passed across the table for seconds! My mouth waters whenever I do these write ups because I am reliving the smells and tastes of the dishes (which I get to try in the kitchen if Ma Rani lets me!) One shouldn’t ‘big up’ their own food but I will. This course was bloody lovely and I would eat them all day long if I had the chance.

The table was a lively throng of conversation all evening, cricket dominating for some of it and because Pa Graham had mentioned about their trip to Australia over pre supper drinks that snuck into the conversation too. If we have place free Pa Graham sits down to eat as well and this particular evening I think he made a cricketing friend! Thanks Adam! We met some really nice people who I hope enjoyed the evening as much as we did.

Fish Masala ready for the oven

Next up was Fish Masala served with Stuffed Paratha and then followed by the main courses which or course included our signature dish Joginder’s Chicken Masala  We have listened to our guests and it will be on every other menu!

Paratha with Spinach & Paneer

Last weekend we decided to make both the Friday and Saturday our charity suppers and with the generous donations of all our guests we raised £200 for Cancer Research.  We had some of our returning guests and some new faces. One guest had booked herself a place at the beginning of December last year, and I have to say it was as though we had known her for years! It turns out that she taught at the same college attended by my boyfriend in Grays, Essex. Anne now lives in Norfolk but works in London a few days a week. She delayed her journey home until the Saturday morning so she could come to our supperclub. Ma Rani packed up some food fo her husband to try!  Hopefully along with all our new guests, we will get to cook for them again soon.

Spicy cornbread served with Fish Masala

Tarka Masoor Daal

Prepping the Kulfi

A new dessert has made its way onto our menus for 2011. Homemade Kulfi. When we first started our supperclub back in October 2009, Ma Rani and I spent hours pouring over recipes. It is not easy creating a menu. We always wanted to serve the dishes we love but it was a chance to really push ourselves in cooking and experimentation. Our Kulfi is a little lighter and balancing more on the healthy eating side than a Kulfi that you may be served in an Indian restaurant.  Our dessert course is designed to sweeten your palate after an evening of spices, and not to put you off if you are feeling particularly full! In this instance the Pistachio Kulfi served with fruit slices went down well. Served in small ramakins it was just right, we were told. So hopefully, once we try out some more flavours, our Kulfi will be staying on the menu for a while.

Homemade Pistachio Kulfi

Our next dates are Saturday 5^th March and Saturday 26^th March. We are also supporting another charity, MAD (please click on the link to find out more).

Please e-mail us at jogindersupperclub@hotmail.com to book your places and follow us on facebook for regular updates! We look forward to cooking for you soon!

Rani & Saira xx

We are doing a supperclub for some friends this evening, in their home. I thought I would post the menu as it is proving to be particularly tasty! We have created the Daal burger as a starter for the vegetarian food lovers.

Pakoras with drinks

Stuffed Mushrooms

Punjabi Lamb Burgers wrapped in Masala Roti and stuffed with Kachumber

Daal Burgers

Chicken with Spinach

Mutton Masala

Vegetable Biryani

Raita

Roti

Phalon Ka Chaat (our masala fruit salad)

I think some of these dishes will be finding their way onto the menu for March……

Preparing for this evening...

Getting ready for this evening…these pictures were taken minutes ago…..

Making Paratha

We have been supporting Cancer Research UK over the past year with our supperclub. So far we have raised £1000 with everyone’s generous donations. This year we are adding a new charity to our list ‘THEATRE MAD’ part of ‘The Make a Difference Trust’. The lovely Melissa put us in touch with this charity! More information can be found below and on the link to the website. We look forward to cooking for you at one of our charity suppers! We have some places free for this weekend so please do e-mail us to book. Thanks for your support of these worthy causes!

Saira & Rani x

The Make A Difference Trust brings together the British entertainment community and its audiences to raise funds to support people living with HIV and AIDS, and those in the entertainment industry facing hardship as a result of long-term medical conditions. Join us. Together We Can Make A Difference.

http://www.madtrust.org.uk/