This dessert evolved from something which I only made as an accompaniment to Burfi (hand crafted Punjabi sweets) to something which I make quite regularly as a refreshing palate cleanser after one of our own family feasts. We haven’t tried it at the supper club yet as I have been adapting it but I think I have found the final version! My neighbour has two big pear trees so I am lucky to have fresh organic pears to use which are handed to me over the fence! Sometimes it’s nice to finish off a filling supper with something light and refreshing! I do hope you enjoy this dessert as much as my family and I do!

Rani x

PEARS WITH CARDAMOMS AND CINNAMON

It is best to prepare this dish a few hours before serving because it really does taste lovely if thoroughly chilled in your fridge. You could also make this dessert the night before and leave to chill overnight.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Oven Temperature: 180 c / gas mark 4

You will need:

4 Large Pears (or 6 if you can only find small ones)

2 teaspoons (2 x 5 ml) Green or White Cardamom seeds – finely ground

1/2 teaspoon (1 x 2.5 ml) Ground Cinnamon

5 fl. oz (150 ml) Orange Juice

2 fl. oz (60 ml) Orange Liqueur (optional)

2 tablespoons ( 2 x 15 ml) Soft Brown Sugar

• Peel the pears thinly.
• Cut them into quarters and remove the cores
• Place the pears in a shallow baking dish large enough to take all the pears in a single layer.
• Sprinkle on the ground cardamom seeds, ground cinnamon and soft brown sugar.
• Gently pour on the orange juice and orange liqueur
• Turn the pears over a few times to ensure they are all well coated with the liquid.
• Cover the dish with foil or a tight-fitting lid and bake for 30 minutes.
• At 30 minutes test the pears with a skewer. The pears should be tender. If not return to the oven for another 10 minutes or until tender.
• Once baked until tender, transfer the pears to a serving dish with all the juices from the oven dish, cover and refrigerate for 4 – 5 hours.
• Serve with plain ice-cream as an accompaniment or single cream. Orange or Pear Kulfi are also great as accompaniments.

After having spent 10 hectic days in Rio I really do feel the need to share some of our experiences. Rio is a bustling and vibrant city and the food is equally amazing. We are lucky enough to have our son and daughter-in-law as our ‘ guides to  good eating ‘ in Rio – although most of it has been restricted to the areas of Leblon & Ipanema – two of Rios’s most sought after residential districts that are full of tree-lined avenues,  bars & restaurants.  We also spent a long weekend in Buzios – the Brighton of Rio. A beautiful beach resort on a jutting peninsula.  There are 17 beautiful beaches & numerous restaurants. Needless to say we managed only a handful. It shot to fame when Bridget Bardot & her Brazilian boyfriend stayed here in the 1960’s!

In the beginning I was reluctant to take photos of food but soon decided that the eating experiences needed to be shared.  So the drinks first, or shall I say THE DRINK.  I took an immediate liking to the wonderful Caipirinha – a blend of Cachaca (rum) & lime juice with lots of ice. Probably because it reminds me of the Margaritas we drank in California. The second favourite is Cerveja – ice cold beer at lunch time. I have to add that although it is autumn/winter in Rio the temperatures have been mid to high 20’s and yesterday was touching 30 so one does need cooling drinks!!

On to the food. We have eaten so many wonderful dishes including succulent steak, delicious sea food and pizza- to name a few!  The pictures speak for themselves!

Amazing Sushi!

Now that’s what I call a Pizza!

Delicious starter of crab meat with a soft poached egg

Simple baby squid, but there was nothing simple about the taste – garlic, herbs, lemon & olive oil

My seafood platter! Heaven!

Steak with a light peppercorn sauce

Steak with a mixed peppercorn sauce

Steak on buttered Brazilian potato

Seafood Risotto

Burger with all the trimmings which kept coming out and being replenished for an hour!

Bye por enquanto!

Ma Rani x

I devised this recipe from a similar creation by my own mother, Joginder, when as a family we lived in Nairobi in Kenya. It was always a simple dish which we had along with the more substantial dishes for supper. I tried this recipe on my two oldest children back in the mid-eighties when as a full-time teacher with three children under the age of 9 I still wanted to come up with some interesting food mid-week. It was a great surprise when they continued to ask for “the yummy chicken for our toast bread from France” – and Graham quite liked it too! It is still a favourite at the table now as a tasty and unusual appetizer and I did make it in France when my dear friend Carolyn hosted some of our charity suppers.

I hope you enjoy it as much as my family has over the years!

Rani x

~ SPICED CHICKEN LIVERS ~ Serves 2 and ideal for an appetizer before supper ~

You will need:

2 oz of salted or unsalted butter

1 medium onion –  finely chopped

1 clove of garlic – finely chopped

1/2 lb chicken livers

1 inch cut piece of fresh ginger – finely grated

2 teaspoons of garam masala

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Cooking Instructions for the hob:

• Melt the butter in a pan and cook the onion until golden brown.
• Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute on a medium heat.
• Add the chicken livers, turn up the heat and saute’ for 3 to 4 minutes.
• Add garam masala and ginger and continue to cook for 1 more minute.
• Remove from the heat and mix in the lemon juice.
• Serve on or beside some crusty french bread with a green salad.

We have had a great start to 2013! Our first four supper clubs have been really enjoyable and it is always so nice to welcome back past guests as well as welcoming new faces to the table! Each evening proved to be very lively, we do hope you enjoy reading Graham’s ‘Tales From The Green Room’ a light hearted review of the evening!

We will be introducing some new dishes this year, some of which we have already put on the table for guests to give their ‘critic’ and as most of you know we are not shy of feedback and we like to constantly adapt and improve dishes – it keeps us on our toes!

So here are a few snaps of a couple of things to wet your appetite……

Fresh from the oven!

We served our Spicy Lamb Kofta with a twist ~ Ma Rani created a delicate Saffron dipping sauce……

Our next supper is this Saturday and Saturday 29th June. We promise to have more dates very soon and at least two every month for the rest of the year! If you would like to join us for supper please do join our mailing list and you will receive notification of new dates!

We will be supporting the Stroke Association so we thank you in advance for digging dip when we host our charity supperclubs!

We look forward to cooking for you! See you at the table!

Rani & Saira x

More tales from the Green Room…..click on the page to read the latest instalment from Graham! We will be posting new dates for July and August very soon. 

See you at the table!

We were delighted to have raised £140 for Comic Relief on 16th March. Many thanks to all our guests who were very generous with their donations. It was a lively and most enjoyable evening. We welcomed some new faces to the table and welcomed back old friends. Dates for April through to June have been advertised so we look forward to welcoming more of you to Joginder’s Supperclub this year! Tales from the Green Room will be following shortly….

Of course Joginder’s Supperclub is really all about the food and we are lucky that our guests make it a memorable supper party. Ma Rani created two dishes for the evening.

Spicy Lamb Kofta sizzling in the pan just before serving

And ready to serve with a Mint and Lemon Raita

Masala stuffed courgettes served as one of the many main courses…..

See you at the table in 2013!

Rani and Saira x

We have added some new dates for your culinary diary!

Saturday 27th April

Saturday 18th May

Saturday 29th June

We look forward to cooking for you!

See you in two weeks! New dates will be coming soon!

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Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you are having a thoroughly enjoyable festive few days! The food hasn’t stopped coming and the drink is still flowing until the new year!! In the meantime here are Joginder’s Supperclub first new dates for 2013!

See you at the table!

Rani and Saira x

SATURDAY 19TH JANUARY

SATURDAY 23RD FEBRUARY

SATURDAY 16TH MARCH

It is amazing how quickly the year has gone by and what a year it has been! We celebrated the Diamond Jubilee and became completely engrossed in the Olympic and Paralympic Games (even managed to get to see some Olympic Stadium action!)

Joginder’s Supperclub has continued to be joy to run and that is because the guests who come and enjoy the evenings really make it worthwhile and special for us. Ma Rani has been creating even more dishes this year and for our last supperclubs of 2012 there will be a few ‘pre-festive’ treats on the table which we hope you will enjoy! Our stall at the Tufnell Park Tavern Food Market has become a regular Saturday event now that we have balanced preparing for our Supperclub as well – Saira has become the face of the stall and Ma Rani doesn’t let anyone in her kitchen from Friday onwards so she can prepare the dishes for the Supperclub! It has been really nice to meet some  of our guests at the market and we have a small but loyal group of regulars who stop by each week to stock up – we also have a catchy phrase #SpicySaturdaySupper reserved just for market days. We have listened to our regulars and you can now buy your weekend supper (almost) ready to eat, although we are continuing along the vegetarian theme for now.

We have some lovely chutneys and relishes on offer all made with organic produce courtsey of Dennis Allen and his allotment (thanks Dennis!) We get bag loads of Beetroot from him and this has become one of our most popular Chutney’s ~ look out for the Christmas edition of Joginder’s Beetroot and Onion Chutney! The newest is Joginder’s Tomato Chutney with a kick of chilli, perfect with your spicy food or just as good on a big tasty burger!

We are looking forward to cooking for our guests this month and in December, we do have a gap for a spot of test match cricket in Kolkata towards the end of this month (it would be rude not too) but apart from that Ma Rani will have turned her kitchen into the Spice Laboratory as we try new dishes for next year. Apologies to all those who missed out on places for 2012 – we promise that early 2013 will be bringing lots of dates for you to choose from. If you are in and around Tufnell Park from now until Christmas do come and stop by at the Food Market and say hello!