I’m always dubious when someone tells me they’ve discovered the best Indian restaurant in Ireland. More often than not, it turns out to be very good indeed - but also very, very similar to most Indian food served in Ireland. Seven pieces of identically shaped chicken or lamb, swirling in lots of sauce, and served [...]

It has been a great summer so far for growing and the strawberries haven’t let me down. They taste unbelievably flavoursome and are the stawberriest strawberries I’ve ever tasted.
This is the first year I have grown the fruit and I had no idea that there would be such a bevy of them. In fact, there [...]

I love Indian food and feast on it at least once a week but I just haven’t got the cooking down yet. I am comparing myself to my husband who makes the most amazing curries. This is one recipe that I will be taking on.
I have observed that the secret to a great curry is [...]

Mince is one of the things that’s most frequently on offer in supermarkets, and I picked up two packs for the price of one in Superquinn the other day, thanks to Peter’s tip-off.  I made a batch of spaghetti bolognese with the first pack and was looking for something a bit out of the ordinary [...]

This great recipe comes from Hazel McFadden, cookery tutor at The Kitchen in the Castle in Howth. A couple of years ago, Hazel taught me on a month-long professional cookery course, and she is a brilliant teacher - patient, precise, caring and fantastic at cooking.
Hazel and her husband, chef Neil McFadden, are the creative brains [...]

Following on from Tuesday’s post on cookbooks, another one of my favourite books is ‘Just One Pot’ by Lindsey Bareham.
What I love about this book is the recipes cover a whole range of cuisines including - India, France, Trinidad, Spain and Thailand amongst others.
As you can tell from the title, all the dishes can be [...]

I heard this week that the Asian food shop Bombay Bazaar (which has branches in Christchurch, Santry and Blanchardstown) is selling Asian food online at www.bombaybazaar.ie.  The prices on the site are good, and they will deliver for free if you spend over €50.  It could be a really good way of stocking up on [...]

I found myself needing to eat something quick in town two days last week.  Being strapped for time and fond of curries, I thought I’d try both times for something quick from a food court. Food courts used to mean a few depressing fast food stands (KFC, some weird baked potato place) circled around some [...]

Two years ago - back when everybody except me ate gold for breakfast - takeaways were just another dinner choice, whatever day of the week. But now, I reckon people see them more as a treat; when you factor in your main meal, plus rice or naan, it can easily work out at €12 for [...]

The Daily Spud has an inspiring post up at the moment on paneer cheese: it seems it is not just possible but easy to make exotic Indian cheese at home.
She has suggested some very clever variations - add in a cinnamon stick at the boiling stage, or mix in toasted cumin seeds.  Yum!