Manjit's Kitchen, Leeds (and sometimes elsewhere)

Manjit's Kitchen is a home delivery service based in Leeds. Anyone on Twitter with an interest in all things food and all things Leeds has probably heard of them by now, as they've been getting rave reviews for Manjit's home cooked vegetarian Punjabi food. I'm no vegetarian but if meat abstinence was forced upon me I would almost certainly survive on a diet of Indian food. Rich, creamy dhals; crunchy, fresh thorans; light dosai with zingy chutneys; India is pretty much number one in the world for vegetarian cuisine. I live way outside Manjit's delivery area so when I heard they would be manning a stall at the first ever fiery food market in Dewsbury I was there like a shot.

A quick word on the market first. I was quite impressed, there were a lot of stalls selling some good looking stuff. Of particular note was a truck selling food from the Seychelles, not something I've ever come across before. A free sample of a pork curry was delicious with tender, slow cooked meat in a fiery, coconutty sauce that also had hints of peanut. Back to Manjit's Kitchen. Did it live up to expectations?

The dhal certainly did. I think it was a dhal makhani (black lentils in a rich buttery sauce). The sauce was wonderfully rich and creamy, cut with acidity from the addition of tomatoes. The spicing was just right, complex and slow burning but not too fiery. I could eat this stuff by the bucket load.

Accompaniments weren't all so successful. The rice was fine, plain basmati cooked perfectly. The nan bread was rubbish though, foamy and lifeless. I just don't think nan bread really works pre-cooked and then warmed up, chappattis would be a better bet. Full marks for letting us help ourselves to salad, but a bowl of dressing would have livened things up a bit.

In summary the main event, the dhal was excellent. The meal was good value at £4 for dhal, rice, bread and salad. A chick pea dish and the samosa's were also looking good. If I lived in the delivery area I'd definitely be ordering soon.


7/10

Home delivery within a 4 mile radius of LS8 (which covers Gipton, Harehills, Oakwood, Roundhay)
Also at various other events - check the website for details

http://www.manjitskitchen.com/

Taste of Lewisham, Lewisham, London

I've just returned from a long weekend in Croatia (of which to follow), and I can't go home for another couple of days because of work related matters in Kent. And so I find myself at the Swanley Premier Inn with a craving for something spicy. The options are thus: head Kent-bound; head-London bound; chance a takeaway in Swanley itself; or last but least dine at the Beefeater Grill adjoining the hotel. I weigh up the options and have a little think to myself before hopping in the car.

London-bound it is then. Fifteen minutes up the A20 and here I am. Lewisham, lovely Lewisham. I like to think of Lewisham as the Stratford of South London (transport hub, large-ish non-descript town centre etc), but Stratford will soon have a Westfield mega-shopping centre and the Olympics and Lewisham won't. Such is the lot of South London.
 
As I waffle on you may have noticed that I seem to know London well for a Northerner. Before my year in Manchester I lived in South-East London for three years, Woolwich to be precise. Woolwich is hardly a foodie mecca (there are supposed to be a couple of good Nigerian/Ghanaian restaurants, but I never got round to trying them), and Lewisham was the nearest suburb to boast a fairly good selection of Asian food places.

One of my favourites in the early days of my time in the capital was a scruffy Sri Lankan and South Indian café called Aru Suvai. It was probably the cheapest restaurant that I have ever dined at in the UK. I recall a particular feast a friend and I had that cost £12 in total. Not each, in total including starters, several curries, rice, breads and drinks. I never knew how they made any money, and it became apparent one day that they probably didn't as I turned up to find the place had been spruced up and renamed Taste of Lewisham. So it has remained ever since, doing the same sort of food but for about 50% more expensive. Which is still dirt cheap. So for old times sake, and to blow my head off with some chilli heat I headed there this evening.

This is a Lamb kottu roti. Kottu roti is a stir fried dish made by chopping up roti (flatbread) and frying it with egg, vegetables, meat and spices. I suppose it's what Sri Lankans would call comfort food, as it's good solid, hearty stuff but packed with flavour from the aggressive spicing (plenty of chilli, curry leaves and a very hot curry powder) typical of the cuisine.

I hadn't eaten for a long time, so rather overdid it with the carbs. This is a bowl of lentil curry and a couple of parottas. The lentils were fine, but a bit stodgy as they were bulked out with potatoes for some reason. The parottas were excellent. They're a sort of layered, fried flatbread. These were crisp, greaseless and very moreish.

This lot cost me a total of £10 with a couple of mutton rolls and a can of Sprite. Cheap, filling and very spicy. Just what I needed.


7/10


Taste of Lewisham
19 Lee High Road
Lewisham
London
SE13 5LD

Tarka Dal

Here is my recipe for tarka dal. I'm no Indian food expert so it's probably completely inauthentic, but it tastes good. It's a very comforting dish to eat, gently warming rather than eye-wateringly spicy with a soothing nutty, buttery, garlicky flavour. I like to eat this when it's cold and I need a day off from consuming meat.

You will need:

This will make enough for 2-3 people as a main course, or at least 6 as a side dish.
250-300g yellow split peas (chana dal)
1 tbsp cooking oil (groundnut, sunflower or whatever)
a small cinnamon stick
2 cloves
2 cardamom pods
1 small onion
2 heaped teaspoons good quality curry powder (I think the stuff in tins is best. Bolst's is good. You can get it at most asian supermarkets)
3 fat cloves garlic
a big chunk of ginger (thumb sized if you have fat thumbs, if you don't then bigger than thumb sized)
1 fresh chilli
1 tbsp butter
a small bunch of coriander
Salt, pepper and lemon juice for seasoning

What to do:

1. First you need to rinse the lentils and get them cooking. Rinse them in cold water until the water is running clear then put them on the boil in a large pan.

 
2. The cooking time for lentils seems to vary quite wildly so you'll need to check them, but it will probably be around 30 minutes. A lot of scum will rise to the surface of the boiling water. Strain this off with a slotted spoon.

3. Once the lentils are on the boil prepare the other ingredients. Chop the onion as finely as you can be bothered to. Cut the stalks off the coriander and chop them finely (these definitely need to be chopped finely otherwise you'll end up with stringy bits in the finished dish). Also roughly chop the coriander leaves. Grate or finely chop the garlic and ginger, and last but not least chop the chilli.

4. If you're really slow at chopping stuff you might need to check your lentils at this stage. If not you'll have time for a tea break. I suggest a nice strong brew with a couple of hobnobs. The lentils should be cooked through but not starting to disintegrate yet. When they're done drain them and set aside.

5. Warm up the oil in a heavy based pan over a medium heat. Add the cinnammon, cloves and cardamom pods and fry for a few seconds until they start to release their fragrance, then add the onion.

6. Fry for a few minutes until the onion has started to soften, then add the chilli, ginger, garlic and coriander stalks and fry for another minute or two. Make sure it doesn't start to burn at any point as it will go bitter and unpleasant.

7. Now add the curry powder and fry for another minute or two, before adding the lentils and pouring over boiling water. Add just enough water to barely cover the lentils, then simmer for another 5 minutes or so until the lentils start to break down and the whole thing thickens up nicely. The final texture is up to you, I like the lentils to retain a little bit of their shape, rather than be completely dissolved into a uniform mush.

8. Finally stir in the butter. I've suggested about 1 tbsp, but it's a bit like mashed potato in that it can pretty much take as much butter as you can throw at it. I don't know if a 50/50 butter/dal ratio is feasible, but it's probably worth a try if you think your arteries can handle it.

9. Season to taste with salt, pepper and maybe a squeeze of lemon juice, then sprinkle over the coriander and serve with chapattis or plain boiled rice.