Curry night

[Goodwitch9]

Planning a curry night but looking to cheat a bit and mix and match home-made with a few judiciously chosen supermarket dishes. Can anyone recommend their favourites? Interested in mains, daals, sides, breads, rice etc and I'm able to get to most of the big shops. Thank you!

You can get frozen parathas, which are delicious- but would require standing over a frying pan for a while last minute.

The Spice Tailor tarka dhal is good.

If you have a local Indian restaurant or sweet shop you could buy a load of bhajis and samosas - much better than anything you’d get in a supermarket.

Homemade naan breads are best, but I do think they're a faff. I have found the Waitrose own brand ones surprisingly good and I like them more than the Pataks ones.

I make rogan josh myself - either a bastardised version entirely from scratch or I use a paste and add a few additional ingredients - but I really like the Spice Tailor options for curries I'm less comfortable with and it's a great combo of fresh/home cooked and convenience.

I wonder if they'd sell uncooked naan bread too? It's always the weakest point of any home cooked curry and I have found lots of recipes for naan bread, but they always involve a lot of work. The non yeast ones that are quicker just aren't as good, although I've done that a few times.

Clay oven naans are really good. I get them in Morrisons but sure they're sold lots of places.

If you have a Costco card, their handmade naans are excellent, even better warmed up for a bit in the toaster/oven/air fryer (I'd say this for anything bready or crispy not served immediately cooking).

They also have frozen samosas and bhajis. But if you are near a Tesco or Asda in a large city you can get Asian brands of these in the freezers, or the holy grail is a south Asian supermarket with a fresh counter.

Waitrose microwave pilau rice packs are good and cheap. Aldi ready made curries are surprisingly good and much cheaper than other supermarkets.

I wouldn't bother buying dal, it's very easy and cheap to make, you can also batch it for the freezer.

I make the basic Gymkhana dal, which was published in the Times some years ago but I often just use red lentils as it's quicker.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 200g split yellow lentils (toor or moong dal)
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 15g garlic paste
• 10g ginger paste
• 15g ghee (clarified butter)
• 4 red chillies
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 800ml warm water (plus extra for soaking) 1]

Instructions

1. Soak and Boil: Wash and soak the split yellow lentils in warm water for 35–45 minutes, then drain. Transfer to a pot with turmeric, chilli powder, salt, 800ml warm water, and the garlic and ginger pastes; boil and simmer on medium heat for about 20 minutes until tender.
2. Temper and Serve: Melt ghee in a pan on low heat, fry the red chillies until darkening, then add cumin seeds and chopped garlic until aromatic and browned. Pour this hot tempering over the cooked lentils, stir, and serve warm

Some fancier ones are here

Four aromatic dal recipes from Karam Sethi | Food | The Guardian

The spread can further be enhanced by adding a bit of salad (nothing fancy just tomato, coriander and red onion, possibly also lettuce and cucumber) and yogurt sauce - just mix mint sauce and yogurt. Also bought mango chutney.

What do you want, recipes or dishes you can buy?

This but for naan. I haaaaaate shop bought naan

Thanks Remus, just what I’m looking for!

Dishes I can buy please!

Thanks DiNozza, will give the Waitrose naans a try.

Also the Morrisons ones!

Thanks Bjork, will try the Waitrose pilau as then I'm not boiling rice last minute.

@Goodwitch9 also available in Tesco, just had a look. They're huge big naans.

Those look yummy!

I think homemade saag aloo is really easy to make at home and tastes better than any shop bought - not that I’ve actually seen it instore very often, but then tbh I’ve not really looked!
If you already have all the spices it’s a really easy side dish to make and - even better - it can be made in advance and, imo, always tastes better a day or two later anyway. For the low effort involved the taste is amazing!

I am going to check out that brand of Naan. I LOVE a good naan and am too lazy to make them myself.

Me too! Thanks DiNozza, I was feeling mildly told off about asking about supermarket stuff before!

M and S Best Ever chicken tikka masala ( black packaging) is the best!

I have a microwave rice cooker thingie. It makes cooking rice really easy.

If you do want to make a good but really easy side, Nigella’s mattar paneer recipe is good. I add extra spices.

Raita, kachumber salad, maybe plain or mango lassi

You don't need rice, parathas, chapatis, naans, pakoras, bhajis and samosas! Just choose 3 or 4, but definitely rice

Plenty of South Asian families use a rice cooker or steamer

Shana garlic parathas are fine, and The Spice Tailor Bengali Jalfrezi curry kit is great

Poppadoms?

I’m a lazy sod, so would be buying it all 😂. I like M&S, don’t think I’ve ever had a bad one. Always a chicken curry for me and have to have saag aloo as well. Curries from Cook are pretty good too.

The M&S ultimate chicken tikka masala is really nice, and their garlic & coriander naans. They're pricier individually but usually in a meal deal 😊