Curry is a dish that most of us in the UK enjoy but few of us are actually daring enough cook for ourselves. To help give you some flavourful inspiration in the kitchen we have found straightforward and tasty curry recipes to help to create perfect Indian cuisine at home.
Jaime Oliver provides the recipe for all curry novices- Curry base sauce. You can add the meat or vegetables of your choice and as Jaime suggests freeze the sauce so it is always there when you want a curry in a hurry.
If cooking a curry from scratch is new to you then why not try a completely different curry dish? Meen curry is a spicy fish dish that tastes delicious.
Chicken korma one of the nations favourite curry dishes is also simple and easy to make, but don’t just take our word for it give the recipe a go.
Or, if you are feeling a little bit braver in the kitchen try Brian Turner’s onion bhaji recipe. They compliment any curry and they are also a great snack to enjoy with a glass of ice cold Cobra beer.
Tags: Asda, Chicken Curry, Cobra, Cobra Beer, cookery, curry, ingredients, Recipes, Sainsbury's, shopping, supermarkets, Tesco, Waitrose
Posted in Recipes |
A few weeks ago we hosted the 10th Annual Cobra Brick Lane festival at the Vibe bar on Brick Lane. It was a fantastic day with four amazing restaurants all showing off their best dishes. My personal favourite of these was Mango, right in the heart of Brick Lane, so I thought it was about time I headed down and tried out a whole mean for myself.
I headed down to the restaurant with some friends and asked for them to bring us a selection of their house favourites and a couple of Cobra beers. We spent just 20 minutes nibbling on some poppadoms with some cracking chutneys, admiring the stylish restaurant before the below feast appeared. And feast it was! We had to sit on two separate tables! In total we had 9 different dishes consisting of: Bolloywood Blast, Goshte Hara, Simsima (Sea Bass), Mango Delight, Chicken Tikka Mossala, Tarka Dall, Bendi Bajee, Rice, Garlic Chilly Nan, and finally a Pesware Nan….
As you can see it looks terrific. The food was incredible. We asked the waiters which one was their favourite and each one liked something different and for good reason – each of the dishes were totally different, but totally delicious! We went round each one starting at the mildest and working our way up to the hottest and determined that we had three favourites, Bolloywood Blast, Goshte Hara, and Simsima. They were all completely different, the sea bass was creamy and pack full of subtle flavours, the prawns succulent and spicy whist the chicken pack enough heat to keep it interesting but not blow your head off! We loved every mouthful, especially when washed down with an ice cold Cobra beer!!
So if you’re heading to Brick Lane, maybe on a curry safari, then you should certainly make a visit to the fantastic Mango!
Thanks to Shimu for organising such a feast!
Tags: Brick Lane, Chicken Curry, Cobra, curry, London, poppadoms, Recipes, restaurant
Posted in Restaurant review, Restaurants |
We’re very excited at Cobra Towers at the moment – this Wednesday marks the launch of Cobra Beer’s ‘Ruby Wednesday’ in Manchester.
So what is Ruby Wednesday you may ask? Well, Cobra loves its fans as much as they love curry so we decided we wanted to give something back…. For the next three months you’ll be able to buy one main course dish, and get another main course dish free with a purchase of Cobra Beer in selected Indian restaurants across the great city of Manchester.
The offer starts this Wednesday (9th June) and runs all the way until Wednesday 1st September – that’s over 10 weeks of curry offers! To take part all you need to do is text ‘curry’ to 64666 to receive your 2 for 1 curry code – simple! To find the restaurants taking part then click here. You can also find more details on either facebook.com/welovecurry or cobrabeer.com/rubywednesdays.
Brand manager Nathan Haigh comments: “Cobra has less fizz to go perfectly with curry so it’s no surprise we love curry nights out. It doesn’t get any better than going out for great curry night in a good restaurant with a welcoming host and great friends so we want our fans to join us in Manchester’s fantastic curry houses every Wednesday. The Ruby Wednesday promotion lets everyone have more curry nights out and it’s really easy to take part in. Just one text and a phonecall to book your table and you’re in!” – We think it’s hard to argue with that!
So there you have it. Ruby Wednesday. I know where you’ll find me on a Wednesday night – where will you be?
If you have any questions about the campaign then please leave a comment and we’ll answer them as soon as we can!
Tags: Cobra, curry, Facebook
Posted in Restaurants |
As I’m sure many of you curry lovers know, well over 2000 (my personal estimate…) spice seekers and curry fanatics flocked to London’s East End for the 10th annual Cobra Brick Lane Curry Festival.
A number of Brick Lane’s restaurants gave away free curry samples against a back drop of Bollywood dancing and live music, to celebrate the vibrancy of Asian culture and cuisine.
The restaurants that took part were as fantastic and diverse as all the curry houses on Brick lane and I took great pleasure in sampling the lot – all washed down with an ice cold Cobra beer of course!!
I could rattle on for hours about how much fun I had and how good the food was but I think you should check out the photos below to get an idea for yourself!
So what do you think? If you could start a Curry Festival in your area what would be the top 5 curry houses in your area?
The Cobra Brick Lane Curry Festival is renowned for being one of the country’s largest and most spectacular street parties, and regularly attracts more than 60,000 curry fans.
Tags: Bollywood, Brick Lane, Brick Lane Festival, Cobra, curry, Dr Spice, London, restaurant
Posted in Restaurants |
We need your help!
We’re always looking at making improvements to the website – what do you want to see more or less of?
- More video?
- More blog posts?
- More recipes?
Leave your comments and we’ll take a look!
Thank you!
The Cobra team
Tags: Cobra, website
Posted in Uncategorized |
Last week I was lucky enough have dinner at the Cinnamon Kitchen, a top London restaurant and whilst I was there I popped into the manic kitchen armed with some of your questions for a quick Q&A session with Vivek Singh the head chef.
What is your favourite Indian dish?
Butter Chicken (Old delhi style chicken curry)
What’s your favourite English dish?
Lancashire hot-pot
Who is your favourite celebrity chef?
James Martin
Who is the most famous person you’ve ever cooked for?
Bill Clinton
Apart from your own restaurant where is your favourite place to get Indian food?
Babur Brasserie in Brockley
What is the ultimate dish to impress someone?
Lobster thermidor….with Bengali mustard
One of the big questions we always have is what do you do if you make the curry too hot? Is there a way to cool it down mid cooking?
Add more water or stock and couple of potatoes to the curry and remove the potatoes when they are cooked. They should have absorbed some of the excess seasoning and heat from the curry.
What is your favourite side dish to go with Curry?
Garlic naan, stir-fried Okra
Which 6 people would you invite to your dream dinner party?
6 is far too restrictive, I would still have to pick names out of hat for a dinner party of 60. There are just too many people to choose from.
What do you like to drink with curry?
Cobra of course!
So what do you think? Who would be your top dinner party guests? What’s your favourite restaurant?
Tags: Cinnamon Club, Cinnamon Kitchen, Cobra, curry, restaurant, Vivek Singh
Posted in Restaurants |
This week we decided to treat ourselves with a visit to The Cinnamon Club in Westminster, and what a treat it was!
Set in the stunning surroundings of the Grade II listed Old Westminster Library, The Cinnamon Club is certainly a step up from my local curry house. The wood panelled main dining room is dripping with original features including a book-lined gallery running around the room. There is also a private dining room, mezzanine floor and library bar that could be used for parties and celebrations.
Whilst all this is wonderful, it is important not to judge a book by its cover – one of my favourite places to eat on Brick Lane is also one of the scruffiest looking.
According to the blurb on the website The Cinnamon Club’s ethos has been to revolutionise the way Indian cooking is viewed in the UK. Executive Chef Vivek Singh oversees a brigade of chefs to deliver the very best modern Indian cuisine that goes beyond authenticity.
I think it’s fair to say that Vivek’s recipes certainly go the extra mile! Depending on the seasonality of ingredients, dishes might include starters such as rabbit tikka with dill, mustard and hot garlic chutney; or Norwegian king crab and tamarind salad with cured organic salmon and rasam jelly. Main courses might feature roast saddle of ‘Oisin’ red deer with pickling spices; and pan char grilled halibut with green pea and potato crush yoghurt ‘Kadhi’.
When I was there I had the Tandoori chicken thighs with garlic and fennel for starter and the pan-seared duck breast with sesame and tamarind sauce for main. It will go down as one of my top 5 Indian meals ever and that includes several I had in India last year! The food was beautifully presented and came with a real sense of occasion, on top of that, it also tasted incredible, each mouthful taking me back to my travels but surprising me with some unique tastes that you wouldn’t normally associate with an Indian restaurant – a fantastic combo. My friend and I certainly had plenty to discuss and for once, unlike Smithy, I was ok with sharing my choices!
Would I go again? Try and stop me, it was brilliant!
Tags: Cinnamon Club, Cinnamon Kitch, Cobra, curry, London, restaurant, review, Vivek Singh
Posted in Restaurants |
As I’m sure you all remember a few weeks ago Gordon Ramsay was on TV with his travels around the great country that is India. Well, I finally managed to track down a copy of his book in my local Sainsbury’s and am slowly working my way through the recipes.
It’s a great book – not only does it have some great recipes, but it’s really interesting to read about his travels. I appreciate that he’s a bit of a love/hate character but one thing that cannot be denied is his love of food. He is really infectiously passionate about it and the way people that cook it.
I gave his Indian butter chicken recipe a go and thought it was delicious. Unlike many Indian recipes all the ingredients can either be found in your local Asda or Sainsbury’s; some are store cupboard essentials. I cooked the dish for some friends who are also die-hard curry fans and they all couldn’t believe it when I said it was a Gordon Ramsay creation – they all expected it to have come from a top Indian Chef. Check out some of his other recipes on the Times’ website if you’re not sure on the book yet, but trust me , it’s certainly worth giving it a go – especially the aubergine bhajis!
Tags: Asda, Chicken Curry, Cobra, cookery, curry, Gordon Ramsay, India, ingredients, Recipes, Sainsbury's, shopping, Tesco, Waitrose
Posted in India, Recipes |
Curries in India are invariably jam-packed with fresh vegetables and spices. In fact India has one of the largest vegetarian populations in the world – approximately 40% are vegetarian compared to only around 6% in the UK.
With this in mind and now that the snow has gone and spring is slowly appearing I thought it was a good time to try a new experiment. Although I don’t have a garden there’s no reason why I can’t attempt to grow my own chillies for all my curries. After all, they don’t take up much space and will grow quite happily in a pot by the window.
I’m not afraid to admit I’m a complete novice when it comes to gardening – let alone growing chillies – so I thought I’d check out top chilli blog Chilli Up North for some hot tips.
Andy has broken down the growing process into three simple steps so hopefully even a gardening beginner, like me, should be able to grow something!
1. Growing Chillis Part 1: Getting Started
2. Growing Chillis Part 2: Germination
3. Growing Chillis Part 3: Potting on/Transplanting
I completed the first step yesterday with my Aji Rojo Chilli seeds and am working on step 2 over the rest of the week – fingers crossed it works out ok. I’ll be giving you all regular updates when it all starts growing and, of course, how they taste!
Do you want to have a go at planting some chillies? I’ve got 50 packets of seeds to give away. The first 50 people to email me with your name and address will be sent a packet of seeds to get you started completely free!
Wow! All 50 packs have gone already I’m afraid – thanks to those who entered – they’ll be with you soon! Don’t forget to email your photos in as well and we’ll upload the best ones onto the Facebook page.
Tags: Aji Rojo, Chilli, Chilli growing, Chilli Seeds, Cobra, curry, Dr Spice, Facebook, ingredients
Posted in Uncategorized |
Recently I came across this fantastic recipe book (which you can download for free here) written by the hugely talented Aktar Islam, from Lasan, with input from Professor Sudhesh Kumar from Warwick University.
The cook book has been created with healthy eating in mind – according to Professor Sudesh: “There has been a dramatic increase in the prevalence of diabetes in people of South Asian origin and they are four to five times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than Europeans.” So by keeping the amount of oil to a minimum and doing a little bit more exercise it’s possible to eat Indian food everyday and keep a healthy lifestyle.
These recipes are brilliant – I’ve tried several of them and not only are many of them quick and easy but they’re also delicious. My favourite by far is the Keralan Sour Fish Curry with Kokum. It has some obscure ingredients, but it is possible to find them in your local Indian supermarket or online. If you’re a regular reader you’ll have realised that I’m a huge fan of Keralan food – it’s got a fantastic clean taste yet is packed full of awesome flavour that you just can’t beat!
This is a great book full of fantastic recipes – I strongly suggest you try it for yourself!
You can download the cook book here for free.
Tags: Cobra, curry, ingredients, Recipes, restaurant
Posted in Recipes, Restaurants |
Track down a curry house for your next get together.
