Curry

It tastes better when you eat it with your hands.

The world of curry is a vast galaxy of possibilities; some are bold and bright; others are the kind to make your belly glow with their mellow hum. Often, they are deeply rich in colour, with lustrous sauces and the ideal balance of sweetness and spice. Splashes of cream, coconut milk, yogurt, tomato purée (paste), blitzed boiled onions and even pastes made from nuts or seeds can form the perfect base for these velvety preparations. Texturally, dry curries are usually quite the opposite, often made with many of the ingredients I’ve mentioned, but not always. The spices are cooked and vegetables or proteins are added, while the liquid evaporates, leaving behind morsels of masala-cloaked goodness to scoop up with roti. These are the ideal starter curries for weaning children, for they lack the drippiness of their juicy counterparts. When my son was learning to eat Indian food with his hands, I taught him to tear off a piece of roti and ‘pinch like a crab’ – a technique he grasped quickly and easily, especially for his favourite Cauliflower and Pea Makani, kidney beans and sweetcorn and classic Gujarati-style koru bateta nu shaak, which is more of a curried roughly mashed potato than any Bombay potato-style dish you’d find on a western Indian restaurant menu.