I was recently invited to a dining event that was slightly different from the ones I usually attend. Having recently confessed to not being too experienced in Indian food I thought this an ideal way to educate myself and experience some of the dishes.

The curryhouse is open one Saturday evening each month and is hosted by husband and wife team Alex and Sally. I caught up with Alex after the event to find out a bit more…

Alex, could you tell our readers just what the Authentic Curryhouse is all about.

The authentic(?) curryhouse is hard to pin down ‘cos it’s about several things. We love food, we love cooking and we love gathering people together – and that’s essentially what the authentic(?) curryhouse is all about. We are involved in a larger project whose goal is to enhance community in the Glasgow Harbour area, and in our dreaming we thought a great social space could be created around the curries I love to cook. The other strand to the authentic(?) curryhouse is that we’re big on eating in a way that respects people and looks after the planet, so our nights are as full of organic and fairlytraded products as possible. It’s also one of the reasons we’ve embraced the retro crockery, not just ‘cos of the style we’re going for but because it matches our values – recycling at its best!

What gave you the idea to start it up?

The idea for the curryhouse itself came from a woman called Mrs Bakshi we knew in Haddington, where we used to live. Every month Mrs Bakshi would run her ‘Indian Banquet’ in a hired hall in the town – she had done for years. We went along and fell in love with the idea. I then went on a journey of discovery as I began to uncover more of what ‘real’ Indian cuisine was like. I’d been used to takeaway curries (and still love them), but discovering Mrs Bakshi’s cooking really opened my eyes to the massive range of Indian dishes there were. When I found out that my favourites, like tikka masala, were invented in Glasgow and the Midlands, I made a choice to pursue more authentic Indian cooking. Then, when we came to Glasgow a few years ago to work on the authentic(?) project, we were looking for ways to gather together the community in Glasgow Harbour, which has very little in the way of community hubs. The two experiences then converged in a moment of clarity and the authentic(?) curryhouse was born.

What made you decide to serve Indian food?

Indian food is my favourite and such a popular, people-gathering food. What made me decide though, was that over the last 5 years, I’ve been honing my own skills as I’ve discovered and read and experienced more of what Indian food has to offer. I love the variety, depth and earthiness of Indian food and wanted to offer people the chance to sample some dishes they perhaps don’t always find in their local takeaway.

Have you always been into Indian food and how did you learn to cook it?

Growing up, we had a pretty British-prototypical diet, partly because my parents ran a Guest House that served evening meals. We sometimes had mum’s version of a ‘curry’ but it wasn’t until I travelled and discovered real asian food that I really fell for curries. Since then, I’d always choose Indian over any other cuisine if I had the choice. In terms of cooking it myself, it’s been pretty much trial and error coupled with incessant questions! For example, I would go into Mr Bakshi’s shop and ask tons of questions about this ingredient or that. I’ve even had great recipes from one of the shopkeepers along Dumbarton Road whose family heritage is from Pakistan! The most helpful thing I did was pick up a copy of a very early Madhur Jaffrey book that dealt solely with vegetarian dishes. It’s a massive paperback with no photos, but it’s been the best thing. There’s chapters on the different breads, pickles, dahls, drinks…. and it means I’ve been able and encouraged to experiment.

I’ve also been on a trip to visit another celebrity Indian chef in London, Monisha Bharadwaj, who took us on an incredibly inspiring ingredient walk through Southall.

Given that you have already held a few of these nights how have they been received by your guests?

The reaction from people has been so encouraging as it’s been uber positive. People love the vibe, the food, the attention to detail, the chat. Before we launched publicly we had a few authentic(?) curryhouses where we canvassed the guests which helped us refine the events. Overall it’s been great – we spent at least two years planning and thinking about how to make the authentic(?) curryhouse work, and people have bought into the vision in a big way.

Although I really enjoyed my meal, I have no idea what it was that I ate! Can you remind me of the dishes, dips, bread, drinks etc. that you served?

For the event you came to, we had: cumin and black pepper poppadoms with yoghurt, mango chutney, aubergine and garlic pickle. For the mains there was: Chana Dahl with cucumber, Chickpeas cooked in tea and Tiyya Gummadi (pumpkin and coconut) served with rice and naans. For dessert we had Gagar Ka Halwa (carrot halwa) and homemade Chai to finish the night off. Through the meal we also had Elderflower cordial and Mango Lassi.

Dessert for the evening - Gagar Ka Halwa

And were they all cooked by yourself, even the bread?

Yep! I cook everything from scratch – the only things we buy in are the uncooked poppadoms, yoghurt and the pickles/chutneys.

How far in advance do you have to start preparing given that you could be cooking for up to thirty people?

This is an interesting question. Initially I thought I’d be cooking all week, but the reality has been that I can start the cooking on Friday morning – although that means it’s non-stop until 11pm on Saturday. It’s actually the ancillary stuff that takes the time, like the shopping, transporting the crockery etc.

Does the menu change each month?

The menu changes month to month, with new recipes coming along all the time. I think there’s always going to be staples that I cook – for instance, the most popular is the pumpkin and coconut curry, so we’ll have that most months. Whatever new menu items we have it’ll always be ethically sourced and veggie. This is one of the amazing things about Indian food – even with something like the dahl’s – there’s a whole world out there to try!

I take it the worst part about the evening is all the dishes!?

The clean up is a bit of a pain because we have to carry all the crockery home. The hardest bit though, was going through all the legislation to set ourselves up – the biggest reason it took us two years to get off the ground.

Any tips for our readers cooking Indian or currys at home?

My biggest tip is to embrace veggies! I’m not a vegetarian, but because of the environmental impact, I’ve been on a journey of trying to reduce the amount of meat I eat – and it’s been the best catalyst for discovering authentic curries. The book I mentioned earlier is a total find. It’s called ‘Eastern Vegetarian Cooking’ by Madhur Jaffrey. I think it’s out of print, but scour the charity shops and you might find one. If, on the other hand, you want to make curries like you’d find in your local takeaway, Kris Dillon’s ‘Curry Secret’ is a classic. He worked for years in the industry and decided to write the book, outing many of the secrets of the Indian takeaways.

The next best thing you can do is go to a garden centre and buy the biggest terracotta tile or plant saucer that will fit in your oven. This was the thing that allowed me to make naans. The Tandoor ovens they use in Indian restaurants are ceramic lined and very hot (about 400°C). So, put the terracotta in the oven, as close to the top as possible and as high a temperature as possible. Make a bread dough, roll out a thin naan shape, slap it on the terracotta and cook for maybe 2 minutes.

The last tip is to use the Indian grocers in and around Glasgow. There are tons up in Woodlands and they have all the ingredients that are either very expensive or impossible to get in the supermarket.

Finally – always buy fresh and always ask questions.

If one of our readers wanted to attend one of your nights how would they go about it?

Even though we’re primarily focussed on Glasgow Harbour, we’re totally happy to welcome people from wherever they live… If you’d like to come, please book up by visiting our website www.authenticcurryhouse.com or via our Facebook page (search for authentic(?) curryhouse). We look forward to seeing you there!

Once again thanks for such an enjoyable night.

No problem

The curryhouse is next open on the 4th September so visit their website to book your place.

Authentic(?) Curryhouse

www.authenticcurryhouse.com