The above is SO true with Indian cooking! Yes it takes a while to get your head around the process but I think after a few times, I will be confidently able to whip up a pakora for any unexpected guests as Hari's mum does, no problem! 

1. Indian food is healthier than you think - Spices have so many nutritional properties to them which aren't as frequently cited as other super foods. For example, Turmeric is badass! It's been classed under the World's healthiest foods for its an anti-inflammatory abilities to treat a wide variety of conditions, including flatulence, jaundice, menstrual difficulties, bloody urine, hemorrhage, toothache, bruises, chest pain, and more. India has been dubbed as the diabetes capital of the world. Why is that? In my opinion it's due to the high starch content of the sides - the rice, naan bread, poppadoms, potatoes, samosas and rotis. These are all delicious but don't forget that starch = sugar. Just limit the amount of all the beige you eat and ensure you're including enough vegetables in the other parts of your meal. Especially if you plan on washing it down with beer (what else?!)

2. Home Made Indian snacks blow anything shop-bought out of the water - the spice level is up to you and the quality will be infinitely better. Also freshly fried samosas and pakoras are so much better than anything you have to reheat plus you can also choose what goes inside! Making it at home is as close as you''ll get to going to an Indian restaurant and it makes a great activity! 

3. Home made Indian snacks are way easier than you think - The first time may seem daunting but now I've done it once I'll definitely do it again because I now know the order of things: whereas before, making dough was intimidating because I just never make it!

I gave Hari's Pakora's a go the following week, to see if I had learnt anything and also because I thought me and The Boy could make a night of it, which we did! Here's how it went:

The samosas we decided to do exactly to the recipe. They are triangular pockets made from pastry, which you make yourself and then fill with a spicy mix of vegetables, in this case it was cooked potatoes and peas seasoned with cumin seeds, coriander, garam masala, chilli, fenugreek and ginger, before sealing and frying (I used olive oil - but you could use rapeseed to be healthier as it has a higher frying point)

We used Hari's Recipe which you can find here

It's good getting your hands extremely sticky and properly getting stuck in (note, you'll have to get someone else to take your photos!) Sophie ended up washing her hands about 100 times during the event because she thought it was ready but alas, it needed more flour! This is essentially grated sweet potato, chopped onion, lots of the same spices as the samosas so: cumin, fenugrreek, chilli & garam masala but this one uses gram flour instead of plain flour. 

The one thing which was really surprising was that Hari instructs you to cook the meat separately, in the oven, whilst you make the curry before mixing it at the end and adding the double cream. I marinated the chicken in plain yogurt, lime juice, the spices and laid on a baking tray on a low heat for around 20 minutes. The smell was fantastic and the meat was tender and delicious.

We cooked some brown rice to go with the curry and unfortunately we had run out of coriander to finish it with but nevertheless (love that word) it was lipsmackingly good.  You may argue that double cream, rice, meat, flour - whatever your vices - aren't healthy but the finished result is SO worth it and you're not eating it that often. As I said before, ensure you have adequate vegetables knocking around to balance it. 

If Hari eats this way all the time and looks like she does, I'm game!