Spicy lamb chops • Baby aubergines with picking spices (achari baigan) • Okra with carom seeds (ajwaini bhindi)

Hi curry peeps,

Hope you’re all well. It’s been a funny old weekend here. We had another family funeral to go to on Friday – a beautiful woodland burial near Norwich. (We had a lovely eggs Benedict at the cosy Talc cafe in town beforehand – http://www.talcinnorwich.co.uk – which I’d highly recommended). We were feeling rather drained when we got back so we got a heartwarming takeaway from our old friend the Bengal Lancer. I even spotted our upstairs neighbours having a romantic date there when I went to collect the food (incidentally, this entitles you to a 20% discount).

After a mammoth lie-in we came up fighting again on Saturday and had a lovely lunch at Phonecia in Kentish Town (amazing as ever) before exploring a couple of properties with Open House London (www.londonopenhouse.org) – a great opportunity to find the hidden gems in your local area. My favourite was Philip Hughes’ studio – an incredible space with a multitude of mirrors and a spa space hidden in a cosy white ceramic bubble. We also popped in to see the Thomas Hardy tree near St Pancras (pictured above) – a curious nub of history among all the new building around King’s Cross.

With the help of Mr CC and my lovely sister-in-law (cook extraordinaire) we rustled up a delicious spicy dinner using the Food of the Grand Trunk Road cookbook. I’ve also just invested in a copy of Rick Stein’s new India book on her recommendation so watch this space. I’m interested in trying out the Pondicherry-style prawn curry with preserved lemons and fresh herbs. Has anyone tried it out?

We’ve got a busy few weekends coming up – Mr M’s bday, our wedding anniversary and an impromptu trip to Paree, but I’ll do my best to keep in touch.

Marks: 8/10 (please excuse the lack of actual curry content in this post).

Curry Club, the return

Boom! Curry club is back! It’s been a funny old summer – four weddings and two funerals worth to be precise. Doesn’t have much of a ring to it, but therein lies the rub.

There’s been a whisper of autumn crispness in the air today so we seized the day and decided to make a warming Rajasthani red meat curry from Madhur Jaffrey’s Curry Easy (which sounded similar to the amazing dish I ate at Cinnamon Soho). On the side I made some tasty pan-grilled courgettes. The final result was delicious and hot, hot, hot. The recipes were of course, easy…

Rajasthani red meat curry (serves 4–6 people)

• Mix 1 tsp cayenne pepper and 2 tbsp of sweet (or smoked) red paprika.
• Cut up 900g of stewing lamb (shoulder is best) into chunks, rub on the spice mix and leave for a couple of hours.
• Heat 2 tsp oilve oil in a frying pan and fry 5 inches of cinnamon stick, 6 cloves, 8 green cardamon pods and 2 black cardamon pods. After a couple of minutes add one chopped red onion and cook until browned.
• Add 3 tsp ginger and garlic paste, plus 1 tbsp of ground coriander and cook for one minute.
• Add the lamb and cook until browned.
• Add 1 litre of water, bring to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer for an hour (or more) untl the meat is lovely and tender.
• Sprinkle chopped coriander on top and serve with a spoonful or two of greek yoghurt.

Pan-grilled  courgettes (serves 2–4 people)

• Five small courgetters, sliced into quarters
• Fry the slices in olive oil until the skin is turning a chargrilled colour. Lay the slices out and sprinkle with lemon juice, salt, pepper, a sprinking of roasted and ground cumin, and a dash of cayenne pepper.

Try it if you dare.

Marks: 8/10