This week is National Curry Week making it the perfect time to receive my first Curry Recipe Kit box from The Spicery. I've previously reviewed Wish.co.uk...the experience and gift ideas site and activated my voucher to begin my three month subscription to the curry recipe kit from thespicery.com.
The kit arrived and contained lots of exciting plastic packs of different herbs and spices, along with a shopping list of what I'd need to make the meal. There was also a recipe card with clear instructions for cooking the curry.
The curry meal on the menu was Tamil Black-Eyed Bean Curry with Spinach Raita, Mushroom Bhaji and Spicy Beetroot Salad. The ingredients needed were very straightforward...all the complicated spices, seeds and herbs are provided and measured out for you to use.
The recipes were very clear and the labelled bags made it easy to prepare the dishes. The main curry was a hearty tomato based bean curry with a savoury, herbal flavour. It contained cinnamon and ajowan in addition to the more traditional spices such as tumeric, cumin and coriander.
The Spicy Beetroot Salad was sweet with the nutty crunch of Nigella seeds and the heat of chilli flakes. It was unusual but really surprisingly delicious.
A cooling Spinach Raita made a really nice alternative to using cucumber.
The earthy Mushroom Bhaji was cooked with a whole chilli and panch pooran. The curry meal was served with a Mushroom Basmati Rice.
The colourful, aromatic meal had an autumnal feel to it. There was plenty to serve four and was truly delicious. I loved how it was hand made from scratch using fresh ingredients but was assisted by having the pre-packaged spices. We enjoyed cooking the curry which was ready to eat within the hour. The flavours were really interesting, complimenting each other perfectly. It wasn't too hot, but had distinctive spicy notes. It was a real success!
I look forward to next month's kit. It is a real incentive to do some real Indian cooking...definitely beats grabbing a jar of sauce when you want something special.
The spice ingredients are listed so you can re-create the ingredients if you wish. The recipe cards are strong and wipe clean and can be secured together the make a booklet to keep them safe.
The Three Month Subscription to the Curry Recipe Kits would really be an excellent gift for anyone interested in cooking or Indian food. You don't need much skill to prepare the meals, but the satisfaction in creating such a lovely meal yourself is great! It is a really unique gift idea for the hard to buy for person in your life, and for just £20 it is good value.
For this and other excellent gift ideas visit wish.co.uk.