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Yes it is easy to order a takeaway and sometimes it feels like a real treat. Well not for us. We seem to experience disappointment after disappointment. Preparing food at home; both the food you probably grew up with as well as foods from different cultures, which may be new to you; offers so much. Preparing food yourself provides an opportunity for you to share the joy of food creation with your loved ones. The trip to the supermarket takes on a new light as you begin to see the food as possible dishes. You appreciate fresh produce more so decide to buy locally from your fishmonger and butcher. Sourcing these lovely foodstuffs leads you to explore how different foods work together and experiment how best to enhance flavours. Then there’s the obvious – takeaway ordering has too many unknowns – except the cost.

I had spotted a Tandoori paste in the Waitrose recently which I used with natural yogurt to marinate some of the chicken. It’s always nice to have a sauce with this style of food so I made a simple medium style curry sauce to accompany. Oh, it felt like a bit of banquet was in the making.

Come on Le Creuset, let’s make an Indian style meal to enjoy tonight. We do like a curry on a Saturday so this was perfect.

Saute onions in lovely olive oil and be ready to add garlic, fresh ginger and a couple of chillies for a minute before cooking off the curry powder. I sometimes have curry paste but curry powder does the same job if you cook it off like this. Into the cooked curry mixture goes the chicken until it looks appetising, then relieve the dryness with a tin of chopped tomatoes. Don’t worry, it may look terribly tomatoe’y at this stage but the idea is to reduce the tomatoes. They are essential for a rich flavour though. Oh, a bay leaf! Now add a tin of coconut milk and simmer away for a bit. Keep an eye on it until the colour seems just right and turn off the heat. Try not to overcook as the sauce will lose it’s yummy taste.

Then there’s the rice. I was wedded to the one cup of rice to two cups of boiling water, lid on and simmer until water gone method. That was until the lovely Pete took over rice duty. One cup of rice is the perfect measure for a generous helping for two, but Pete’s method is to boil on high heat openly with bucketloads of water. It works to produce perfectly fluffy separated rice grains every time.

Cost, well my grocery shopping always includes tins of tomatoes, coconut milk, garlic etc so I would normally have all the ingredients to make a lovely tasty curry any time it takes our fancy. I just might need to go get some chicken.

The dishes we had that night delivered on taste, tender time together and memories to replay and make another weekend a little bit special.