Diwali will be officially celebrated later this month, but we thought we would put our Indian issue out this week to coincide with this weekend's Diwali Festival in Auckland - the city's largest annual vegetarian festival. But I don't need a festival to encourage me to eat Indian food, it is one of my favourite cuisines and I would have at least one Indian meal most weeks, even if it's just a samosa from Khyber spice market in Sandringham eaten on the run as I do my shopping.
Bevan Smith loves his vindaloo and rogan josh too, but encourages us to cook beyond the takeaway menu - dishes that haven't been dumbed down to cater to Western tastes. His cardamom chicken is rich and fragrant and marinated overnight so it's a good do-in-advance dish. Fish kebabs will liven up the barbecue and they are served with one of my favourites - aloo gobi - a spiced cauliflower and potato dish. And once you've tried aloo ki tikki (spicy Indian potato cakes) they may be the only ones you ever make again.
Back to samosa - Warren Elwin enjoys one or two himself and while we wait for him to wrestle the recipe out of the maker of his favourites, he recommends that you buy them and make your own fresh chutneys to serve with them.
Do you know where the best samosa in town is sold? Let me know and we'll add them to the samosa map we are compiling.
