What's for dinner?

Chips are one of the nation’s favourite dishes and there are some wonderful ways you can spice up your chips to give them a new, fresh twist.

Try these three recipe ideas for an original twist on National Chip Week:

1. Spicy Chips: Cook your chips as normal then sprinkle ready mixed spices such as chaat masala; squeeze over a little lemon juice and sprinkle finely chopped coriander for a really tasty treat.

2. Chip Kick: Finely chop fresh onions, add mixed spices and fresh coriander and mix into the chips to make a snack with a kick. If you want a real kick, chop fresh chillies and add to the mix.

3. Nice & Saucy Chips: Mix chopped tomatoes, coriander, cumin, turmeric and chilli powder to make a delicious sauce, add cooked chips and simmer for a couple of minutes to create a wonderfully rich and spicy side dish.

Or why not try serving your spicy chips with some fried fish dusted in flour, chilli powder, black pepper, turmeric and garlic puree, and you have created your very own Indian fish and chips!

If, like me, you enjoy your food at it’s freshest and tastiest, you should ‘eat the season’ and plan your meals around seasonal produce – check out What’s in Season – a guide to seasonal food in Britain. I find a calendar of the seasons showing what to eat and when, really helpful stuck to the fridge as inspiration when I’m planning meal times.

Not only is seasonal veg, fruit and meat at it’s best in season, but this is also when you can get the best deals for your favourite ingredients. Simply add seasonal veg to customise your favourite recipes, how about adding spinach to your Balti to give it a bit of a seasonal twist.  Or take inspiration from the ingredients of the season. Potato, cauliflower, garlic as well as spinach are all in season this month – the perfect ingredients for one of my favourite dishes: Gobi Aloo Saag.

Now may also be the ideal time to think about what produce you can grow at home throughout the year. This is an ideal way of planning ahead and getting the whole family involved. Chilli plants are quick and easy to grow and are ready for planting February/March time so why not have a competition amongst your family for who can grow the biggest chilli.

Let me know how you get on – and happy eating.

I am delighed to announce that due to the success of my DineIndia dishes in the hot self-serve area of Whole Foods Market, Kensington, we are now expanding the product range to all London branches featuring the following brand new delicious quick-cook dishes and chilled cooking sauces:

Quick Cook Meals – for when you’re pressed for time but still want a good quality meal. Each meal comes with an appropriate serving accompaniment for the perfect finishing touch, i.e. flaked almonds and blended chilli oil:

Delhi Chicken Tikka
Shahi Vegetable Korma
Calcutta Chicken Jalfrezi
Hydrabadi Chicken Korma
Chennai Chicken Madras
Chunky Bombay Potato

Chilled Cooking Sauces – authentic sauces, prepared especially for you to take the time and hassle out of cooking:

Delhi Tikka
Hydrabadi Korma
Calcutta Jalfrezi
Chennai Madras
Kashmiri Rogan Josh

Quick and easy to prepare, yet satisying and authentic every time, DineIndia is the ideal curry for any evening of the week and I can personally guarantee that you will love it. Do let me know what you think and what your favourite dish is – simply leave your comments using the link at the bottom of this entry, go to my facebook page (link also below) or drop me an e-mail to: info@sa-foods.co.uk. I’d love to hear from you.

My extended range is available in Camden, Clapham Junction, Kensington, Soho and Stoke Newington Whole Foods Market stores from Thursday 3rd February 2011.