Madhouse Family Reviews: Tilda British Curry Rice review & Dhruv Baker recipes

Here at The Madhouse, we often eat microwaveable sachets of rice - they're quick, convenient, avoid soggy overcooked rice disasters and are very practical for Sophie when she needs to prepare her own lunch using just the microwave for safety reasons - so I was keen to see what we would think of Tilda's Limited Edition British Curry Rice. I was expecting great things because it has been created by 2010 MasterChef winner Dhruv Baker and really reflects his exotic and varied culinary influences and background.

Last night, we had a rather gourmet meal here at The Madhouse - I'm ashamed to say, we ate Bambi, or at least his mum ! We tucked into "civet de biche" which is a stew made using the meat of female deer that's popular in France, especially for Christmas and New Year, when people eat a lot of game. I'm not overly keen on game myself because I find it has a very rugged, pronounced flavour that reminds me of offal, so to counterbalance the richness of the meat, I stewed some sweetened cranberries and apple. This combination worked really well but was another pronounced flavour so I thought the British Curry Rice would be the perfect accompaniment, with a strong enough flavour to not be totally overpowered by everything else on the plate. It was a match made in heaven, with the complex flavours of the rice - creamy coconut, curry leaves and coriander with fragrant cinnamon, sweet apricots and star anise - fighting their corner and adding a whole new layer of flavours to the meal.

Dhruv has created a number of recipes that perfectly compliment the British Curry rice, including Salmon Kedgeree, Coronation Turkey, Paneer Arancinis and Turkey Biryani. These recipes are healthy, delicious, and quick- perfect for busy parents who want the best for their family. The recipes can all be found on the Tilda website but I'll post a couple here, to give you an idea.

SALMON KEDGEREE

Ingredients

1 pouch Tilda British Curry Rice

1 large knob butter

4 spring onions, finely shredded

Handful parsley, finely chopped

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 cooked salmon fillet, or 200g left over salmon

Salt & Pepper

Lemon Wedges

2 hard-boiled eggs

Method

1. Heat the butter in a large frying pan

2. Add the spring onions and fry gently until softened

3. Add the Curry rice, lemon zest and juice. Stir well

4. Add the salmon and heat through until piping hot

5. Season well with salt and pepper and stir in the parsley

6. Serve with lemon wedges and quartered hard-boiled eggs

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PANEER ARANCINIS WITH RAITA

Ingredients

1 pouch Tilda British Curry Rice

1 tbsp oil

1 shallot, finely chopped

1/2 red chilli, finely chopped

A thumb of ginger

1 clove garlic

Handful coriander, chopped

A few kalonji seeds

2 tbsps. Desiccated coconut

2 tsps mango chutney

3 tbsps plain flour

4 tbsps breadcrumbs

25g paneer, cut into 1cm cubes

1 tsp mild chilli powder

1 egg beaten

Salt and pepper

Oil for frying

Method

1. Heat the tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan.

2. Add the shallots, garlic, ginger and chillies fry gently until softened.

3. Empty half of the curry rice into a large mixing bowl. With the other half either blitz in a food processor or mash with a fork until smooth. Add to the other rice

4. Add the coriander, kalonji seeds, coconut and mango chutney and mix together well. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes

6. Toss the paneer cubes in the chilli powder and some salt

7. Remove rice mixture form the fridge and form into balls about the size of a walnut. Press a paneer cube into the centre of each ball and squeeze firmly back into a ball shape

8. Coat each ball in flour, egg and then roll in breadcrumbs.

9. Heat oil in a small pan until 180°c or a cube of bread browns in 15 seconds.

10. Fry the arancinis until golden brown about 1 minute. Drain on kitchen paper and serve with the Raita.

Raita

125ml Greek yoghurt

1/4 cucumber, finely chopped

A few mint leaves

Pinch cayenne

Pinch cumin

Pinch salt

Mix all the ingredients together and season to taste

This limited edition flavour will be available from Ocado and Amazon from October, and from Tesco from November, until May 2013.