It's not looking so good at the moment. It just tastes like a base sauce (which is what it basically is) with only the spinach and coriander left to go it. I'm thinking I might use it as a base and knock up some better tasting curries with it.

Damn you've got me hooked on the idea now

Lamb tikka will take some thinking. The vacuum process draws out all of the air from within the meat changing the structure of it considerably. I think that would mean the marinade wouldn't be absorbed by the meat so well. Or maybe I'm wrong:

"The point of using the vacuum for marinating is that the vacuum pulls the meat fibers apart, and forces the marinade into the meat. With the VacuVin, you just give a couple of pumps, and your meat is marinated--just seconds, to get the same or better results as you would with hours of regular soaking. Basically, once the vacuum is achieved, the meat is marinated--no real time involved."

The other problem is how you get the smokey taste on lamb that falls apart - not on a skewer. Maybe one of those fish cooking BBQ tools would work.

Did you guys catch this on Saturday Kitchen this week? It looks semi-BIR but maybe a little 'posher'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01jt2t0/Saturday_Kitchen_02_06_2012/

The Ingredients

250g (9oz) Ghee
3 tablespoons Fresh Coriander (chopped)
65g (2 1/2oz) Garlic
1 tablespoon Ground Turmeric
1 tablespoon Red Chilli Powder
350g (12oz) Fresh Spinach washed with large stalks removed
1 tablespoon Ground Cumin
4 medium sized Green Chillies with stalks removed
1 tablespoon Paprika
? tablespoon Garam Masala
550g (1 1/4lb) Onions Chopped
1 x 400g (140z) Can Chopped Toms
50g (2oz) Fresh Ginger, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon Salt
900g (2lb) Boneless leg or shoulder of Lamb (1? in) cubes
1 tablespoon Ground Coriander
120ml (4fl oz) water
A pinch of ground cumin and freshly ground black pepper to serve

How to Cook

1. Heat the ghee in a large, heavy based pan. Add the onions and cook over a medium heat, stirring now and then, for 20 minutes until they are soft and a light brown

2. Put the tomatoes, water, ginger and garlic into a liquidizer and blend until smooth. Remove the fried onions with a slotted spoon, add them to the paste and blend briefly until smooth.

3. Return the puree to the ghee left in the pan and add the lamb and salt. Simmer for 30 minutes, by which time the lamb will be half cooked and the sauce will be well reduced. Stir in the turmeric, chilli powder, cumin, paprika and ground coriander and continue to cook for 30-45 minutes for shoulder or 45-1 hour for leg, until the lamb is tender, adding a little water now and then if the sauce starts to stick.

4. Meanwhile, put 175g (6oz) of the spinach leaves into a large pan and cook until it has wilted down into the bottom of the pan. Cook for 1 minute, then transfer to the rinsed out liquidizer and blend to a smooth puree. Set aside. Rinse out the liquidiser again and add the green chillies and 2-3 tablespoons of water and blend until smooth. Set aside.

5. When the lamb is cooked, there should be a layer of ghee floating on the top of the curry. You can either skim it off or leave it there, whichever you prefer. Then stir in the spinach puree and the remaining spinach leaves and cook for 2 minutes.

6. Now taste the curry and add as much green chilli puree as you wish, according to how hot you like your curries . Simmer for 2 minutes more.

7. Stir in the fresh coriander and Garam Masala. Transfer the curry to a serving dish and sprinkle with a little more ground cumin and some freshly ground black pepper just before you take it to the table.
Serve with your choice of rice, Naan breads, poppadoms and whatever else you can cram in.

I just thought I'd throw the idea out there as last year was quite good fun for those that made it. It's open to absolutely everyone including partners and kids of any age.

Is there any interest in holding another one this year?

If so, when would be the best dates? I'm away first 2 weeks of Aug so would need to be end of July or end of August.

Any ideas on how to make it better that last year?

If anyone has a proper burner we could get some demo's going. I'm sure Az will be up for coming again with a few samples. Those mini-bhaji bites were good!

Price will be free, I'm happy to rent the BBQ and supply plenty of charcoal. It will be a good opportunity to taste each other's food to compare. Maybe we could get Az to judge a best curry award

If we have it in the same place there is LOADS of room. I think there was about 20 - 25 people last time and we could have easily doubled that number and had room to spare. The kids had a great time playing in the woods and football in the park.

I amended last years spreadsheet to get an idea of possible numbers:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoVG2JH0G1stdFJDSXo2WWJOdUZEU1pWTnRCQWFDRkE&authkey=CJm4-LIB

There is a funny trending topic on Twitter at the moment - #curryhousefootballers - the idea being to link curries with footballers names:

Demba Bhaji, Alan Ball-ti, Garlic Nani, Vindaloo Jones, Chicken Biry-Nani, Ledley King Prawn Masala, Chicken JalFraizer Campbell

Very funny if you like football and curry