Double dumplings and a curry from Cambodia...

Maisie - This was an exciting one for me, as I was involved in the process of developing this particular one

Having been brought up in Nepal, I decided to make this one with my sister Rachel, and she was excited to reminisce with me over our favourite childhood treat, Momos.

Momos are a type of dumpling which are really very similar to fried or steamed dumplings you'll find in the surrounding Tibet, India and China. The main difference seeming to be that you can steam or fry (or steam AND fry) them and they are always served with a hot tomato-based sauce. This was always a huge treat when we were growing up, and we'd always need to establish exactly how many momos each person was allowed or there would ultimately be tears.

We decided to use Paneer cheese instead of lamb or chicken for this recipe as we had a vegetarian in the house, and though this isn't what we usually had in Nepal, it was delicious and the texture worked really well in the dumplings, too!

As you can see we were quite limited in counter space and this is quite a chop and prep-heavy meal- but we managed it with the help of many many bowls which we balanced in various places.

Making the dumplings is definitely the most fun part of making this meal. We made a few 'pretty' dumplings and then just had fun with constructing some more..interesting shapes and the dumplings just gradually got bigger. We actually ended up with a lot of filling left over, so we just fried it up and put it on the side.

The momos were served with dal bhat, which was a staple meal in Nepal that I could (and have) eaten for days on end. There was also a cauliflower tarkari and fresh carrot and cucumber salad on the side.

We added turmeric to our rice, which our mum used to do, and loaded up everything with fresh coriander. We'll often eat this with our right hand as most people do in Nepal (plus it's more fun), but knives and forks will do this time!

We ate in the warm evening outside, and the meal was a hit! The dal especially drew attention, which we made with black lentils and fresh tomatoes.

And of course, the momos were brilliant, it felt so great to make our own and bring back some old memories.

Dan

This recipe was really quite simple to make (once you peeled chopped and grated all the ingredients!) The salad was really easy to prep and I was quite surprised with how tasty it was.

I will most definitely be making it again as a side dish with other meals in the future. I enjoyed making the Malai Kofta Curry, I’d never made anything like it before, everything came together quite nicely but I think I made the balls a little too big as i ended up frying them for a bit longer than 5 minutes to make them extra golden!

The tomato based sauce that accompanied the Kofta was again nice and simple to make once all the ingredients were prepped and it tasted really fresh with just the right amount of heat. I served the salad, aloo methi, carrot pickle and rice in separate serving dishes and put the curry onto a plate so me and my girlfriend mix and match with what we wanted. All the dishes really complimented one another, we even had enough leftover for lunch the next day! The meal was so filling and we both really enjoyed it

Matt

A bank holiday Sunday in the countryside with extended family seemed a perfect opportunity to try out the Cambodian Saraman beef curry from Friday Night Curry Discoverer. It was a mixed group from grandparents through to kids, so we had a few tricks up our sleeves to stretch a four person meal to feed seven.

The meal consisted of a deeply flavoured, rich and aromatic beef curry that was simplicity defined to put together. It is finished with peanuts and served with a punchy and zingy pepper sauce that cuts through the curry perfectly. We upped the quantity of beef a bit to feed a few extras which worked really well. The meal is finised off with a really delicious garlic chilli sauce (this was a big hit!), some wilted greens, a refreshing mango salad and some great little prawn fritters, which also worked fine increasing the quantiy a bit. Finally we cooked quite a bit extra rice sop everybody was left feeling really satisfied.

We also made use of a slow cooker for the curry as we were out in the day which was a great success, and the aromas that greeted us when we returned were fabulous. It also meant that dinner was super speedy to throw together at that point, although certainly long enough for everybody to enjoy a Spring time pre dinner drink and snack in the garden.

It was a meal that worked well for everybody with the kids especially enjoying the little side dishes that allowed them to feel some autonomy over their dinner, while the older grown ups loved the new and exotic flavours.