The Gastronomic Darkie: March 2008

A while ago, some friends (female) had this idea of a theme dinner for a group of about 15 people. I put the female in brackets because none of my male friends would come up with such a wonderful idea. The decision was taken on fusing Moroccan and Indian cuisine and yours truly had to cook, or rather do most of the cooking as some other people would definitely help on the day.

The plan is to have members of this group hosting an evening on a rotational basis; the frequency is still to be decided. The first session was held on Saturday, 1 March in Sunninghill and it went off pretty well. Everyone had a great time, with the last people leaving at about midnight. The ladies dressed up for the evening, and some of the guys probably thought there would be some belly dancing. Next time, fellas.

Let me start of with the menu:

Indian fish cakes with cucumber raita and a lemon pickle as a starter. Main was mechoui (roast Moroccan lamb), chicken korma, couscous salad, spinach cooked Indian style and butternut roasted with cumin based spice mix. Oh, and some naan bread to mop up the korma gravy. Cocktails flowing the whole evening, desert was a fruit salad with mint leaves and syrup with an Indian twist (cardamom and cinnamon).

Although Indian and Moroccan cooking use the same combination of spices such as cinnamon, cumin, coriander, etc. the Indian dishes tend to be spicier. My take on that is the following: Indian cooking generally uses the cheap cuts of meat and thus relies heavily on the curry sauce to liven up the dish. Moroccan food is usually more flavourful with a more delicate hint of spices.

How was the food received? I will be honest, I had my initial fears. Firstly, I didn’t know how my mates would take to couscous. Lets be honest, its not at the top of darkie ‘must eat’ things. The more worried moment was when I was doing the veggies while people kept coming to the fridge for a beer or a glass of wine. I did a rewind to my drinking days and remembered how I didn’t really like veggies when inebriated. I was wrong, these people have refined palates and quite a number remarked on how the curry and cream added something special to the spinach.

The cocktails were a nice touch to the whole theme, with the hostess making sure that non drinkers were also catered for. Cocktails have this gay thing about them, but in the company of friends who know your sexual orientation, who cares?

For some people, it was the first time meeting but food proved to be a great ice breaker, and before long everyone knew quite a lot about the other person. Let me not go into detail there, and simply let the pictures do the talking.