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Well, it's been over a year since the last work sandwich competition, which was won by my tribute to great British food. Tomorrow is the rematch, and I intend to defend my crown, although the competition will be fierce, as it was last year.

This year's attempt is inspired by the Indian takeaways of Rusholme in Manchester, known to the locals as Curry Mile. As with last year, I went a little overboard in buying ingredients for this feat!

This time the veg and fresh spices such as ginger, chilli and coriander came from the Strawberry Garden at Manchester market - infinitely superior (and cheaper) than Sainsbury's rubbish selection.

Getting in the mood for genuine Indian cooking requires a genuine Indian soundtrack.

Except I don't have one of those. So I put on Kula Shaker. Well, they convinced some people. Maybe.

Now, I heard that a good curry tastes best with an India Pale Ale, not an Indian lager like Cobra or Kingfisher. There's only one way to test that theory.

Obviously it's not ready to eat yet, but it's never too early.

Here are the ingredients of curry paste that needed chopping. From left to right: coriander, chilli, garlic, ginger, onion.

Now, apparently making curry paste really needs a food processor. I don't have a food processor. Note to self: buy a food processor.

The remaining ingredients of the paste are curry powder (mostly cumin and ground coriander seed), turmeric and paprika.

This is my favourite picture. I'm really glad I couldn't blend the paste.

I almost wanted to stop cooking and eat it at this point.

So, while that's cooking, I soaked some basmati rice to make the "pilau" (actually just yellow boiled rice).

I'm not entirely convinced by the efficacy of soaking rice, but it's authentic so I did it anyway.

Add some stock and we're away with the curry sauce.

Check out this action shot of the chicken pieces being added to the steaming pot of sauce! It's almost like one of those TV chef moments!

Or... it could just be a really bad photo.

And here's a steamy shot of some hot breasts.

Yes... I went there.

This little mixture is called a cachumber. It's made from raw onion, green pepper, tomato and coriander with a few drops of lime juice.

The cachumber you get in Rusholme with your poppadoms is is more likely to be just a chopped onion smothered in tomato ketchup. Apparently.

One of the other poppadom dips is called raita. Typically that's whisked yoghurt, cucumber and spices. Here's an action shot of the ingredients.

My "pilau" rice is done!

The yellow colour is easily achieved by adding a teaspoon of turmeric powder to the boiling water before the rice goes in. And you thought it was some sort of clever spicing, didn't you?

Time to quickly heat the naan breads and onion bhajis.

Of course, I'm just going to put this sandwich in the fridge when I'm done, so heating these things isn't going to help much...

Oh yes, that raita. Here it is, mid-whisk.

I had to switch to a spoon when I got yoghurt everywhere.

Chickpeas! Or channa as they're called in Indian cuisine.

Apparently a channa is also a type of fish. As far as I know, it doesn't taste like chickpeas.

OK, time to start building this sandwich.

The first layer is a naan bread with a bed of rice.

Here's an action shot of the finished curry before I dismantle it for the sandwich.

OK. Add some of the curry, drained, to the first layer.

A middle naan bread keeps the sandwich separate.

Now for the famous three dips. From left to right: raita, cachumber, mango chutney.

OK, I didn't make the mango chutney myself. What?! I didn't have six months to prepare this!

Break some poppadoms onto the dips for the authentic experience.

There is a dip missing here: lime pickle. Do you know why it's missing? Because I forgot. Satisfied?!

A couple of onion bhajis finishes off the "starters" layer.

The finished sandwich!

And a quick look at the side elevation, showing all the components.

As with last time, there's so much left over it makes a perfectly good dinner for me tonight.

Actually, it made too much. I tried my hardest to eat it all (except the 3 or more portions of curry that are still in the fridge!) but I couldn't force it down. Just like the real thing!

Now. Last time I put the call out for dishwashing and no one answered it. Anyone want to offer today?

Tagged as: personal competition sandwich cookery photos indian curry rusholme
Operating at caffeine mark 0

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