Curry for Christmas

By Amit Roy

TURKEY remains tradi­tional fare at Christmas, but let’s face it, it’s not very tasty. And even tan­doori turkey is hard work.

That is why I have long thought a curry for Christmas should be part of the festive season. After all, judging by the celebrations in Asian parts of the UK, Christmas is a desi festival accidentally discovered by indigenous Brits.

“For those wanting a change from Christmas staples”, a Sunday maga­zine is recommending “gourmet feast” curry from “one of the coun­try’s most famous and in-demand restaurants”.

A box for four costs £110, but it does include wild muntjac biryani, 12 gol guppas, four gulab ja­muns, and four tandoori masala lamb chops (which are probably the best to be had in London, at least).

Incidentally, the Lon­don Evening Standard’s Fay Maschler, who has been her paper’s food critic for 50 years, included the Bombay Brasserie (1982) among her six “pioneers”. When she began, she went into “hitherto uncharted territory – a Gujarati res­taurant in Willesden”.

Instead of having turkey leftovers after Christmas, maybe Boxing Day should be set aside for curry with all the trimmings.