Easy curry night: product review

I’ve been road testing some great products and thought I’d give you an update. The people at Pipers Farm sent me some great looking meat to try – how nice does this chicken look?!

I’m really fussy about how lean meat is. As a child I painstakingly would disect my meal of any lumps and bumps, and I’m the same now when I’m preparing meat. So this batch of chicken fillets was extremely pleasing – i’ve never seen such lean specimins!

Pipers Farm have been producing meat for over 20 years and their mail order service has bagged a fair few awards along the way, including Best Food Producer for BBC Radio 4 Food And Farming Awards 2007 and they’re one of Rick Stein’s Food Heroes. Not bad going!

I really would recommend a snoop around their website if you’re in the market for a batch of top notch quality meat or prepared meals for your freezer.

Some of the highlights are the packages of meat they’ve put together for occasions like a big barbeque, a family holiday if you’re hiring a cottage somewhere or even a Get Well Soon pack of prepared meals for someone who perhaps hasn’t got the energy to cook but needs to eat well to recuperate. Pipers Farm have clearly put a lot of thought into their deals.

I decided to use the chicken they sent to whip up a VERY lazy curry. I’d picked up a couple of pouches of sauce at the Chilli Festival in West Dean Gardens and was keen to give them a try.

Surrey based company Ishmael’s Mother specialise in Asian and Indian fresh cooking sauces. You can find them at Farmer’s Markets and Online.

Ishmael was a total die-hard salesman and had a throng of people gathered around his stall as he offered up samples of his tasty steamy sauces to try from his bubbling pans. I was hooked and brought a couple home.

What a beautiful set of flavours – the Cardamom and Coconut was fragrant, sweet and hoovered up by the children. The slightly spicier Massaman was a thinner consistency but really aromatic.

This meal was as close to the luxurious quality of an Indian Takeaway as you can get. The divine sauce coupled with really outstanding meat was a total winner.

I give both products a resounding thumbs up.