The Cook Report / Autumn/Winter 2003
Dales’ Indian Adventure...in Croydon!
written mostly by Edward Perry

Cook has a series of outlets selling home-made food, Pinky advised them on their Indian range.

“Your Indian stuff isn’t as good as the rest of the stuff you sell.”
Unfortunately I have heard this a number of times over the last few years and despite Dale spending hours in the kitchen playing with recipes, something was missing. I mentioned this to my father, whose ‘fuller figure’ bears testament to his fondness for curry, and his synopsis was that while our curry dishes were nice enough, what they were lacking was authenticity. That seemed to sum up the problem.

We therefore enlisted the help of Indian cooking expert Pinky Lilani, who has written an acclaimed Indian cook book called Spice Magic which focuses on traditional cooking methods used in her home country. She agreed to help us & in March, Dale and our head chef Jamie started their Indian cooking ‘education’. Despite a combined total of 35 years in the kitchen, Dale & Jamie learned a wide range of new techniques which has enabled them to produce a sensational range of dishes, all of which Pinky has personally approved.

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