Recipe cards

THE “QUICK and easy” bit of yesterday’s tikka masala was the carton of cream I was instructed to pour into it – and that’s where I think it went wrong.

It was okay on first taste – the bite of the chilli in contrast to the smoothness of the cream – but by about halfway through the meal it got too much for us, too unrelentingly creamy.

Moreover, it was an odd mixture – for a masala, I’d expect to use yogurt and peppers and maybe some tomatoes. None of these were present in this “quick and easy” version of this Indian classic.

I must admit to having certain reservations about these supermarket recipe cards – you know, the ones you find in slots around the store walls.

They are there not so much designed to instruct you on how to cook certain dishes, but to sell you more of their produce.

And this applies to the recipes of some TV celebrity chefs like Delia and Heston and Jamie.

I sometimes think these people forget for whom they are writing – that’s to say, they seem to have professional cooks in mind rather than domestic amateurs like me.

The spurious authority that their names provide just helps to flog the supermarkets’ slower moving lines.

Anyhow, I shall from now on take these cards with a very large pinch of (sea) salt.