It's not every day you invent something, but then this is the outer rim of Manchester, so I guess inventions and innovations are compulsory, however small.
I needed some ingredients, don't we all? It seemed like the perfect opportunity to make my acquaintance and I can't say I was disappointed. In fact, I am of the opinion it was long overdue.
I sauntered past the dazzling array of proudly spiked pineapples and rotund melons that garland the entrance to Poole's fresh fish, fruit and vegetables - the ostentatious ambassadors of a colourful and multi-textured throng. With its green awning, the shop itself is like a marquee and has the feeling of an event, a celebration of nature's bounty. And bountiful it certainly is.
Indeed, Poole's produce is bountiful and varied to the point of overwhelming. After several minutes inspecting the thickness of some beetroots it took some real soul searching to remember what I'd come in for in the first place. Cauliflowers rub their waxy green epaulettes with shrubs of brocolli, spring onions transmogrify into leeks as your eyes move from left to right and the most enormous pumpkin I've ever born witness to sits silently opposite the doorway, commanding your attention in a regal yet taciturn fashion. A sign beside it invites the shopper to guess its weight. I think I'd find its presence in my house slightly sinister. There's something about gourds and squashes that big that makes me think they contain something unseen and about to hatch. I averted my eyes from the pumpKing and fell asleep amongst some legumes at the back of this wholesome establishment. When I came to, I bought some tasty new potatoes from Suffolk, no less, bananas that were in far better condition than any of the ones I've seen in a certain supermarket chain, and some green beans that whispered take me home whilst I slept.
But my shopping spree did not end there. It was like being in the most fantastic sweet shop. Except it was fruit and veg and fish. AND a lot of miscellaneous deli style produce such as Poole's own Classic Mayonnaise and various relishes, chutneys, marmalades and jams. A large range of organic and unusually flavoured soups stocked the next shelves and then mercifully I arrived at the till. Not before snaffling a packet of Chorley Cakes of course. And some fresh coriander.
I returned home and made a curry. Then my problems began. It was late. Perhaps too late, but Bonnie Prince Billy prepared the way, laying on a lavish soundtrack of tenderness and devotion, upon which I was free to add the odd culinary flourish, as I fancied and as the mood took me. First of all, the paste was created - tomato, onion, garlic. Add the spices - coriander, cumin, tumeric, cayenne. Fry the paste, add the potatoes, chick peas, eventually the green beans enter the fray as the rice is perfecting and it's time for a taste. This was where I realised, that without looking I'd mistakenly added ground mixed spice instead of coriander. At first it was just the onions that made me cry.
There was nothing else for it. In went cream of coconut, in went splashes of lemon juice. A new kind of curry was born! Victory from the jaws of defeat dear Qyper!
I urge you to try it - I call it Carribean Chick Pea Curry. You can buy most of the ingredients at Poole's. No: don't thank me. read more
