Come and join the renowned 'curry guy' aka dan toombs for a fantastic cookery course in france
BIOGRAPHY
Dan Toombs (aka The Curry Guy) has written the hugely popular food blog greatcurryrecipes.net since 2010. He spent two years cooking and serving his family nothing but Indian food to gain content for the blog. By travelling around the UK, sampling dishes and learning the curry house kitchen secrets he has mastered the art of making British Indian restaurant (BIR) style food at home and made it possible for his 160,000 monthly blog readers to recreate their favourite Indian takeaway dishes.
Dan learned through the comments left on his blog and through social media that many people feel terribly let down when they make curries such as chicken korma or a lamb Madras from other cookbooks because they taste nothing like the dishes they experience when they visit their favourite curry house. They are full of thanks for Dan for getting it right.
In 2015, Dan won the prestigious Vuelio Best UK Food & Drink Blog. This led to him writing The Curry Guy, published by Quadrille Publishing in May 2017. Dan has cooked with some of the best curry house and upmarket Indian chefs in the UK. Through this hands-on course, you will learn first hand how to achieve the now world famous flavour and textures that are the British curry. That's not all! You will also learn to prepare the tandoori meats, seafood and vegetables, as well as the side dishes and starters you expect to see when you visit your local curry house.
"THE CURRY GUY IS A LEGEND" ATUL KOCHHAR
ITINERARY (WITH SAMPLE MENU)
day 1
ARRIVAL AT VILLA IN THE AFTERNOON - TIME TO SETTLE IN
7.00 PM - APERITIFS SERVED
Get in and enjoy some small, tasty snacks, beer, wine, soft drinks. Whatever you want! As much as you want!
7.30 PM - WELCOME DINNER SERVED
We will be serving an amazing natural wood cooked BBQ! You are going to love this and we will enjoy getting to know you before the classes begin.
Please note that the classes all feature recipes from Dan’s published cookbooks as well as three new recipes from his upcoming book The Curry Guy Bible.
All food and drink is unlimited and included in the price of your stay.
Please mention that you are vegetarian at the time of booking so that we can ensure we have the required ingredients on hand.
DAY 2
9.00 CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST SERVED
Demo Morning
Dan will demonstrate how to make different spice blends that will be used in the class.
Then he will demonstrate how to make four different dishes which include Kala channa (black chickpea) curry, broccoli curry, pav bhaji and keema pau. These authentic Indian dishes will be served for our first lunch. This is a demonstration class but if you want to get in there and cook, your help will be happily accepted!
Lunch: The above dishes served with Kachumber salad, butter toasted buns and matta rice.
Tandoori Feast Preparation
This is not your average tandoori meal! The class will make a selection of spicy and mild chutneys and raitas which will play a big role in our tandoori feast. Then everyone will make their own naans, the curry house way. Spicy and mild marinades will be prepared to marinate meat and vegetables for our Balti lunch on Day Three. A marinade will also be made to act as a sauce for the lamb raan feast.
Dinner: Char grilled lamb raan! Tandoori chicken can be substituted on request when booking. Served with homemade naans and a selection of chutneys, raitas and salad.
Vegetarian option: Chickpea battered whole tomatoes stuffed with mild or spicy aubergine confit, grilled over fire on skewers.
Please mention that you prefer the vegetarian option when booking so that we can be sure to have the ingredients on hand.
DAY 3
9.00 CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST SERVED
Balti Lunch preparation
We will make a Balti house style base sauce. Dan will demonstrate how to use it and then you will be set free to experiment, making your own Balti in authentic Birmingham Balti bowls with a selection of meat, seafood and vegetable ingredients on the BBQ. Sample recipes will be provided but you can also experiment if you wish. You will already be a professional at making your own naans so you can make as many as you like to dip into your hot homemade Balti.
Lunch: This will include your Balti with naans and two curry house style salads. You won’t go away hungry for the afternoon. You can eat as much as you like.
Biryani Feast Preparation
We will be making a massive whole chicken dum biryani with lots of delicious sauce just like those served at the most extravagant feasts in India. For vegetarians, Dan will instruct you on how to make an amazing curry house style veggie biryani, cooked with base sauce and seasoned to your preference.
Please mention that you are vegetarian at the time of booking so that we can ensure we have the required ingredients on hand.
Dinner: There is no better way to end a curry class than with the dum biryani we will prepare for this amazing feast. This special feast will include a side dish surprise that will leave you gasping for more.
DAY 4
10.00 CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST SERVED
TRANSFER TO AIRPORT AFTER BREAKFAST
TESTIMONIALS
Thank you so much for a perfect weekend! It’s the most beautiful location and the whole set up is stunning. We had such a lovely time and have recommended it to so many people! The course itself was great fun and we learnt so much, looking forward to cooking many more curries! We really hope we can return one day and do another course! (We’re already planning a holiday to La Rochelle next year!) Thank you for being the best hosts, we felt so welcome. The whole weekend far exceeded our expectations.
We stayed at Joussellin for our Big in France - The Curry Guy event in May and wow, what a fantastic experience. Matt and Emily were the perfect hosts, very friendly, accommodating and thoughtful. Every need was attended to and they even managed to turn a rainy forecast into a beautiful sunny weekend! Meeting Dan Toombs was great, he was so approachable, friendly and full of culinary & practical knowledge. The cookery workshops we participated in were informal, full of information and hands on. You could do as much or as little as you wanted. Every meal we cooked was amazing and everyone that attended learnt so much and we all made such great friendships. I have gone away a confident cook and keen to create more of the Indian cuisine. I came across Big in France having wanted to attend a 4 hour beginners workshop with Dan in Leeds. Rather than be limited to a morning, we booked the Big in France experience and boy was this great value for money. Thank you to Dan, Caroline, Joe, Matt and Emily for making this such a memorable experience.
DATES AND PRICES