Tower Tandoori, London's Oldest Tandoori Restaurant

 

Tandoori Tower, London’s oldest Indian restaurant is a natural fit for the historic Tower Bridge area. When Israaf Ali lit the charcoal in their Tandoor oven, for the first time in 1978, he could never have imagined that 45 years later, the flame would still be glowing bright, and that delicious, soft, slightly charred, naans would still be peeled off from the searing walls; and that his grandson Suhel Ahmed would be at the helm of one of London’s the oldest curry-houses.

Customers are greeted with an enticing bar with carved wood screens. The main restaurant space is gorgeous and inviting with its crimson and gold décor complementing the wood flooring, tables and the Indian artefacts. As a reviewer, I have grown accustomed to smiles and special treatment so when our waiters beamed at us and took away the menu away in favour of ‘tonight, you’ll be sampling our choice of food for you’. I was not surprised in the least. But, I was surprised to see that they were doing something similar with all of the punters. No, they don’t magically remove the menu card, but they gently encourage the guest to ensure they make the best choice for them.

   

The waiter at the table next to us asked if the couple would mind ordering a little less, ‘You can order more later if you want’. Whatever happened to the old, ‘Is that all, don’t you want an extra naan with that?’ which always makes me feel mean and guilty for considering the economic impact of food waste.

So now that we have established Suhel and his team as my new heros, what about the food? While the family next to us was enjoying Onion and Kale Bajis with Masala Chips, I warned you that all tastes were customised for, we savoured our Mocktails, popadoms, pickles, chutney, tamarind and raisins sauce. Following that, we were served perfectly seasoned creamy Butter Chicken, delicately spiced, Tandoori Mixed Grill, rice, and a Tarka dahl. The flavours were delicately balanced, and the ingredients were of the highest quality. 

There is no need to be concerned about the heat from the chillis since we are either accustomed to it or the blend of Indian cuisine and western taste has finally found its stride, tasty without making your nose and eyes run. Though, I am sure that if you ordered a Naga Curry, the team would make it for you. As for me, I can’t wait for the Tower Tandoori ‘heritage menu’ to arrive next year.

Address : Tower Tandoori Restaurant - 74-76 Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 4TP - 
Phone 020 7237 2247 -https://www.towertandoori.co.uk/

Disclaimer: we were Tandoori Tower guests, I would like to thank the team for their hospitality, Words in this review are my own. 

Round up - Vanilla Recipes for the Spice Trail Challenge

There were high hopes for the Wow Vanilla!  we were not disappointed. Recipes are mouthwatering. Let's have a look in details at your entries showcasing vanilla. 

Round Up ( winner is announced at the end of this post :)

As the host, I opened the festivities with a recipe from the archives. Ricotta and Vanilla is a tasty combination and never better than in a bun filled with  blueberries.

The buns were quickly followed by Margot's from Coffee 'n Vanilla Chocolate Chip and Vanilla Babka. A Bundt-style cake inspired by her traditional Polish roots. Babkas are baked in Poland for Christmas and Easter but if you ask me this recipe looks yummy for any day of the year.

Linsy joined in, not with one but three sweet recipes. Her Egg-less Tutti Frutti and her quick Brazilian Coconut Rice Pudding are both inspired by recipes she had bookmarked. My favourite of the three has to be her Carrot and Zucchini Cake Bars with Citrus Icing; who can resist a slice of moist carrot cake?

With Camilla's Fab Food 4 All entry we learn that, "Every tin of Danish Butter Cookies has a Vanilla Wreath" so vanilla is not only a favourite of ours it also appears to be a favourite in Denmark too. 

The following entry arrived rather earlier one morning, around breakfast time to be precise. Sent from Elizabeth's Kitchen it was really hard not to bite into the screen. Don't these Boston Doughnuts look fantastic.

Ness at Jibber Jabber UK told us that, "Bundt Cakes are addictive". She and her daughter had a choice of cocktail or mocktail flavours for the Clandestine Club Cake they regularly attend and they came up with a Fruit Cocktail Bundt Cake. Imperial looking cake - alcohol free -

Dairy-free bites from Helen at Family-Friends-Food full of vanilla, almond, apricots and white chocolate what a treat. Great if you are looking for a new snack idea. 

If it was slightly bizarre for Vanester of Bangers-and-Mash to enter her own challenge on somebody else's blog, that didn't reflect in her deliciously creamy Old Fashion Vanilla Ice Cream

While at Food Glorious Food, Charlene was playing with her food and vanilla essence with success. Just look at the result, her Sweetie Spectacular Cake is a joyous explosion of sweets.



Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog opted for a Rapsberry, White Chocolate and Poppy Seeds Muffins. When I met her at a Lactose free products event where this breakfast beauties where prepared by a Michelin Star Chef, she promised to enter The Spice Trail with a fresh recipe. I wasn't counting on one straight from the oven.

Cooking a cake in a rice-cooker is not ordinary so it took me a little while to comprehend what was going on here. What a good idea Nasifret of By The Way...had and what a lovely result: Lemon Sponge Cake

The excitement mounted up at the sight of this Vanilla Spiced Fig Relish by Lapin D'Or, full of savoury goodness, dried figs soaked in red wine enhanced by vanilla. But was it to be the last of our savoury recipes?



Shaheen at Alloment to Kitchen (A2K) offered a teaser. Her Vegan Rhubarb, Vanilla and Pomegranate Tart, a Creamy vanilla tofu with pomegranate which sparkle like jewels was at the time of publication a work in progress. To see the recipe ....forward to early June on A2K.

 For some reason, it never occured to me that Vanilla Extract could be made at home. But of course, it can. Sarah Jane shows us how from The Tales of the Kitchen Shed.

It's only fitting that Vanesther closed the round up. A lovely surprise recipe. A savoury dish with Vanilla: Beef and Guinness pie

Time to hand the baton back to Vanester. But not before thanking everyone who took part in this month's Spice trail and to swing by our sponsors and announce their decision on the winning entry.

And the winner of Wow Vanilla is:

Naturally Good Food had a bit of a task. Choosing a winner was not easy. After much deliberations, in the end the staff picked the Fruit Cocktail Bundt Cake posted on Jibber-Jabber UK by Ness. Naturally Good Food told us, The Bundt Cake "looked slightly unusual and inspired (them) to download the recipe to have a go" what better result can you get?

Congratulations to Ness who will be receiving a gift of organic essences, we want to see what she and her daughter will come up using them.

"Wow, Vanilla" May's Spice Trail

This month's Spice Trail is different, on two accounts:

For the first time, the challenge is hosted outside Bangers 'n Mash and the spice of choice is associated with sweet recipes.  

May's spice is:

 

The choice was motivated by all the fresh flavours that early spring brings us. Fruits desserts, ice-creams, all delights enhanced by vanilla and then there is the prospect of outdoors eating, what would a picnic be without cakes?

 

I have to confess that there is a hidden agenda, we are very curious to see which savoury dish you are going to enter (if any)..... 



This month's Prize

We've have teamed up with a small family-run company Naturally Good Food which "offers the best wholefoods and free-from foods to match your larder and your purse".

 

The company was born out of need for good value healthy food to feed the kids. it started as a local bulk buying group. Decades later, Cathal and Sue operate a leading wholefood shop on the web from a modern eco buiding near Rugby. The scale may have changed but the company is still very much customers focused and the owners easy to talk to. 

 

One lucky winner chosen by the team at Naturally Good Food will receive a selection of Steenberg organic essences:
 

 

• Almond Extract - 100ml -
• Orange Flower Water 100ml -
• Rose Water -100ml -
• and of course Vanilla Extract- 100ml

So to your pods and see you on the May's entries list.

How to enter The Spice Trail

    Display The Spice Trail badge (above and also available here) on your recipe post, with a link back to Pebble Soup and Bangers 'n Mash, and details of this month’s challenge.

 

    Up to three recipe links accepted per blogger, so long as each one features vanilla.

 

    Feel free to link up recipe posts from your archive, but please add the information about this challenge to the post and The Spice Trail badge.

 

    Use The Linky below to enter your recipe(s) or if you prefer send your recipe URL to me at pebblesoup-at-gmail-dot-co-dot-uk, including your own email address and the title of your recipe or post. The closing date this month is Wednesday 28 May 2014 at 17.00.

 

    If you tweet your post, please mention #TheSpiceTrail @Solangeweb and @BangerMashChat in your tweet and we’ll retweet each one we see.

 

    As entries come in, links coming by mail will be added to the bottom of this page.

 

    At the end of the month a guest judge will choose a winning recipe and the winner this month will receive a selection of products from Naturally Good Food as described above.

 

   The winner will be announced in a monthly round-up of all the entries.

Entries from bloggers all around the world are accepted, but unfortunately the prize can only be shipped to a UK address.

 

    All entries will be added to The Spice Trail Pinterest Board.

 

We are looking forward  to seeing your Vanilla recipes. Any questions, please tweet or email me.

 

And thanks to everyone who is entering May's Vanilla Challenge.

An InLinkz Link-up

Curious Ingredient Number 3 : Paneer

Paneer: You have seen it in the cheese section of your supermarket, you may well have gone as far a picking it up and putting it down. It looks like a slab of...well a slab of...my best description is: "a slab of", it is off white, it is cheese, it is very popular in Indian cuisine. Unlike other cheeses, it does not taste very much when raw and does not have a strong taste when cooked but has a nice and soft texture. Paneer is used in a myriad of ways and Pebble Soup readers' in India might want to comment and give us ideas or alternatively here is what good old Wikipedia says about paneer.

I often buy paneer it keeps for a long time unopened in the fridge and makes a welcome change to the same old menus. Curious ingredients have this ability to turn dreary shopping lists into somewaht rather exciting daily feasts.

As mentioned earlier there are numerous ways of cooking paneer, but I have only know 1 recipe which I found in the Hairy Bikers' cook book. Don't worry if you don't have all the ingredients there are 3 main ingredients here: Paneer, semoulina and spinach, the rest can be swaped, replaced by similar or simply dropped.

Crunchy Palak Paneer

Ingredients

For the sauce
2 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
7.5cm/3in piece root ginger, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 whole red or green chilli
1 tsp salt
1 x 400g/14oz can tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp sugar
500g/1lb 2oz fresh spinach, washed

2tbsp water

For the paneer
2 tsp garam masala
50g/1¾oz semolina
200g/7oz paneer, cut into 1cm/½in cubes
vegetable oil, for shallow frying
small handful coriander leaves, finely chopped, to garnish
1 tsp lemon juice

Method

1. For the sauce, heat the ghee or oil in a saucepan, add the onion and cook for about three minutes until soft. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for a further minute.
2. Add the ground cumin, ground coriander, ground turmeric, whole chilli and salt.

Tip : Cooking spices releases their flavour
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and sugar and simmer for ten minutes.
4. Meanwhile, turn your attention to the main ingredient: paneer,

Pplace the garam masala and semolina in a large bowl and mix well add the cubed paneer in and coat well.
5. In a Frying pan or a wok, eat the oil add the coated paneer and fry until crisp and golden.
7. Add the washed spinach and two tablespoons of water to the tomato sauce, stir in and cook until the spinach wilts.
8. Fold the paneer into the sauce.
9. To serve, garnish with the coriander and squeeze over the lemon juice.

At Pebble soup, we loved this recipe so much that it fast became a dinner favourite which I would like to share with the readers of Bangers and Mash via #TheSpiceTrail challenge.