Picture this: it’s a Sunday evening, and the overzealous consumption of spicy margaritas the night prior is making its presence known. Your thumb hovers over Deliveroo, ready to splurge on a disappointing takeaway in an attempt to fill the void. But what if there was another option? We road-tested Gymkhana Fine Foods, the new range of sauces, chutneys and marinades from the two-Michelin- starred restaurant, Gymkhana to see if you can make a restaurant-grade Indian at home for a fraction of the cost of eating out or a takeaway. Here’s the verdict.
The Full Feast Bundle promises the complete Gymkhana Fine Foods experience at home at an accessible price, including all the classics like butter masala, rogan josh, vindaloo and Goan curry sauce, alongside tandoori and roasted garlic and chilli marinades, and, of course, peanut and sesame and tandoori onion chutney for poppadom dipping. Each jar of sauce serves two – meaning you can use just one for a meal in with your partner or cook up the whole bundle for a feast with pals.
We made a Goan fish curry, butter chicken masala, lamb rogan josh and aubergine vindaloo using the sauces and were dazzled with the depth of flavour achieved in a dinky jar. Compared to supermarket equivalents, which tend to deliver one homogenous, generic and unidentifiable flavour – these sauces are distinctive. The Goan curry sauce is rich with coconut, coriander and lip-smacking palm vinegar, while the vindaloo is sour and heady, fragrant with black pepper, cloves and chilli.
What’s more, they’re quick and easy to assemble – simply fry off your protein or veg, add the sauce, cook for five minutes, and you’ve got dinner. The speedy nature of these dishes means chicken, prawns, or fish work well, as they don’t require slow cooking for a banging curry.
The marinades come into their own if you’re entertaining and take the hassle out of buying a dozen, hard-to-find ingredients to make a flavour-packed, authentic-tasting marinade. Both the tandoori and roasted garlic and chilli are ideal for barbecue season – making the perfect marinade for chicken skewers to whack over hot coals.
The verdict
Compared to other pre-made supermarket equivalents, Gymkhana Fine Foods' range of Indian pantry staples is in a league of its own. Packed with authentic flavour and without the vinegary, bland qualities of most long-life pre-made sauces, these are a convenient, accessibly priced alternative to making your own pastes, chutneys and marinades if you’re short on time but still want to wow at the dinner table. Our star products were the Goan curry sauce and the tandoori onion chutney.
To try one of Gymkhana Fine Foods' curated bundles head to Whole Foods, Ocado, Selfridges, Harrods or premium butchers or buy online at gymkhanafinefoods.com