I often seem to end up
writing about food in my stories, probably because I love to cook. Most of my
books have fairly domestic settings so the characters often spend time cooking
and eating together.
In The Little Things, Joel is a single parent of a three-year-old.
It’s sometimes hard for him to get a babysitter, so for his second date with
Liam, Joel invites Liam over for dinner at his flat. He cooks for him so they
can eat together once Evie—Joel’s daughter—is in bed. Joel cooks lamb curry and dahl. I’m a UK
author and we Brits love our curries. The recipes below are an anglicized
version rather than being authentically Indian, but they taste pretty good. If
you’re a vegetarian you can leave out the lamb and use quorn instead, or chunks
of butternut squash as a meat substitute.
Lamb Balti
This serves 8+
Approx 1kg of lean lamb
steaks cut into chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
one large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic,
crushed or chopped
4 cardamom pods
a stick of cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
2-3 tbsp of balti curry
paste (I use Pataks, but if you can’t get balti paste any medium curry paste
will do)
1 x 400g can of chopped
tomatoes
1 x 400g can of chick peas
(drained)
1 stock cube (I use lamb
but veggie or chicken would do)
250ml of water
fresh coriander (cilantro)
to garnish
Pre heat the oven to gas
mark 3/160 C/325 F.
In a large flameproof
casserole, fry the onion and cardamom pods in the olive oil until the onion is
soft.
Add the lamb and stir fry
on a high heat until it’s brown rather than pink, then stir in the curry paste,
garlic, and cumin and cook for another few minutes.
Add the chick peas, canned
tomatoes, water and cinnamon stick and bring to a simmer.
Chop/crumble the stock
cube in and stir till it’s dissolved.
Put a lid on the casserole
and put it in the oven for about an hour, or until the meat is tender.
Serve sprinkled with the
coriander, with basmati rice and dahl (see below)
Dahl
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped finely
2 cloves of garlic,
crushed or chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp vegetable
bouillon/stock powder
350g red lentils
800ml boiling water
(approx)
Heat the oil with the
cumin seeds for a couple of minutes, then add the onion and garlic.
Fry for a few minutes
until the onion is soft and golden.
Add the spices and fry for
a couple more minutes.
Add the lentils, boiling
water and bouillon powder. Bring to a simmer then cover.
Simmer for about twenty
minutes, stirring occasionally until the mixture thickens. Add more water if
required to stop it sticking.
In the excerpt below from The Little Things, Evie’s asleep in bed
and the food is ready. Joel cooked it all in advance which is what I normally
do with these dishes. The lamb tastes better if it sits awhile, and the dahl is
easy to reheat in a microwave—perfect for when you’re entertaining and don’t
want too much to do at the last minute.
***
The next few minutes were filled with the hustle and bustle of
draining rice, reheating dahl, and dishing up two fragrant platefuls of curry.
Liam refilled their wineglasses while Joel did the serving.
“Where are some matches for the candles?” he asked.
“Top cupboard, over the sink.” Joel set their plates down on the
table. “I forgot about those. I haven’t had much call for candlelit dinners in
my life so far.”
“Not with your ex?”
Joel shook his head as Liam sat down again, struck a match, and
touched it to the wick of each candle in turn. “No, he wasn’t one for quiet
nights in. He always preferred to go out if we could.”
“This smells amazing.” Liam leaned over his plate and inhaled
blissfully.
“Dig in.” Joel lifted up his own fork. “The curry paste is from a
jar, but I think it turned out pretty well. I hope you like it.”
The conversation slowed as they ate. The curry was damn good, and
Liam seemed to enjoy it. He accepted a second helping, and Joel had a little
extra too. By the time they’d finished, Joel was feeling happy and relaxed with
a belly full of food and wine.
“Do you want some pudding? I bought some ice cream. It’s nothing
fancy, I’m afraid.”
Liam shook his head and patted his stomach. “No thanks, I’m full.”
“More wine?” There was still a little left in the bottle that Liam
had brought.
“No,” Liam replied. “I’d better not, because I have to drive home
later.”
Joel started to clear their plates, and Liam got up to help him.
Joel stacked them in the dishwasher, and when he straightened up and turned,
Liam was standing and looking right at him. Joel felt a thrill of nerves and
tension when he saw the intensity in Liam’s eyes.
“Do you want any coffee… or tea, or anything?” Joel could hear the
nervousness in his own voice and tried to control it.
Liam shook his head and took a step closer. Joel moved toward him
too, and Liam moved his hands up to cup Joel’s cheeks and slide into his hair
as he leaned in. Joel’s fingers found Liam’s belt loops and he hooked them in
and tugged him closer. “God, I’ve been thinking about doing this nonstop for
the last few days.” Liam’s voice was a whisper over Joel’s lips, and then his
words turned into kisses. Hot, searing kisses that swept aside Joel’s anxiety
like wildfire, burning it away with need and passion and want. He
whimpered into Liam’s mouth as he kissed him back. Their tongues were hot and
slick and everything felt so overwhelmingly right—Liam’s arms around him, the
scent and taste of him. Joel’s legs felt weak with desire and he pulled away,
breathless, but he kept his hands tightly gripped on Liam’s waist where they
rested.
“Shall we take this somewhere more comfortable? Because if you
carry on kissing me like that, I’m not sure I can manage to stay upright.” He
chuckled and Liam laughed too, nuzzling his stubble against Joel’s cheek as he
pressed another kiss against Joel’s jaw.
“Being less upright sounds appealing.
Lead the way.”
***
There are lots of things that brighten Joel’s life. His three-year-old
daughter Evie is one. His close relationship with her mother, his best friend
from university, is another. Joel’s boyfriend, Dan, adds spice to his
child-free nights, and Joel is pretty happy with how things are.
Then one cold and rainy night, everything changes. Joel’s life is turned
upside-down when he becomes a full-time dad to Evie, and his previously
carefree relationship with Dan cracks under the strain.
Meeting Liam, who acts as if getting hurt isn’t a foregone conclusion,
shakes Joel to the core. Their attraction is mutual, and Liam makes no secret
of how serious he is about Joel. But Joel is wary. He tells himself he’s
keeping Liam at a distance for Evie’s sake, when really he’s protecting his own
heart. Taking a chance on this new relationship with Liam may seem a small
step—a little thing—but is it one Joel can take after losing so much already?
Jay lives
just outside Bristol in the West of England, with her amazing, occasionally
ridiculous husband, two noisy-but-awesome children, and two cats.
She comes
from a family of writers, but she always used to believe that the gene for
fiction writing had passed her by. She spent years only ever writing emails,
articles, or website content. One day, she decided to try and write a short
story–just to see if she could–and found it rather addictive. She hasn’t
stopped writing since.
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