He spent two years eating nothing but Indian food, now blogger shares his curry knowledge

Ironically, for someone who spent two years eating nothing but Indian food, Dan Toombs fell in love with curry in Britain.

He’s never even been to India, although it is top of his “to do” list when his children fly the nest. Then he aims to travel through the subcontinent with wife Caroline, tasting the real thing as he goes.

“I fell in love with Indian food when I moved to the UK,” he says. “Curry house-style Indian food may not be authentic, but I didn’t know that at the time. I found it to be amazing and unlike anything I had tried before.”

Dan was so taken with the incredible variety of food from the subcontinent that he set himself – and his family – a challenge: to eat only Indian food for breakfast, lunch and supper for 24 months. Thankfully, they were up for the challenge.

“Indian food is so much more than curry,” says Dan. “For breakfast, we might just prepare a mango lassi – a blended yoghurt and mango drink – or Sri Lankan egg hoppers, or even egg dosas. We tried to vary what we made so that we weren’t only eating curry all the time.”

Soon dubbed “The Curry Guy”, he shared everything he learned on his website greatcurryrecipes.net. As his following grew, Dan’s readers asked him to share the recipes that tasted “like the local takeaway”, so he toured curry houses across the UK, obtaining the top secret recipes that had been handed down from chef to chef and standardised for British palates.

After refining the recipes at home, he got British Indian Restaurant (BIR) cuisine down to a fine art and has just published his first book. The Curry Guy includes more than 100 recipes, using base sauces that can be transformed into potentially hundreds of dishes, from the mildest chicken tikka masala to the spiciest vindaloo.

“My book features the British curry house recipes that were developed here and are now loved worldwide,” he says. “I’ve learned so many curry house recipes that I must have another three books in me before I need to change the topic.”

Originally from Calfornia, 51-year-old Dan lives now in Low Worsall, near Yarm. He met Caroline – a Yarm girl – when he was doing a degree in Germany, and after he finished his MA back in the States, they married and he moved to London. “Caroline’s father gave me a job in sales for his ring binder and conference folder manufacturing company near Yarm,” says Dan. “I got to travel all over the UK, which was great.” The couple then started a promotional merchandise company in Wiltshire, before deciding to move back up North to be closer to Caroline’s family.

“We moved to Low Worsall about ten years ago and absolutely love it,” he says. “I love that we can walk out of the front door and within minutes be enjoying one of the many public footpaths near the village. We dine out in Yarm a lot and also like to eat at many of the local pubs. The Horseshoe Inn, in West Rounton, is a firm favourite.”

In 2008, Dan started writing a regular blog for the business. “But when the topic is printed pens or embroidered caps, it is difficult to attract a big audience,” he laughs, “so at the end of 2010, I decided to start a blog about my other passion, curry, which is a lot more fun.”

And so the two-year Indian-only plan was hatched. “I knew this was the only way I was really going to get to know my stuff,” says Dan. “I’d dabbled in Indian cookery, but I wanted to be able to fully understand how to use the spices and other ingredients to perfection. I also wanted to be able to develop my own recipes from what I had learned.”

He did experience quite a few rebellions from Katy, now 20, 18-year-old Joe and Jennifer, 13. “But they were younger at the time and luckily kids of that age are easily bribed with treats and trips out.”

In order that the family home doesn’t constantly smell like an Indian restaurant, Dan does a lot of his cooking outside on the barbecue, and has a tandoor oven and a wood burning oven that he built a couple of years ago. He roasts and grinds spices in a little workshop in the garage. Nowadays, he is experimenting with a lot of other types of food, including curries from different countries. “I grew up cooking a lot of Mexican, Chinese and Italian food and cook a lot of that too,” he says. “Cooking has always been a big part of my family life. You name it, I most likely want to eat it. Few things beat a good British curry though!”

The last curry he had eaten when we spoke was a Sri Lankan black pepper chicken curry. “I learned the recipe last year in Sri Lanka and it’s one of my all-time favourites,” he says; the most memorable was a Channa Gosht (lamb and channa lentil) curry he had at The Lahore Kebab House, in Shoreditch, London, while doing research for the cookbook. “The curry was a staff meal and wasn’t on the menu. It was perfect in every way. Often the best curries at restaurants are those the staff make for themselves.”

His worst curry experience was courtesy of daughter Katy. “She doesn’t enjoy cooking and purchased a jar of curry sauce to make it easy on herself one night when I asked her to cook dinner,” says Dan. “The shop-bought sauce tasted of nothing but salt. It’s probably wise not to mention the brand.”

Happy as he is about the publication of his first cook book, another recent event probably trumps it. “By coincidence, I am becoming British at about the same time my British curry house cookbook hits the shelves,” he says. “I love living in ‘God’s own county’ so much, I recently took the Living in Britain test and applied for British citizenship. I have lived in the UK since 1993 and didn’t realise I could get dual citizenship until recently. On 25 April, I’m pledging my allegiance to Queen and country and will officially become a Brit! I couldn’t be happier.”

Who knows, he’ll probably celebrate with a curry…

DAN’S HOT TIPS FOR THE BEST CURRIES IN THE REGION

There are so many, it’s difficult to choose but Sashins, in Newcastle, will always be special to me as it was one of the first Indian restaurants I visited while researching for my blog. Owner Bob Arora is a top guy and fantastic chef and restaurateur. You always get a great meal there. I can also recommend the following…

The Last Days of the Raj - Gateshead

Raj Bari - Yarm

Table Talk - Middleton St George

The Valley Junction 397 – Jesmond

Akbar’s – Middlesbrough and York

Akbar Dynasty – Darlington

Vadah – Stockton on Tees