Back in my Alresford days, we were lucky enough to have a wonderful local Indian restaurant called the Shapla, and like many curry lovers I always had my favourite dishes. For me, the big decision was usually between a Chicken Madras and a Chicken Peshwari. The Madras was always tempting with its rich spicy sauce, but I have to admit the Peshwari won more often than not — and occasionally I would just order both! and take leftovers home.

After writing 150 posts, testing countless curries, exploring traditional techniques and recreating the British Indian Restaurant style at home, I realised something important: Great curry isn’t about blindly following recipes — it’s about understanding the method behind them. That’s why I created The SCM Method™.