The Packet Curry blog

To buy or not to buy, that is the question? (Thu Nov 14th )

Like a good (really good!) curry? Buy. Not had a curry that is actually from India before? Buy. Don't live next to an Indian takeaway? Buy. Not had a curry in ages? Buy. Want a curry delivered in the next 3 days? Buy. Believe the buzz (it's 100% real)? Buy. Like healthy eating? Buy. Fancy a beer and a top-notch curry next Friday night? Buy. Jaw wired together? Don't buy.

The proof is in the pudding (Thu Nov 13th )

As of today www.packetcurry.com has been visited from 225 cities across France and has sold 1000's packets of the lovely stuff, with stacks of you reordering over and over - a huge thanks for that! The map is taken directly from my Google analytics website statistics that I use to monitor the site and sales.

How to make a naan by Bernadette - Wed 12 Nov 08

This recipe produces light supple naans, without a tandoor oven. Much nicer than the horrid dry shop bought ones.

Ingrediants:
500g plain flour
500g self raising flour
140 ml milk
420 ml water
3 tbsp natural yoghurt
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tbsp melted ghee or butter
2 tbsp sugar
3 tsp black onion seeds, optional (also called kalonji or nigella)
200g (approx) melted ghee or butter

Method:
1. Sieve flours into a large bowl
2. Add onion seed and mix
3. Put milk, water, yoghurt, salt, egg and melted ghee (or butter) and sugar into a jug and whisk until smooth
4. Make a well in the centre of te flour and gradually add sufficient liquid from step 3 to make a smooth pliable dough.
5. Tip out the dough and knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic
6. Form the dough into a all and brush the outside of the dough with vegetable oil and cover with clingfilm. This prevents the dough from oxidising and discolouring.
7. Place in the fridge overnight
8. Next day, remove dough from fridge and bring back to room temp.
9. Divide dough into 16 (large) or 32 (small) balls. Pull each piece of dough into a tear-drop shaped naan. Aim for a slightly un even thickness.
10. Heat a large frying pan until VERY hot. Slap on a naan and brush the upper face with melted ghee (or oil).
11. Cook for about 45 to 60 seconds until the underside of the naan is blistering.
12. Flip the naan over and cook other side.

These naans can be frozen successfully. Just defost and ding in micro for about 20 secs or wrap in foil and heat in conventional oven

In business? In France? Got questions? - Tue 11 Nov 08

Most Brits that come to France and have a go at setting up a business in France have a hard time of it - even if you can manage the language, the endless red tape is depressing and can make you feel totally lost. I've been lucky, my other half is French and works as a professional small business advisor so I had it easy peezy - anyways she now offers free advice to Brits via her shiny new site at www.startbusinessinfrance.com. Hope it helps someone!

Delay in posting - Mon 27 Oct 08 Back to normal

We're off to the UK for a few days to show our new daughter Enora to my family and friends. So with regret, orders made on Tue 28 - Fri 31 Oct will be posted to you on Sat 1 Nov. Please accept my apologies and rest assured this won't happen again - 3 children are enough!

Whoopee we now do Thai and Chinese - Sun 26 Oct 08

If you're in France and have tried the packet curries you'll know how good they are - and if you're like me you'd quite like a Thai or Chinese now and then as well. So to make it happen I ordered 20+ Thai and Chinese samples over the summer, had a great time eating them all and narrowed it down to the 5 now in the shop. Feedback and suggestions always welcome. Enjoy.

When is a packet not a packet? - Mon 6 Oct 08

I few of you emailed in asking what's in the packet? Is it powder?. Is the curry really as good as you say? I know the word packet makes you think poor quality, boring powder, nasty processed food, chemical taste and the like - these packets are the exception. Within the outer packet is an inner sealed packet with a slightly moist mix of totally natural unprocessed spices. Open the inner packet and your taste buds immediately try to vacate your mouth and jump into the packet, your saliva glands involuntarily go into overdrive - as always if you find this to be a load of old bull you can have a full refund.

Free advertising for business owners - Mon 6 Oct 08

Since starting Packet Curry here in France I've found out how expensive it is to advertise in the press and on web sites (especially if you're targeting the whole of France), so being a Microsoft trained network engineer, a full time geek and a business owner in France I'm setting up a 100% free national advertising network in France. It's not going to replace your current advertising strategies, but it's sure going to help you find more customers and there is no fee, zap zilch nothing to pay. It's early days yet, but I expect to have it up and running early next year, so if you have a website and your customers are in France drop me a line and I'll update you nearer the time.

Pleaaaze spread the word! - Mon 6 Oct 08

I setup Packet Curry because I love a good curry and because I guessed there must be plenty of Brits in France, like me, who couldn't get one for love nor/or money. If you've tried and loved them I'd really appreciate a plug on your local Anglo Info forum. I can't do it myself as it would break their advertising rules - but a happy genuine customer singing the praises of packet curry should be good to go. FYI I hardly make a dime from packet curry, it's a labour of love. Pick your area...

Brittany
Normandy
Alsace
Aquitaine
Burgundy
Val-de-Loire
French Alps
Riviera
Languedoc
Limousin
Midi Pyrenees
Paris
Loire
Poitou Charentes
Provence

2 new curries with more to come - Wed 3 Sep 08

The mighty Vindaloo and the fiery Rogan Josh are 2 new packets I managed to get hold of and are now sat patiently in the store looking for a good home. If you like it hot get a vindy, they're a real killer. I'll also be adding Thai Green Curry and Tom Yum Soup next month, so don't forget to come back - or better still add yourself to the mailing list at the bottom of this page.

Stock up / sell out / stock up / sell out - Mon 1 Sep 08

My best customer has now reordered 4 times, with nearly every customer having reordered at least once - so I've had to get the man in India to crank the handle and send me a new box full. Which he did, so for the next month or so stocks should be OK.

TV cooking shows direct from India - Thur 7 Aug 08

Rajshri is one of India’s oldest, largest and most successful integrated entertainment houses, with a strong focus on Indian culture, tradition, values and best of all I've found they have 5 food channels. So if you're a bit of a foody and like a good how to cook TV show you'll love these - very Bollywood! One problem though, some are in Hindi so you'll need to click around till you find an English show.

Buy Buy Buy - Tue 22 July 08

The new site is live and working and ready to sell you an amazing packet curry from India.

Whats new? I'm now able to send you order, invoice and shipping confirmation emails, so that you know exactly where your order is up to. Nearly everyone comes back to buy more, so now if you create an optional account you don't need to keep typing in you details every time you reorder. What else? I'm now able to expand the store with juicy new products, which I couldn't easily do before - so watch out for Packet Curry Starters.

I've made the site as simple as I can to use, but if you have any suggestions on how to improve it I'd love to hear from you. Pop me a message via the contact page.

Don't buy today! - Mon 21 July 08

I'm bang in the middle of updating the site so please don't buy any curries today. Back to normal tomorrow.

France loves curry (Mon June 23rd )

As of today www.packetcurry.com has been visited from 108 cities across France and has sold over 3000 packets of the lovely stuff. I kid you not, this map is taken directly from my Google analytics website statistics that I monitor the site with and my sales figures.

Now I can see why I'm always selling out so flipping fast :)

At-last (Mon June 9nd)

The new stock is available - be quick!

New stock Arriving! (Mon June 2nd)

Loads of new stock will be online Monday 9th June. Sorry for the wait.

What's going on at Packet Curry? (Apr 5)

I started this packet curry thing as a bit of fun and have been completely blown away buy its success, so a huge thanks to everyone who ordered during the 8 weeks we've been online. Over 50% of you have made a second order and some curry lovers have been moved enough to leave comments on the review page - thanks everyone.

On to the nitty gritty. Running a packet curry business in France was a calculated shot in the dark and of the 400 curry packets I put online to test the market less than 100 are left, most of those are Paneer (cottage cheese) which have been poor sellers - hey ho! Anyway, not with standing the Paneers, we're going to sell out very soon and new stock isn't expected until early May. Just thought you should know.

BBQ Tandoori Chicken (Apr 5)

My supplier in India, by mistake, doubled-up on my Tandoori Chicken order and I have 33 packets left. If you like Tandoori I can seriously recommend marinating chicken (lightly scored) in plain yogurt with the tandoori mix - leave it for a day then BBQ.

Yum bloody yum yum.