I had Indian food every night last week: on Monday I reviewed eclectically decorated restaurant Chor Bizarre; on Tuesday Paul and I bought a selection of Indian dishes from Waitrose to serve in my beautiful Indian thalis; on Wednesday we succumbed to takeaway and on Thursday it was the turn of Marks and Spencer to do its ready meal thang. Friday was particularly exciting, as my friend Hayley, fantastic cook and founder of Cook Eat Happy, came over to give me a one-on-one masterclass in cooking chicken jalfrezi, sag aloo and basmati rice.

Originally it wasn’t going to be just me taking part in the class as Paul and Hayley’s boyfriend Will were supposed to join in too, but Paul’s purchase of a new PS3 earlier in the evening put paid to this plan pretty sharpish. So Hayley and I caught up over a glass or two and I was given a lesson in how to cook simple but tasy Indian food.

Hayley talked me through the different steps, from preparation of the ingredients to the cooking process itself. The chicken jalfrezi was not as complicated as I had imagined, relying on a carefully chosen selection of spices and a good few green chillies to give it a brilliant kick. We were able to make the sag aloo (an Indian potato and spinach dish) whilst the curry simmered. The most important part of the lesson for me, however, was learning how to cook the rice. I am useless when it comes to boiling rice. My rice is always too hard, or too soggy, and usually in vast, vast quantities. As such, Paul and I have taken to buying packets of microwaveable rice, which is hardly the most cost-effective way of doing things. Happily Hayley demonstrated the best water-to-rice ratio for cooking the basmati, and showed me how to add cardamom pods for extra flavour.

The meal was ready and we sat down with the boys to sample it. The jalfrezi had just the right amount of heat to it, and tasted delicious sprinkled with chopped fresh coriander leaves. The sag aloo was a favourite with Paul, who loved the fresh flavours of the whole meal. The rice was subtly flavoured and the perfect accompaniment to the curry dishes. We munched the lot with the happy silence of people who are truly enjoying their food.

A huge thanks to Hayley for a lovely evening, some valuable cooking tips and the beautiful dianthus caryophyllus (if you’re stumped by that one head over to Hayley’s blog for explanation).

You can follow Hayley on Twitter here, and hopefully we will be seeing more of her on Edible Glitter in the future as she shares her recipes alongside cooking tips and tricks.