National Curry Week

If ever an excuse were needed to eat the nation’s favourite dish, it’s National Curry Week until October 11.

Given the recently cooler weather, you might want to have yours at home.

For curry in a hurry, Atcha’s new Battersea kitchen is poised to serve South London with healthier alternatives to popular dishes.

Covering a delivery radius of eight miles, there’s also a Hackney kitchen.

Atcha provides a real education in how healthy Indian food can be.

No Butter Chicken and the Northern Bowl (smoked aubergine, curried cauliflower and daal) were seriously good and left me feeling virtuous.

Generous portion sizes – there’s enough for lunch the following day.

Chickpea chat took my toddler by surprise with a whole lot of chili grabbed when she swiped a handful from the kitchen table.

But this was nothing a mango lassi couldn’t sort out.

Picking up a curry with the supermarket shop is ever popular and one of the best is Charlie Bighams, with a range covering all the major geographic curry hot spots.

Chicken Tikka Masala is a long-held favourite but I recently tried Keralan Chicken Curry – one of the pan fry dishes.

The pack includes marinated chicken that needs to be fried off and a sauce added.

An even bigger time saver is the rest of the range that just requires cooking in the oven, including Jalfrezi, Korma and Thai red curry.

All come with rice and serve two for a budget beating £7.75 – as good as a takeaway for half the price. Available from all major supermarkets.

If you want the restaurant experience in the comfort of your own home, restaurant meal kit delivery service Plateaway (www.plateaway.com) is in expansive mood and now has 15 different providers including famous burger brand Dirty Bones.

Dirty Bones was launched in 2013 by two friends who began to develop an idea for a new New York City-inspired burgers and cocktail concept.

Fast forward seven years, the brand has seen success after success and is now the proud supplier of Plateaway.

The burgers and drinks include the Dirty Vegan Chilli Cheeseburger, a popular choice among vegans and vegetarians, The Mac Daddy Burger, Lamb Fries and their Cocktail Trio Kit. Designed to make and plate from the comfort of your own kitchen, Plateaway gives you the ability to be your own chef while creating restaurant quality food.

Whether it’s date night, a family meal or a dinner party, the platform offers a collection of exciting cuisines suitable for a wide range of diets, with simplistic meal kits and practical video guides.

Plateaway started in July this year with 10 restaurant partners and continues to grow.

With a variety of food types to choose from including vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free, there’s something for everyone.

Restaurants include Patty & Bun, Sushi Dog, Yummy (Plant-Based) and Blondies Kitchen. Each kit features all the ingredients needed to recreate the chosen meal and requires only basic cooking and assembly at home.

Whoever says there’s no such thing as healthy pizza is wrong. Gallio is open and it’s delivering a new style of pizza, alongside sharing bowls, salads and flatbreads, directly to your door.

Using ancient grains to create a thoroughly modern, better-tasting and better-for-you pizza, Gallio offers up a menu that’s bursting with fresh, vibrant Mediterranean ingredients.

So what’s different about Gallio’s pizza? It’s all about the base. Stretched and fired to thin and crispy perfection, Gallio’s signature artisan dough is proved for 36 hours and uses a blend of ancient grains, natural yeast, sea salt, filtered water and extra virgin olive oil to deliver not only a better flavour, but also a whole host of nutritional benefits.

High in protein and rich in antioxidants, the pizzas are also an excellent source of fibre – so no post-pizza bloat.

The menu offers exceptional value with pizzas starting from £6, sharing bowls from £4.90, small and large salads from £4 and £7 respectively and desserts at from £3.90.

Lockdown created a shift in shopping habits, which has paved the way for a new community app for Streatham, SavviVille. A must-have for keeping up-to-date on new shop and restaurant openings, with notifications of those doing the best deals.

The Mere Scribbler, which reopened its door two weeks ago for the first time in six months, is offering 50 per cent off food Monday to Wednesday between 4-6pm.

All you need to do is mention SavviVille when booking. The app has tapped into the heart of this South London community, with events listings, jobs, offers, a loyalty card for local shoppers and so much more for the local area. It’s your window on all things Streatham. Download at Google Play.