Korma blimey! Tesco beats Food Glorious Food's winning curry

A chicken korma made by a schoolteacher from Huddersfield has won ITV's nationwide search for a new dish. But it didn't tickle the tastebuds of the lovefood test team. Find out why.

What was it all about?

ITV’s Food Glorious Food, the latest TV project from Simon Cowell, scoured the country in search of Britain’s best home cooked dish, with celeb judges such as Tom Parker Bowles and Loyd Grossman guiding the way. After many, many regional episodes, it was narrowed down to 44-year-old teacher Rahila Hussain and her ‘fragrant white chicken korma’, versus Star Bistro (a team set up by the National Star College for Disabled Students) and their ‘Pimm’s summer jelly’. In Wednesday's final episode, the korma took the crown.

As of today (Thursday 25th), shoppers can buy Rahila’s winning korma in Marks & Spencer stores across the UK for £4.19. It’s described as ‘tender pieces of chicken thigh in an extra nutty and generously spiced sauce’, and comes with a three chilli rating – pretty hot for a korma. Seeing as it won a nationwide search for the best home-cooked dish in Britain, surely Rahila’s offering should be the best chicken korma we’ve ever tasted? We set it against examples from Waitrose, M&S and Tesco to find out.

The contenders

Rahila’s ‘fragrant white chicken korma’ (£4.19) was up against a Tesco ‘chicken korma and pilau rice’ (£3.68); a M&S ‘chicken korma’ (£3.99); a Waitrose low fat ‘Love Life chicken korma with pilau rice’ (£2.99); and another Waitrose ‘mild and creamy chicken korma with pilau rice’ (£3.99). We served all of the curries hot from the oven with rice, and no-one knew which korma was which. Eight colleagues took part, and they were all asked to mark each curry out of 10. So without further ado, here are the results…

Fifth place – Waitrose Love Life

Not surprising, seeing as most of the fat has been stripped from the Love Life korma (it’s 420 calories compared to a typical 600-odd, and 2g of saturated fat as opposed to the normal 10g-or-so.) The ingredients are all recognisable, and it was our cheapest curry at £2.99 a pop. Some found it “far too watery”, and one taste tester even said that it tasted like “tomato sauce”.  It scored 58%.

Fourth place – Food Glorious Food

Oh dear. Far from being the nation’s best dish, our taste testers thought the limited edition M&S curry was “far too spicy”; had “way too much cardamom in it”; and “didn’t look anything like a korma” (it was more grey than orange).

But News Editor Simon, who was the only taste tester to eat it blindfolded, picked it as his favourite with a score of 9/10. “A good mix of spices… very interesting,” he said. Perhaps it was the duller shade of the curry which put the other tasters off? It was our most expensive curry of the day and scored 63%.

Third place – Waitrose mild and creamy

Waitrose’s staple chicken korma scored 68%, with some people complaining that the chicken was too dry, or “there wasn’t enough spice to it”. But for others it was “the creamiest of the lot” and had a “satisfying rich taste” – a couple even scored it eight out of ten. It was a divisive korma, although overall more people liked it than didn't.  

Second place – Marks & Spencer’s own

The standard M&S chicken korma scored 73% – much higher than the Food Glorious Food curry, which sits on the shelf next to it. There’s a whopping 12.2g of saturated fat per pack, which is perhaps why it scored so well… “Beautiful soft meat and rich sauce”; “not too sweet or creamy”; and “well spiced” were among the compliments. But one person found it “airy” and another thought it looked “unattractive on the plate”.

First place – Tesco chicken korma and pilau rice

Well, what do you know! The humble Tesco korma triumphs, despite being our cheapest full-fat curry. It scores 76% and is complimented for its “soft meat”, “delicate taste”, “correct levels of spice”, “creamy korma-ness”, and “full flavours”. There were few if any criticisms, making it the obvious winner on the day. Someone even drew a smiley face next to their score, which is, I think, a first for a lovefood taste test.

Have you tried the Food Glorious Food chicken korma yet? Do you have a favourite supermarket curry? Or would you not touch them with a barge pole? Talk to us in the comments box below…

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