Prime Minister Scott Morrison says it’s a tradition in his family to cook Indian food every Saturday and have friends over to his weekend culinary escapades.
“It’s been a tradition in our family for many, many years now on a Saturday night it’s called curry night and friends come over or it’s just family, it’s just a great time just like it is in any family around the country, getting together around food,” Mr Morrison says.
“I love cooking it, I think it’s great fun.”
Chicken curry seems to have found a special place in the kitchen of the Morrison household over the years, with the PM having a developed a special love for Mumbai chicken curry while his wife, Jenny Morrison’s taste buds favouring the southern dish – the sumptuous Bangalore chicken curry.
“I’ve got to say the one I had last night which was the Mumbai chicken curry, now I cooked, but it was one of the best ones I’ve had for a while,” Mr Morrison told reporters while attending the Diwali festival in Sydney on Sunday.
The Prime Minister said he loves garam masala, an essential ingredient of almost all Indian curries and drew a parallel with the condiment and the debate around immigration.
Source: Supplied
Garam masala
“I love garam masala and when I think about garam masala, I think a lot about how successful immigration has been to Australia over centuries because Australia is the most successful immigration nation on earth.”
“Now masala, as you know, means a mixture of spices but garam in the Urdu means things that are good and right and getting the right combination and the right blend so you take your cumin and you take your fennel and your black and your green cardamom and put together with the black peppercorns,” Mr Morrison told members of the Indian community gathered in Parramatta.
“Immigrants to Australia have been about laying down more flavour, more texture, more fabric, more depth, more strength and it’s the combination of these things as Australians have come from all the parts of the world that makes it such strong country.”
'Throw in some cloves, a few other things you know, you grind it up it makes a wonderful blend and you know that is one of the many generations of immigration, immigrants to Australia has been about laying down, laying down more flavour, more texture, more fabric, more depth.'
Mr Morrison hailed the Indian community as a “very happy fit”.
“There is such an alignment of beliefs and values that make [the Indian community] such a happy fit, a very happy fit so it’s great to be here today celebrating with the Hindu community here, out of the Indian community here in Parramatta,” he said.
The Prime Minister lauded the Indian community for organising the festival.
“This is what we need to preserve, this is what we need to ensure to be maintained in the future. Our freedom of faith, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of gathering together..”
The PM said he also likes to watch ‘a bit of’ Bollywood movies, trying the world famous Bollywood ‘Thumka’ - or dance - as he fielded a question on Indian movies.
