A healthy Indian-inspired supper club with Mira Manek

A little while ago, I was fortunate enough to be invited to a supper club hosted by Mira Manek. I'll be honest, I'd never heard of Mira, but after being promised "an Indian inspired Spring Feast of old family favourites with a healthy, new age twist" I was definitely in.

Healthy Indian chef Mira is on a mission to change the perception of Indian food as greasy, heavy and unhealthy. Sure, gluten-free, vegan, refined sugar-free recipes are everywhere these days, but has anyone applied the concept to Indian food? Not that I knew of. I was intrigued and excited.

The supper club was to be held at the beautiful members' club, Grace Belgravia.

It was a wonderful setting and just the right sophisticated yet informal vibe.

After a chai cocktail (or two) we sat down at the table to commence our 12 course feast.

Yes, 12 courses. Your eyes do not deceive you. I KNOW! Smocks ahoy, am I right?

Now before we go any further I should apologise for my photos - I wasn't planning on blogging about the evening so only had my phone with which to take pics. But then I loved it all so much I realised I simply had to share the evening with you all and introduce you to Mira and her food because I think she is fantastic.

Alright, let's kick this dinner off!

So, sweet and spicy padron peppers - an always delicious classic - plus an Indian summer salad with kale, dates and strawberries. I'm not usually one for fruit in salads but this totally worked and I loved the crunch of the flaked almonds on top too.

Grilled mushrooms with walnut pesto. I'm not a huge mushroom lover but I gave these a try. The walnut pesto, however, I thoroughly enjoyed.

Mung bean and sweet potato rosti - bloody loved these. Let's be real, anything topped with avocado is going to be a winner in my books. Which brings me nicely on to...

Spiced courgetti and noodle (I wanna say they were brown rice noodles?) slaw with roasted chickpeas and avocado. I absolutely adored this dish. I have no idea what was in that sauce to make it so creamy whilst also vegan but it was fantastic.

Tamarind quinoa bhel with chilli tahini. Love me some quinoa. This was particularly light and refreshing which was nice.

Masala grilled aubergine with dill yoghurt and pomegranate seeds. Alongside the courgetti, this was my fave dish of the evening. The aubergine was perfectly cooked and I loved the crisp topping.Had to pick off the devil herb though, as per.

Oh blast. There was also a red lentil dahl with garlic labneh and hazelnuts but I appear to have omitted to take a photo of it. How very unlike me. My sincerest apologies. Can I make it up to you with some pudding?

Yeeeeaaah... Pudding is always the way.

The most vibrant fruit salad of fresh mango, kiwi and watermelon.

Warm, spiced chia kheer with spiced apples. I'd never had warm chia pudding but I loved this and I loved the Indian spices.

This cheesecake though. Oh, this saffron lime cheesecake. I'll be honest, I rarely choose a cheesecake for pudding but this was just sensational, and I could scarcely believe it was gluten-free, sugar-free and vegan. It was so tasty!

And to finish off our most epic of feasts, Indian fudge. What this actually was was the cheesecake base crumbled up. As my friend Jenny pointed out, it's not really fudge like we know, but it was delicious. So delicious that despite having enjoyed 11 courses previously, I had to be dragged away.

It's safe to say I practically rolled home.

I can't even tell you how much I loved all the food though. Mira is so clever and creative to make such beautiful, exciting, delicious dishes that are actually relatively good for you. And I'm so excited that she's going to be bringing a cookbook out next year too. Keep your eyes peeled, gang! In the meantime, there are some fab recipes on her website here.

Do you like the look and sound of Mira's food?