I made the curry the other week and it was fabulous. Dh loved it, Charlotte even ate it (not a fan of the spice that one lol) It took me 45 mins (I made one bigger than his) with a 3 year old, so not that far off really.

I do now own a food processor, which does make a lot of things incredibly simple, and it washes clean in about 35 seconds, so not sure about extra clean up (or if I am lazy it goes in the DW!)

I tell you what though, he sure used some fancy gadgets the other night, I can see why people are put off - he used 2 different sized knives, and a microplane (zester), a fork and a stove. It was pretty intense.