Another book older than many bloggers and readers, this little book just keeps popping it’s cover out from the host of other Indian cookery books jostling for position on my bookshelves, not to mention chairs, tables and any other available space.
Even though in the midweek I do quite often make a curry, for quickness I end up using ready ground spices and skip the use of the pestle and mortar. Perfectly acceptable for a Monday night with leftover chicken or even when I just fancy a really simple chickpea and spinach curry that takes only a minute amount of time to prepare. But for a weekend curry when time is a bit more forgiving it really is worth the effort to do it from scratch, the results are very satisfying and if you can stretch to making your own Chapatis you really will hit the wow factor. The dishes taste nothing like the local takeaway and will put you off picking up the phone again. The good thing about serving an Indian meal to guests is that you can make up for all that time by serving a very simple dessert of ice cream and nuts or fresh mangoes, that’s really all anyone needs after such a sumptuous feast.
I once cooked several recipes from this book for an Indian friend of ours whose mother was a fabulous cook and was delighted when he said it was on par with hers. So I know the recipes must be good. It is very difficult if you haven’t lived in a country to know when the recipes are authentic, I tried to impress a Polish guest a few years ago with a Bigos (a hunter’s stew) and was very disappointed when she said she didn’t recognise it.
Most of the meat curries from this book have been cooked many times but my favourites are Lamb with Onions (Do Piaza), Kashmiri Red Lamb Stew (Kashmiri Rogan Josh), Delhi Style Lamb Cooked with Potatoes (Aloo Gosht) and Chicken with Tomatoes and Garam Masala (Timatar Murghi).
I think I shall be cooking something hot to spice up my weekend.
