Notes about Recipes in this book

• Butternut squash, aubergine + red lentil sambhar

  • Jane on October 03, 2018

    I made this x3 as had eggplant and butternut squash to use up and it made a huge pot. I used sugar snap peas instead of green beans - I think you could vary the vegetables according to what you have, This will be great to freeze in individual portions for winter dinners or lunches. I didn't have curry leaves or tamarind paste so the flavor wasn't as authentic but it still tasted pretty good.

  • Tealismyname on June 12, 2022

    Took longer than expected but tast was really nice-- you can definitely change up the veggies you use.

  • patioweather on October 03, 2018

    Very tasty, but I wish it were less work. I originally wanted to make it in the instant pot, but then I realized you had to add different vegetables in five minute increments. Maybe next time I'll throw it all in anyway and not worry about if certain vegetables are too soft. I like spicy food, but if you are more sensitive to spice, then I would start with much less and taste as you go.

  • jenburkholder on August 06, 2020

    This was good, although I admit I used a bit of my own sambhar blend, which probably affected the outcome. We also used cauliflower instead of green beans, and overall upped the amount of vegetables. Perfectly nice part of the meal.

• Tamarind + caramelized red onion rice (Imli chawal)

  • MelMM on January 30, 2019

    11-30-2018 After reading through the recipe, I chose not to follow the instructions on the rice cooking. Ms. Sodha likes to use the pasta method, and I do not. I washed the rice, soaked it, drained it, and let it dry out again in the strainer for a while. I sautéed the rice in oil, then transferred to a tin that fits in my Instant Pot, added water, and cooked, covered, in the IP using the pot-in-pot method. Meanwhile, on the stove, I've toasted my sesame seeds. I fried the curry leaves, then added the red onion and cumin and cooked it down. Seasoned with black pepper, red chile, and tamarind as called for. When the rice was done, I folded it into this mixture on the stove. I sprinkled the sesame seeds on at the end, rather than mixing in. This rice was good, but a bit sweeter than I wanted from the caramelized onion. I think with the appropriate dish, it could be a great accompaniment, for example if the dish had a lot of tart flavors to balance the sweetness, or a lot of heat.

  • VineTomato on August 15, 2017

    Lovely Indian rice. Could easily sub an instant rice at the end if you are feeling lazy or for a quick weeknight dinner - you can't normally do that with other rices, particularly from Raganvan Iyer's 660 curries. I found it a pain to try and fish out the sesame seeds at the beginning and in the end left some in, they didn't seem to burn so I might leave the whole lot in next time I make this.

  • Hannaha100 on December 30, 2017

    Really liked this, wish I'd read Vinetomato's note first, that's what I'd do next time. Doable for weeknight.

  • sosayi on October 18, 2018

    Very flavorful rice. I appreciated her cooking method of making the rice separately, then adding in the onion mixture. I was able to cook brown basmati in the rice cooker (my preference for make-ahead ease) and then add the rest without having to tweak the recipe. Would make again!

  • bwilcox on July 28, 2023

    This takes some time (cook rice AND caremelise red onions first) but it is SO good

• Goan butternut squash cafreal

  • MelMM on January 31, 2019

    9-28-2018 The sauce is so delicious, I kept stealing spoonfuls of it. The squash gets a little overdone when cooked per directions. Will reduce cooking time in the future.

  • SugarFree_Vegan on March 08, 2018

    This sauce is amazing and would be very versatile with lots of other veggies. I made half quantities of the sauce but I didn't have as much coriander as the recipe states (it's a lot). I just used 1 standard supermarket pack (stalks too) and it worked fine. If you cook the sauce for too long it will lose its vibrant green but it will still taste great. To add some extra protein I popped some chickpeas on the baking tray half way through cooking the butternut, plus I shredded some spinach and folded it through the rice for even more veggie goodness.

  • mondraussie on November 04, 2017

    Really delicious sauce that can work for a variety of other dishes as well.

  • RachLFinn on October 03, 2023

    Agree with the comment below - if the squash cooks too long it gets a little mushy when stirred into the sauce. Better for it to have more bite but less colour. Simple sauce to make - and good for raw coriander haters like me. Would be a good sauce for other veg, tofu, chicken etc. I heated the sauce through for longer than indicated, which thickened it - which we liked. Family all loved it. Feeds 4 very happily. We had it with another Meera Sodha recipe: Mashed potato paratha with a quick lemon pickle from East: 120 Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes from Bangalore to Beijing (page 186) by Meera Sodha

  • Lepa on February 14, 2018

    I made this with red kuri squash and we really liked it. The sauce was delicious over rice.

  • louisewint on January 22, 2021

    Just chiming in to confirm the sauce is delicious.

  • ALawson25 on March 02, 2022

    Unlike others I didn't love the sauce- maybe I put too much chilli or a squeeze too much lemon. I had a lot of surplus sauce to butternut squash.

  • Ksmotherman on January 09, 2021

    I only had 3.5 oz of cilantro instead of 5 (that's way more cilantro than you think! Probably 2-3 bundles). It still came out delicious. Very easy too; very little prep work and active cooking. Only took an hour.

  • TheFootes on December 15, 2021

    This was a big hit at our Thanksgiving table. Highly recommend! :-)

• Keralan vegetable istoo

  • MelMM on February 01, 2019

    12-23-2017 This is a mild, delicate curry, but delicious.

  • Tealismyname on March 20, 2023

    Mild and easy way to use up veg.

  • katy1729 on September 05, 2019

    4th September 2019: I included some left over celeriac which in retrospect was a mistake as the flavour tended to dominate. The rest of the dish was quite pleasant but not particularly memorable for me. Served with the recommended rice dish.

  • bwilcox on July 28, 2023

    Muddy flavour, likely from using a hotplate rather than stove and powdered rather than fresh curry leaves

• Aubergine + pea curry (Baingan matar masala)

  • L.Nightshade on November 16, 2018

    It’s a good thing she uses some weights, as the recipe calls for four eggplants, weighing in at 2 1/4 lb, so perhaps she is using Asian eggplant. My single eggplant weighed 1 1/4 lb, which was fine for my half recipe. My eggplant took longer than the 10 minutes called for in the recipe. I’m glad I didn’t add the sugar, as the dish had a slight sweetness without it. While I liked this, it was a bit bland in the spice department. The deggi mirch gave it a slight after-kick, but that’s about it. I love eggplant, and I love peas, so that was just fine with me.

  • alexthepink on October 26, 2018

    Didn't wow me as much as some of the recipes in the book, although it's quick and easy to make and doesn't need many ingredients. I substituted a can of tomatoes for fresh. It seemed like too much aubergine for the sauce, but they reduced down with cooking.

  • SugarFree_Vegan on April 23, 2018

    Really easy and tasty curry that doesn't need a lot of ingredients or time to make and won't break the bank. Lovely with some kind of flatbread (Naan, chapatti etc).

  • excurvatus on January 06, 2020

    Like some others here, this didn't really wow me. Based on L.Nightshade's comment I should have weighed my eggplant. Even still, it was quite bland.

  • aeybkme on March 02, 2022

    I thought this was a solidly good aubergine curry but nothing special.

• Spinach, tomato + chickpea curry (Chana saag)

  • Astrid5555 on February 01, 2022

    I added some paneer I had lingering in the fridge and we actually liked it a lot. Also because it comes together quite quickly and is a perfect weeknight dinner dish. Tasty and not too spicy.

  • FJT on May 28, 2019

    This was a fine weekday supper but nothing exciting. I did my usual and, whilst I reduced the chickpeas, tomatoes and spinach by half, I left the volume of spices alone. Frankly it was a bit bland.

  • clkandel on January 17, 2021

    This dish comes together quickly and is very tasty. Flavorful, but not spicy. We served it with the Lime-Pickled Onions from the Made In India cookbook.

  • Hannaha100 on June 17, 2017

    I was so excited by this but ultimately a bit let down. Full disclosure: I didn't have black mustard seeds so used yellow and skipped the garlic, otherwise followed it fairly faithfully. Was a bit bemused by the instruction to use a lidded pan because there weren't any additional instructions to cover at any point. Cooked the tomatoes for a lot longer than instructed and they never reduced to a dry paste, although they did thicken up. Ran out of time/patience in the end. Final result was nice but not wow, although husband seemed keener than I was. Spices maybe a bit mild for my taste. On the plus side, a pretty healthy meal. More likely to try an alternative recipe in the future though.

  • Lepa on November 22, 2017

    This was decent, and kids liked it because it wasn't particularly spicy, but like the other poster I was ultimately let down. I also found that the tomatoes needed longer to reduce. I put the lid on so they cooked down and then took it off for the last few minutes so they thickened but they never developed the rich, dark red in the picture. I reduced the chili by half, as I usually do, because I am feeding children. I served this with tomato achar made by Brooklyn Delhi (!!) and yogurt and that complimented the food very well.

  • MariaSwe on July 12, 2023

    Easy and simple recipe that yields a nice meal. I served it with rice and another curry dish. Made a half recipe and that was more than enough for 4 people. Meeras servings are too big for my family, so I regularly make a half recipe. I used half the amount of chilli powder as it is quite hot but could probably have used more in this dish.

• Daybreaker kedgeree (Kitchari)

  • Astrid5555 on November 11, 2023

    This is a delicious vegetarian main course which I would happily eat every week. Perfect with the poached egg on top, deliciously spiced, not too much work.

• Baked onion bhajis (Pyaz ke pakore)

  • FJT on May 19, 2019

    I intended to make the full recipe but got bored with slicing onions on the mandolin about half way through, however I’d already made a full quantity of the ginger /chilli /cumin paste. As Meera’s recipes tend to be on the very mild side for our tastes I did half the quantity of onions and chickpea flour to the full quantity of all the spices and this worked out perfectly for us. So much easier to make and healthier than frying them - if I get a slicing disc for my food processor we may have bhajis more frequently!

  • SugarFree_Vegan on August 24, 2018

    This is such an easy recipe to do and you can make it even more healthy by cutting down on the oil for frying the onions and using a little water. Cook the onions on low with a little oil and a tablespoon or so of water until soft and then take the lid off and pick up the heat to give them a little colour. It's a very tasty recipe and very easy to prep in advance to finish off when you are ready to eat. We had this with the Blackened Sweetcorn Chaat from page 26.

  • Yildiz100 on September 20, 2018

    Make a half recipe. One kilo of onions won't fit in my largest pan! Pretty good but the batter was really dry, leading to a pasty interior. It was so thick it was more of paste that had to be scraped forcefully off the spoon onto the pan, but I stuck with it, as is, just to be faithful to the recipe the first time around. Next time add more water to achieve a texture that can be called a batter (even if thick) rather than dough. At least twice as much.

  • clkandel on January 01, 2021

    Very tasty and love that these are baked and not fried!

  • MariaSwe on July 08, 2023

    Very nice and easy. My batter was not really a batter so the first batch didn't spread out in the oven. The next batch I flattened to get more surface area to brown and it turned out well. I didn't note to oil the foil so mine stuck a bit. The oil that was in the pan was clearly not enough, so don't forget to brush the foil. Maybe parchment paper works without oil?

• Asparagus + peas in a Bengali mustard sauce

  • wcassity on May 01, 2020

    Very delicious. Came together quickly, with good flavor that isn't strong/heavy. Served with parathas (from the freezer).

  • stockholm28 on June 09, 2018

    The mustard sauce was much milder than I expected. I liked this a lot and it is a very quick dish. I served over rice. Put the rice on before starting.

  • VineTomato on May 17, 2020

    A nice dinner. I followed the instructions on the cooking time for the asparagus and should have listened to my experience - the asparagus was not cooked after 4 minutes and then the peas began over-cooking. I prefer my asparagus soft, so next time will wait until it is 100% cooked before adding the peas as the final step.

• Paneer butter masala

  • wcassity on January 04, 2019

    Very tasty. I didn’t use quite as much paneer as the recipe called for, still great.

  • Lepa on October 09, 2017

    We really liked this. It takes a long time to cook but is not very labor intensive. I loved the rich, creamy sauce and the toasted almonds added a lovely texture and flavor.

  • Kduncan on November 04, 2020

    Very enjoyable, and relative to what I normally cook this was a pretty quick dish. Looking forward to making it again.

  • s.shadan on January 12, 2022

    One of my all time favourite vegetarian curries. Better than any non-vegetarian curry.

  • bwilcox on July 28, 2023

    Made as part of the suggested North Indian menu for a family dinner party and they LOVED it. Very rich, indulgent, creamy

• Akoori

  • wcassity on September 03, 2019

    Delicious! Kids loved.

• Punjabi potato curry (Punjabi dum aloo)

  • Delys77 on November 30, 2023

    I hadn't read the reviews on this one before I made it, but I would agree that it didn't blow us away. That said, everyone liked it. Timing was a little off but in our case the potatoes maybe took an extra 5 minutes or so and achieved a nice doneness. This isn't a dish I have had before and might not repeat but for a hearty non legume based veg curry it's not bad. I think a souring agent like yogurt or lime would be nice. Perhaps a touch of amchoor. I also thing most things benefit from cilantro, so I added a fair bit of it.

  • MariaSwe on July 22, 2022

    I thought this was ok, but not exceptional. I probably won't make again since it took too long for a weeknight and wasn't good enough for the amount of work. Like jenburkholder noted, the cooking time is way off. It took 45 minutes in the tomato sauce and even then the potatoes were just barely tender. And I used really fresh new potatoes.

  • jenburkholder on November 04, 2020

    I liked this, but it wasn't especially interesting. The fennel was a nice touch, but I'm not sure why to bother with making cashew cream instead of just using coconut milk or even omitting - more effort, and didn't add much. Plus, as seems to be the case with all of Meera Sodha's recipes, the cooking times are way off. Ten minutes to tender for potatoes cooking in a tomato sauce? Not even possible. Took 30+, and they weren't cut very large.

  • Logan92995 on March 22, 2023

    Honestly, nothing to write home about. While it smelled great (as most Indian food does), it didn't taste all that great, kind of just bland. Not sure what element was missing that would've elevated this. Possibly some yogurt or coconut milk? Also, I'm in agreement with the other reviewers, the cooking times took much longer than anticipated.

• Savoy cabbage, black kale + potato subji (Savoy aloo gobhi)

  • Delys77 on April 24, 2023

    I quite liked this but my dinner guests did not. The combination of curry leaves, mustard seeds, and cabbage lends this a bit of a bitter profile. For me that was ok as the dish had nice balance and the flavour profile was a bit different, but for my husband and son not so much.

  • mondraussie on October 29, 2017

    Delicious! Used spinach instead of kale.

  • Hannaha100 on January 05, 2018

    Wish I'd read the notes! Lovely but took much longer to cook potato than stated, probably wouldn't try again on a weeknight. However delicious and a good way to get greens into children.

  • Lepa on November 14, 2017

    Everybody liked this, especially the kids. Next time I would fry the potatoes longer until they are starting to crisp (which takes longer than the ten minutes indicated in the recipe) before adding water. I also think the dish needs more salt. We ate it with dal, naan, yogurt and tomato achar. The last two ingredients were brilliant with the potatoes!

  • MariaSwe on July 08, 2023

    I didn't have any savoy so I used green cabbage and black kale, which worked out well, although I think savoy would be better. The timing on this was off, which I've noted on several of Meeras recipes. The potatoes were not soft enough and needed a lot more time. Note that this makes a lot of food. I made a half batch and with rice and dhal I had food for at least 4 people. Will make again since I have potatoes and kale in my garden!

  • NoaBC on February 16, 2019

    This is good but very dry, so it should be eaten with a dal/curry/some kind of sauce. I didn't find that the potatoes took too long to cook but I did slice them a little smaller, I think depending on the size of your new potatoes you may need to adjust slices/size.

  • jenburkholder on August 06, 2020

    I made this on the strength of the reviews, but found it to be overall quite bland and not worth the fuss. As others have noted, the cooking time is a bit off depending on your potatoes. Wouldn't make again.

  • Ksmotherman on December 28, 2020

    Very simple, good accompaniment to other dishes.

  • catmummery on December 03, 2023

    update having cooked again - totally agree with ealier post: the potatoes need much longer and if you follow this timing, then the onions and spaces are VERY caramelised by time potatoes are done. But really delicious and could use with any greens.

• Sri Lankan dal with coconut + lime kale

  • nadiam1000 on April 11, 2020

    This was delicious. It is subtly spiced and I added more salt. I agree with the other reviewer that you could double the spices. I used more coconut because I had a little extra that I wanted to finish. The kale is a nice acidic counterpart to the dal. I did not have chiles so I added some pickled jalapenos. I added the other half of the coconut milk can to some jasmine rice to serve with the dal.

  • clkandel on June 12, 2023

    Really like having the kale with the dal. Gives a nice texture contrast. Flavors are great.

  • puddlemere on February 19, 2019

    I read some reviews of the version of this on NYT Cooking that recommended doubling the spices and coconut, so I did that and I think that was really key to giving it flavor. I also upped the salt a bit and added lime zest to the kale along with the lime juice. I thought this was quite good with those changes. The lime is really important for brightening up the flavors.

  • e_hothersall on July 29, 2020

    Worked well and tasted great. I added a whole tin of coconut milk and only read others' notes have I realised it might have been meant to be less - was perfect. I only had chilli flakes rather than fresh green chilli; if I made it again I'd put more chilli somewhere, maybe in the kale.

  • Florafauna on November 09, 2020

    Two cookbooks one recipe. Anna Jones a modern cooks year has almost the same recipe. I made the kale from here but used the spice mix in the Anna Jones cookbook Meera soda kale was very good! Will definitely make again!

  • jenburkholder on August 06, 2020

    Okay, although all of the spices needed to be upped, as others have noted. I ended up just adding the kale to the dal for ease, as I'm not too concerned with presentation.

  • stepharama1 on January 25, 2023

    I doubled the spices and used leftover coconut cream rather than coconut milk and this was delicious!

  • dansumac on January 01, 2022

    Great flavours and loved the combination of the kale and the daal. Thought the recipe was lovely as it was but if you'd prefer more spice then definitely increase the chilli and other spices.

• Fenugreek leaves, peas + cream (Methi matar malai)

  • SugarFree_Vegan on June 13, 2019

    Having never cooked with Fenugreek leaves I wasn't sure what to expect. My local supermarket had some in (Morrisons) so bought some and then searched Eat Your Books for a recipe and this one came up. As I'm vegan I used Oat Cream. Really delicious dish and would make again if I can get the fenugreek in the future.

  • metacritic on October 03, 2021

    This is one of my favorite dishes in the book. It is a light, fresh take on a classic dish that can often be heavy.

• Blackened sweetcorn chaat (Makai ki chaat)

  • SugarFree_Vegan on August 24, 2018

    This works well with frozen sweetcorn as well as canned and fresh. To make it vegan just use a vegan alternative to butter - I used Flora Dairy Free. I couldn't find plain sev so used Cofresh Bombay Mix from Morrisons (UK) and this was a fantastic addition to the dish. Really tasty, use the sev / Bombay mix as it really adds another dimension to the finished dish - we had this with the Baked Onion Bhajis on page 28 of this book along with some naan (sorry cheated and bought that!).

  • clkandel on March 14, 2021

    Tasty dish. Flavorful, but not overly so. Works with frozen corn too, although fresh would be incredible.

  • ALawson25 on May 17, 2022

    Maybe I didn't have enough corn to balance out the dish (using up corn from the freezer!), but I didn't love this enough to make again.

• New potato and chickpea chaat (Aloo chana chaat)

  • Yildiz100 on May 01, 2019

    I am not at all impressed with her ultra lazy tamarind date chutney. I'd rather use purchased chutney than dirty the dishes to just puree dates and tamarind. So pasty and no spices! Technique was an issue for me too. I couldn't get any crispness on the potatoes without burning the spices. Aloo chana chaat is one of my favorites, but I will use a different recipe next time.

  • clkandel on June 11, 2022

    The date and tamarind sauce was easy to whip up in a mini-food processor. Loved the potatoes - crispy outside and creamy inside. Lots of flavor.

  • patioweather on May 06, 2020

    This made a lot! Had trouble fitting it all in pan.

  • Totallywired on March 27, 2019

    This is bonkers good, perfect crispy yet creamy potatoes, sweet dates and tamarind, tangy yogurt and spicy and crisp topping. Ate solo but would be perfect alongside bone in lamb loin chops.

• Darjeeling momos with chilli sauce

  • Yildiz100 on November 09, 2018

    Sauce-use regular soy. Filling: use a touch more soy and salt. Subbed tofu for paneer and only used 100 grams, but added a bit more carrots and cabbage. Was about twice as much filling as necessary. Was delicious, but dough wasn't really standout. Try store bought wonton wrappers.

  • Yildiz100 on November 10, 2018

    Froze half and cooked from frozen without defrosting. Worked perfectly following regular cooking directions. Dough texture may have actually improved.

• Teresa's mango salad (Teresa ki aam salad)

  • Yildiz100 on November 29, 2018

    I made this twice. First with a mango that felt hard as a rock but turned out to be too ripe. This salad was tasty very annoying to prepare, as it is very hard to hold a slippery peeled mango and cut strips from it. The second time I managed to get an under ripe mango. This was much easier to prepare, but after adding the sugar and lime as per the recipe, it softened, got sweeter, and tasted exactly the same as the first version, so flavor wise, a ripe mango is fine, just very tricky to work with. Both recipes taste like mango salsa to me, good, but not really exciting.

  • mondraussie on July 12, 2021

    Very tasty, but as previously mentioned, it can get a bit slippery so better to use a slightly underripe mango. I ended up using a knife to slice into thin slivers, found that easier that using a potato peeler. Also added lime zest.

• Maharajah's rice

  • Yildiz100 on November 27, 2018

    Tweaked this recipe a bit to use the cooking technique from her coconut rice (boil and drain, then steam) and it worked fine, but wasn't a revelation. Proportioms of fruit and nuts were pretty good, though half of my dates didn't make it in to the rice because after soaking they became so soft they became a sticky ball when I tried to fold them into the rice. (Was using Iranian dates, which are quite soft anyway. ) Apricot's texture was not to my taste when contrasted with rice. Even the kid started to pick around them after a few bites.

  • anniecc on June 15, 2023

    This was really tasty, even though I burnt the butter and thought it wouldn’t work - the pan was too hot after toasting the nuts. I halved the recipe and it was enough for 2-3 people. It feels decadent but is actually straightforward to make. I used almonds and macadamia nuts and a mix of apricots, dates and sour cherries for the fruit.

• Bengali coconut dal (Cholar dal)

  • Yildiz100 on November 09, 2018

    An easy, fairly tasty dal. Just needed to cook the dal a bit longer than specified, about an hour. At 45 minutes, mine was a bit al dente. This was good but not a stand out. I would repeat but I have SO many other dal dishes to try first.

  • aeybkme on March 02, 2022

    Really delicious! Add extra water when reheating otherwise it dries out.

• Banana and cardamom buns

  • Yildiz100 on November 14, 2018

    Very nice, like a Swedish fika bun. Husband thought they were a little dry and bready. It may be they need a bit more butter in the dough, or it could be because I needed to add extra flour to get the dough to come together. (I used defrosted frozen bananas which released a lot of liquid, making the dough quite wet.) Try with non frozen bananas next time. Also try frying!

  • clcorbi on January 26, 2023

    These are lovely with some salted butter, although I agree the flavor could be stronger. My cardamom was very fresh and the flavor was still quite mild. Next time I'd double the cardamom, and maybe even add a little more banana.

  • katy1729 on September 05, 2019

    31st Aug 2019. My first time trying to bake anything and I didn't check the function of the store cupboard yeast first... The very sticky mixture did not rise at all, so I resorted to baking powder and the final result was actually OK. Will make again with (working) yeast!

  • fbcd on May 27, 2022

    These were a bit too delicately flavoured. Perhaps my ground cardamom was too old, and it certainly needed more salt. The dough is very wet and really not possible to kneed, so I beat it in a stand mixer instead. I added extra flour to form into balls, which I then put in a greased muffin tin for baking. Worth trying again with fres cardamom and more salt.

• Elephant ear garlic naan

  • Yildiz100 on November 09, 2018

    I started with the rack about 1/3 of the way down to avoid the issue that others had. My breads puffed a bit, but not much. I baked for exactly 5 minutes. I think the were a bit underdone, but they did stay soft. I followed the instructions exactly in terms of size and shape (weighed the dough and measured width with a tape measure) and I think they were too thick. They were a bit heavy and more pita like than naan like. I probably will not repeat, but if I did, I would try rolling them much thinner.

  • mondraussie on June 13, 2020

    Fantastic and easy!

  • sosayi on October 18, 2018

    I'm torn on this recipe. It was quite easy to put together, with good flavor, but I didn't feel that the baking instructions worked out quite right. You're told to put an oven rack to the top of the oven and bake on a thin baking tray from there. My naans, though, poofed up enough that they touched the top heat coils, which made burnt lines across the tops, so I'd try at a lower level. I also wonder if a pizza stone heated up might give a better browned bottom, as my bottoms were quite pale and anemic looking compared to the tops, even having pre-heated the thin baking pan. So... worth trying but perhaps look at a few other naan recipes for better baking instructions.

  • sosayi on November 02, 2018

    Following up to say that the leftovers froze and reheated beautifully! Just be sure to separate them with some parchment or wax paper to avoid them sticking together in the freezer.

• Squashed tomato uttapam

  • Yildiz100 on November 14, 2018

    I knew this would not taste like the uttapams that I am accustomed to, as this is not fermented, and it contains eggs, but I love savory pancakes and fritters so I approached this with an open mind, hoping to like this for what it is. Unfortunately I found the dough heavy and stodgy, and the topping was fussy, dirtying extra dishes but no tastier than a raw diced veggie topping that just gets browned with the pancake.

• Roadside ginger chai

  • Yildiz100 on November 09, 2018

    Very weak. Double the tea bags. Love the grated ginger. Makes a nice spicy chai.

• Sprout your own beans

  • Yildiz100 on December 03, 2019

    Works, but 200 grams of mung beans turns into waaaaay more sprouts than I can use before they spoil. Reduce by half next time. Also, what is "hand hot"? I took it to be warm to the touch but not really what I would call "hot". Also, to allow the sprouting to continue a little longer, rinse with water after initial period is over and set in a warm dark place to continue sprouting. Thereafter, rinse with warm water every 12 hours.

• Leek, pea and mint samosas (Hara pyaz, matar, pudina ke samose)

  • mondraussie on September 25, 2023

    These were lovely, but my folding technique is a disaster... I didn't really understand the instructions at all.. And several youtube vids later.. still didn't get it right :(

  • MariaSwe on July 07, 2023

    I made without mint since I didn't have any and added fresh basil instead. Definitely not Indian but I loved it! I liked the texture and flavour and will make again. Might use a different recipe for the actual samosa though because they turned out a bit greasy.

  • aeybkme on May 13, 2023

    I really didn't like these. The filling was quit sickly sweet with the peas, leeks and mint.

• Roasted root vegetable Madras

  • mondraussie on October 22, 2023

    Very easy to make and tasty... I used whatever veg I had around... potato, sweet potato, carrots, onions, endives and brocoli (added the last two 20 mins into the roasting time) and worked perfectly.. Great recipe for using up leftover vegetables...

  • Ganga108 on September 03, 2023

    I didn't use baby veg, but "normal" ones cut into medium-large sized sticks. They took a lot longer to cook and next time I'd use a higher temperature (even for baby veg, I think). The dish is mostly hands-off after the veg is peeled, just getting the sauce cooking and stirring occasionally. The sauce would be useful for other veg eg roasted cauliflower, even sauteed tofu or paneer.

• Sweet potato vindaloo

  • clkandel on January 01, 2021

    Great flavor. Next time I'll make the sweet potato pieces a little smaller so each piece is more bite size.

  • sosayi on November 02, 2018

    A really delicious dish and very easy to throw together on a weeknight (especially if you prepare the spice mix in advance). I wasn't sure what Sodha meant by "red chili powder" so I used a mix of cayenne and paprika (1 to 2 ratio) and that made it spicy, but not deathly. Love the tang from the vinegar, as with all vindaloos. The sweet potatoes added a different (obviously sweeter) note and while I did enjoy the dish, I might prefer it with meat, as in a traditional variation. Or.... maybe a mix? Regardless, the sauce is lovely and I highly recommend trying it!

  • MariaSwe on July 12, 2023

    As other reviewers have noted (but I unfortunately didn't read before making) cut the potatoes smaller. It took more than double the time to cook them and it will look nicer with smaller pieces. I find that Meeras timing is regularly off and it takes way longer to cook many dishes. I liked the flavour of the sauce a lot, but I wasn't crazy about sweet potatoes. If I make again I will use a different vegetable.

  • jenburkholder on August 06, 2020

    I didn't care for this at all. The sweet potato chunks were much too large; the sauce was one-note and hard to get smooth. Overall just disappointing, as someone who loves sweet potatoes and vindaloo.

  • ChickenAndRice on December 04, 2021

    If you do make this, which I don't recommend, 3cm cubes are too big, definitely make them smaller. I found the dish really lacking to be honest, you know when you eat something and there's something 'missing'? That's this dish all over to me. It would probably be improved by adding some fat in the form of coconut cream or yohurt. I ended up adding a bunch of things to introduce more depth of flavour, and at that point I'm making something completely different.

• Chickpea pancakes with paneer + lime pickle (Paneer cheela)

  • clkandel on June 12, 2023

    The lime pickles are a flavor sensation - love them. Chickpea pancakes are easy to make. Think I might try making a large pancake, stuffing with the paneer and lime pickle, rolling it, and then slicing it for serving.

• Hot green bean, cashew + coconut salad (Haree phalee salad)

  • clkandel on August 13, 2022

    Tasty and easy! A great side.

  • VineTomato on April 19, 2020

    Meera Sodah delivers again. Amazing. Even Mr VT not the biggest fan of green beans loved these. So, so yummy.

  • saarwouters on November 16, 2017

    Good side dish. We served it with asian-style grilled prawns. Especially liked the shredded coconut.

  • aeybkme on March 02, 2022

    Really delicious, this is a regular dish on my dinner party table. An easy but impressive side.

• Fresh matar paneer

  • clkandel on June 11, 2022

    Very tasty. Great use of fresh peas.

  • stockholm28 on June 08, 2017

    This was a great main using spring vegetables. I used sugar snap peas rather than snow peas. Next time, put the water on to boil first. This says it makes 4 servings, but these are really big portions. I made half a recipe and this worked well.

  • Hannaha100 on July 30, 2017

    Matar paneer is one of my favourites but I've never tried to make before. This wasn't exactly as I remembered but very good. No good for M because of cheese but husband approved. A few changes: swapped garlic for an onion and used tinned tomatoes. Also used tenderstem broccoli instead of mangetout because that's what we had. Other green veg would work too - sugarsnap and edamame would be nice. The paneer was harder to cook than I expected - stuck to frying pan, would need longer than stated to get the lovely golden crust in the picture. Otherwise this is actually fairly straightforward and doable in the week. Spices all go in at once so could be measured out together. Remember that for the full recipe (4 people) would need 2 packs of paneer. Portions for two were just right for hungry appetites! Agree with stockholm28 get the water on earlier!

  • Lepa on September 23, 2017

    This was a big hit with my family. I was concerned that there wouldn't be enough tomato sauce but in the end it turned out well. I made it with the basmati rice from Made in India (I have recently discovered and now exclusively use this recipe for basmati) and with yogurt and a selection of chutneys and pickles and it was a lovely meal. I anticipate making this often.

  • metacritic on October 28, 2020

    This was fresh and bright, all things I don't associate matar paneer. My paneer shed a lot of water initially so I cooked it for at least 15 mins (rather than the 4 called for) before they browned and crisped. I served it with rogan josh from the sublime Benares cookbook. These complemented that dish nicely.

  • ElianeW on July 02, 2018

    Really tasty and quick and easy to put together. The only fiddly bit is the paneer. I used canned tomatoes. And didn't find any mangetouts so just doubled the green beans. Everyone loved it.

  • anniecc on September 03, 2023

    Really love this, I’ve made it several times. Don’t expect it to be anything like the matar paneer from Indian restaurants, it’s a different type of recipe, much more vegetable-led.

• Pea, dill + mint soup (Hare matar ka shorba)

  • TigClarke on February 28, 2017

    This is absolutely delicious, the combination of ginger, mint, dill and the tarka added at the end gives a real burst of bright and zingy flavor. Just perfect.

• Sesame + tamarind aubergines with cracked wheat

  • Ladyredspecs on February 11, 2019

    A super easy and super delicious recipe. I added a little turmeric (1/2tsp) to freshen the colour of the dish

• Pumpkin, black-eyed bean + coconut curry (Olan)

  • VineTomato on August 15, 2017

    Fantastic recipe. The smell of the baking pumpkin is divine. My first time cooking pumpkin, as it is something I didn't grow up with I normally sub with butternut. I used a small sweet pumpkin and it was just delicious. Cooked the black eyed beans in the pressure cooker for 10 min after a 4 hour soak, they were probably just a little too soft. Cooked with tamarind and caramelized rice which went brilliantly. Will be making this again, for sure! Update: we had some from the freezer yesterday - this dish does not freeze that well, the pumpkin was way too mushy and the flavour a little off. Next time I’ll make just enough for two!

  • Lepa on September 19, 2017

    This was very good. I used kombocha squash. I peeled it and cut it in one inch squares so it would roast faster and so it would be easier for the children to eat. I only used one chile and didn't slit it so there wouldn't be much heat. I added the curry leaf tarka at the end but just the flavored oil (I discarded the leaves). I served it with plain basmati and the cucumber/mint raita she recommends. The tart raita was a perfect compliment to the rich curry.

  • sosayi on October 18, 2018

    Really delicious curry, it went spectacularly well with tamarind and caramelized red onion rice and the cucumber and mint raita from the same book (as suggested). I had trouble not eating all the roasted squash (used buttercup), and I'll use the garam masala coating on its own sometime for sure. I only used 1 chile (seeds removed), in hopes the preschooler would deign to eat the curry, but I should have just used them all as I wanted more spice and he was only into naan, as per usual. Subbed pressure-cooked black-eyed peas and home-canned tomatoes, but otherwise followed the directions. I did add the tarka, with leaves, and loved the added flavor.

  • purrviciouz on October 27, 2019

    This was absolutely delicious. I used kombocha squash and served with the tamarind rice and cucumber mint raita. This made 6 servings for me.

  • dc151 on October 28, 2021

    I made this with acorn squash. Great flavor. I overcooked the squash, so it was a bit mushy, and also, wish I had peeled it first. Good weeknight meal.

• Chestnut mushroom and walnut samosas (Masaruma akharota samose)

  • VineTomato on August 15, 2017

    Lovely filling that is different to what you would have had in a samose before. The instructions on how to fold these, altough seemingly clear turned out to be a bit of a disaster. I just defaulted to the square shaped pea and corn parcels I made out of cinnamon kitchen and that worked well. Time to watch some online videos and practice the art of samosa making.

  • MariaSwe on July 07, 2023

    This filling was very flavourful. Made samosas according to separate recipe and they turned out ok. A bit greasy for my taste even though I scaled down on the butter.

• Roasted broccoli with almonds + cardamom (Malai broccoli)

  • VineTomato on March 22, 2020

    It was enjoyable but not sure I will make this again. Served with left over black house dhal from Dishoom.

  • Lepa on January 06, 2018

    I have been wanting to make this recipe since I bought this book. We made it today and didn't love it. My husband, who made it, thinks it would work better with the proper ratio of sauce/broccoli. We had a little over a pound and there was a ton of sauce on each floret. We extended the cooking time by five minutes and while the broccoli cooked, the sauce stayed goopy and white. The flavor was okay but much better in areas where it had browned. I'm not sure I'm willing to try this again but think it does have potential.

• Paneer, mango + tamarind salad (Aam, paneer aur imli ka salad)

  • NikkiPixie on January 10, 2018

    This was delicious, and very simple. Everything worked well together, and there was a lovely balance of sweet, sour, salt and heat. We halved the recipe for two people, a serious error.... we could have easily eaten the whole thing!

  • Kduncan on June 08, 2021

    We enjoyed this a lot. It's also a lot more filling then a lot of salads I've had. It's simple, though a few things take a some time to do. We actually added more greens then the recipe called for, as we thought it was a bit topping heavy.

• Cauliflower cheese + chilli stuffed roti

  • RachLFinn on October 19, 2023

    Not a recipe I'll repeat. It was a time-consuming recipe (rolling, frying) with a fair amount of washing up. The flavour of the breads wasn't particularly interesting, and the cheese/cauliflower was not as satisfying as I'd hoped. This is the first Meera Sodha recipe that hasn't been a hit for me.

  • SKidd on December 06, 2022

    I made a half batch, it’s a good use of a little cauliflower that needs using up. Kind of like an Indian flavored veggie quesadilla, in a good way! Served with the sambhar from the same book.

• Shredded Brussels sprout thoran (Choti gobhi thoran)

  • Hannaha100 on January 06, 2018

    Loved the idea of shredding the sprouts, I'd never done that before. Great for using up Christmas leftovers. This was nice (toddler ate!) but flavours quite subtle, be careful what you serve with, can easily be overwhelmed by more powerful flavours. A dry dish that might need a wet accompaniment. Quick and easy.

  • Lepa on October 09, 2017

    This was pretty good. It needed a bit more salt. I especially liked the little charred bits. Others in my family didn't like it as much as I did.

  • saregama on October 24, 2018

    http://www.community-harvest-whetstone.org.uk/recipes/brussels-sprouts-thoran-curry-dish

  • Kiwibackhome on June 22, 2020

    Added red cabbage as a bit short of sprouts. Delicious with the tamarind red onion rice from same book.

• Beetroot pachadi

  • Hannaha100 on December 30, 2017

    This was good but next time I'd definitely use pre-cooked beetroot to drastically shorten cooking time. Used soy yoghurt and left out chilli. Could pre-make coconut yoghurt sauce. Would make again.

  • jenburkholder on August 06, 2020

    A rare success from this book. We roasted the beets rather than boiling, but other than that followed the directions. It was delicious, chock full of spice but with a distinct beet flavor. Definite repeat.

  • TheFootes on December 21, 2021

    5 stars from me! Such an interesting & unusual flavor combination. I'd second the ideas of using pre-cooked beets or roasting them whole -- whatever's most convenient :-) I've liked most of what I made from this book.

• Cauliflower + pomegranate chaat

  • Lepa on October 05, 2017

    This was very good. There is a similar recipe in her first book but this one has cauliflower, which makes it even better! We had it with the Daily Dal (from Made in India) and naan. Delicious!

• Moong dal with a garlic + cumin tarka (Moong dal tarka)

  • Lepa on May 23, 2018

    This is okay. We didn't like it nearly as much as her daily dal, which is fabulous.

  • Ksmotherman on December 28, 2020

    A favorite from this book. It's gone on regular rotation, and I've served it alongside several smaer dishes from this book. Don't skip the tarka!

  • bwilcox on July 28, 2023

    Made this twice and not yet gotten much flavour, although only more recently did I realize I was using the wrong kind of Dahl

• Gujarati corn on the cob curry (Gujarati makai subji)

  • Lepa on September 30, 2021

    A rare meh from Meera Sodha. I didn't have great corn so that could have been part of the problem. I added some extra sugar because it seemed to need a bit of sweet. It was okay but not a repeat.

  • metacritic on October 11, 2022

    I absolutely loved this dish as did my family. Rather than prepare the corn on the cobs, I added kernels only and cooked them for just a few minutes. A fantastic dish. It wasn't terribly sweet -- and if the goal is to emulate Gujarati cooking it might make sense to add another tsp of sugar -- but I thought the dish perfect as written.

• Okra and potatoes with toasted sesame seeds (Aloo bhindi subji)

  • Lepa on December 09, 2017

    We did not love this. The flavor was just okay and it left the biggest mess in the pan I've ever seen. With so many delicious Indian recipes for okra and for potatoes, I see no reason to revisit this one.

  • Ksmotherman on December 28, 2020

    Everyone in my family was a big fan, except the one person who doesn't like okra. Tasty, and simple preparation.

  • SesJB on January 10, 2023

    So good! My new favourite okra recipe. Becomes a bit slimy half way through but persist because it disappears. Don’t stir too much.

• Autumn pilau with aubergines, tomatoes + chickpeas

  • Lepa on November 06, 2017

    This was a very nice, tasty dish. It dirtied several pots and took a bit of work (frying several batches of eggplant) but the resulting dish was very nice (and kid-friendly).

  • K_Simpz on January 14, 2022

    A lot of work but extremely nice. Frying the aubergine took an incredibly long time as it took several batches even in a large frying pan. next time I'll try baking the aubergine.

  • bwilcox on July 28, 2023

    This takes both a lot of time and a lot of oil but the result is truly soemthing spectacular and more than the sum of its parts

• Cucumber + mint raita (Kheera ka raita)

  • Lepa on September 19, 2017

    This was good with the squash/black eye pea curry but it's not my favorite cucumber raita.

  • sosayi on October 18, 2018

    I second Lepa's note: good cucumber raita, and we ate it all, but not my favorite.

  • Ksmotherman on December 28, 2020

    I'm a big fan of this raita, it regularly reappears in my kitchen.

• Cauliflower korma with blackened raisins (Gobhi korma)

  • louisewint on January 22, 2021

    I love this recipe. I used the leftovers cold to put into a wrap, it was delicious.

  • patioweather on August 22, 2022

    Everyone liked it but if I made it again I would double all the sauce ingredients. It ended up being drier than I personally want it.

  • MariaSwe on July 15, 2022

    Such a great recipe. I love it! Toast the almonds and raisins separately or the raisins won't be sufficiently blackened.

  • Ksmotherman on January 09, 2021

    The raisins are great little bursts of flavor. This was a big hit.

• Grilled sweetheart cabbage + coconut thoran (Gobhi ka thoran)

  • metacritic on October 03, 2021

    Fantastic and easy. Hispi cabbage is quite special, as is this recipe.

  • jenniebakes on July 19, 2018

    This is terribly easy to make and really delicious. Who knew? The coconut thoran is magical.

  • MariaSwe on July 17, 2023

    Excellent and easy recipe. My cabbage was huge so I only used one and cut it into 6 pieces. I had to fry in batches. The kids didn't care for the thoran but I thought it really elevated the dish.

• Wild mushrooms with cracked wheat + coriander chutney (Masaruma upma sath dhania chatni)

  • clcorbi on December 28, 2018

    I found this recipe to be strangely fussy in comparison to a lot of others of hers I've tried. I'm not sure why you need a separate pan to fry the mushrooms in, for example. The result was also not very flavorful, even once I mixed in the salt. Would not repeat.

• Shredded roti with red cabbage + carrot

  • mfranklin125 on July 07, 2018

    Kids found it ok. D didn’t like. I am neutral

  • tumble_b on July 12, 2022

    Works with strips of fried bread

• Fennel + apple chaat with caramelised almonds (Seb aur saunf ka chaat)

  • Frenchfoodie on April 10, 2017

    Very tasty, used cashews which I bashed after caramelising rather than flaked almonds and they were delicious. I halved the recipe though as I thought a whole fennel bulb (I only had huge ones) and 3 apples would be a bit too much with a couple of other sides (inc Meera's kachumber) to accompany a whole large tandoori chicken for 4.

  • Kduncan on December 14, 2020

    I'll split this into two parts, first the almonds. OMG these things are amazing and I want to eat them all day and all night. The salad itself wasn't what we wanted that night, and I probably won't do again. But the almonds I've already made 2 more batches of.

  • jenburkholder on August 06, 2020

    This was fresh and tasty. The caramelized nuts were delicious, even though we used walnuts and proceeded to overcook them a bit. Nice addition to a holiday table.

• Fresh coconut rice with cashews + shallots (Kaju nariyal chawal)

  • Kduncan on October 20, 2020

    This was nice, though the coconut pieces brown very quickly. In the future I'd start browning the cashews before I add the coconut.

• Baby aubergines stuffed with peanut + coconut

  • ms_scarlett on May 23, 2017

    Delicious, although a little faffy.

  • luluf on June 17, 2020

    I agree, it is delicious but hard to keep the stuffing from falling out. It’s awfully hard to get a low temperature on a gas hob so I would finish it in the oven next time. I would only make using the smaller variety of round eggplants and it is excellent with some cucumber and mint raita. I scraped the membrane and seeds out of the chili but will probably leave in next time as it could have done with a bit more heat.

  • bwilcox on July 28, 2023

    First time round did so without food processor and burned filling. Second time round with old coconut. Third times the charm?

• Courgette kofta in a ginger + tomato sauce

  • patioweather on December 01, 2020

    Delicious. I would cut back on the chile powder a little bit. And chop the onions pretty finely. The sauce had a restaurant-quality to it that is hard to capture, and without any cream or butter!

  • JJ2018 on December 30, 2022

    This was quick and tasty. We halved the recipe but the courgette balls were quite small as so much water came out so you could do a full batch of courgette for 2 maybe with a few leftovers. Also I would oil the foil when putting kofta in the oven as they stuck.

  • ALawson25 on May 17, 2022

    Followed patio weather's advice below and slightly reduced the chilli and the level was perfect. The sauce was good, found the courgette a bit weird to get used to initially but would possibly make this one again. Was doable for a midweek meal. Served with naan.

  • bwilcox on July 28, 2023

    As keen as I was to find a way to use up a massive amount of courgettes, the kofta seemed like doughy balls lacking some kind of flavour

• Stolen mustard greens (Sarson ka saag)

  • patioweather on December 01, 2020

    I am not a huge fan of mustard greens but I got some in my produce box. This is an excellent way to prepare them

  • bwilcox on July 28, 2023

    This was…. Ok. I’m not sure if puréing the mustard greens was a good idea. As they grow abundantly in my area I may try again

• Whole roasted cauliflower mussalam (Gobhi mussalam)

  • etcjm on September 23, 2020

    Very nice. Bit of heat. My cauliflower was a monster so took longer and could have cooked even longer really. Will definitely do again when people are allowed to visit again! Easy to do prep ahead so would be suitable when cooking lots of different dishes. Looks great as well!

• Hill station salad

  • Totallywired on May 27, 2019

    Mediocre at its highest. Tastes like a sad potluck contribution, full of uncooked diced peppers.

• Mrs Sura's lemon + red chilli pickle (Khatta nimbu mirch achar)

  • hbakke on November 13, 2022

    Sour and tangy from the lemons and not overly spicy from the cayenne peppers. I used 3.5 oz of cayenne peppers rather than the 4 oz specified because that was all that I had from my one sad little patio plant. This was a nice, interesting pickle. Husband loved it.

• Punjabi pickled radish, carrot + cauliflower (Punjabi achar)

  • Florafauna on January 02, 2021

    This is delicious, didn't last long. Have made several times now and regularly have a jar in the fridge along with the pickled chilli from the same book

• Sticky mango paneer skewers (Aam ki chutney wala paneer)

  • ALawson25 on September 10, 2023

    Made these for a bbq- they were amazing. I forgot chickpea flour but they were still great, so possibly even better with it. Nice spice level too!

• Bengali-in-the-cupboard egg curry (Dimer johl)

  • jenburkholder on August 06, 2020

    Meh. Okay, but not nearly as tasty as a similar egg curry in Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian.

• Gujarati dal with peanuts + star anise

  • jenburkholder on August 06, 2020

    Best recipe I have tried out of this book. Genuinely different flavors to what one generally expects from a dal (and I've eaten a lot of them). The peanut curry-leaf mixture is especially delicious on top. Would certainly make again.

  • Ksmotherman on December 28, 2020

    I had to sub in ground clove for the whole, and accidently added way too much. Definitely user error here; the dish came out very bitter. Would be worth trying again with whole cloves.

• Rainbow chard saag aloo

  • jenburkholder on August 06, 2020

    This was good more for its attractiveness than its flavor. Perfectly okay way to use up a bumper crop of chard, but not something we'll be clamoring to make again.

• Pickled cauliflower with ginger + lime (Achari gobhi)

  • jenburkholder on July 15, 2020

    This was very tasty and quite simple, although you need to be a big fan of lime - the “pickle” in the title isn’t a joke; it’s very sour.

  • Ksmotherman on December 28, 2020

    Very quick, great accompaniment or topping for heavy, rich dishes.

• Beetroot shami kebabs (Chukandar ke kebab)

  • jenburkholder on August 23, 2020

    These were good, but I doubt I would repeat. The seasoning needed significant adjustment, being woefully under-salted as written, and the cooking times were off. They were overall a bit of a pfaff (the beets cook 3 separate times) for something that was tasty, but not life-changing.

  • fbcd on May 27, 2022

    I make these kebabs as appetizers with pre-dinner drinks for Indian meals, and they are always a hit. I just use the precooked vacuum-packed beets, puree them and toss them into a frying pan to reduce the moisture. They are simply flavoured but the cilantro and lemon juice give an unusual zing. I no longer include the egg, as it just adds more moisture and they are already a bit delicate. The unfried patties freeze well.

• Rajma for the whole family

  • Hansyhobs on December 01, 2023

    This was OK, I did the 4 person recipe (it makes A LOT) and I added a lot more seasoning than was suggested. I had made red haricot beans earlier in the week so used those instead of kidney beans (they're very similar). Found it hard to reduce the tomato mixture, even on my lowest hob setting it spat a lot so ended up putting the lid of the pot on ajar which meant it took longer to reduce. Wouldn't bother making again.

  • bwilcox on July 28, 2023

    Makes a lot. Good base “red beans” recipe

• Sprouting kachumbar

  • stepharama1 on May 13, 2022

    I love this salad. The flavors are so fresh and vibrant! I feel like I'm getting healthier, thinner and younger with each bite!

• Runner bean subji

  • Ksmotherman on December 28, 2020

    Very simple and fresh side dish to accompany something heavier.

• Aubergine fesenjan

  • Ksmotherman on January 17, 2021

    I mixed the eggplant into the sauce rather than sitting it on top. It was tasty, and less sweet than I expected. I used ground chipotle pepper, which gave it a nice burn.

  • fbcd on May 28, 2022

    I found this kind of bland, with no depth of flavour. I think it would help to toast the walnuts before chopping them, and adding a chilli wouldn't hurt.

  • bwilcox on July 28, 2023

    Dry eggplants (may have used wrong kind) and very sweet sauce. On the fence about trying a repeat

• Butternut squash seekh kebabs

  • Ksmotherman on December 28, 2020

    I had a lot of trouble with consistancy; they kept falling off the skewers. Eventually I gave up on those and just made them into patties. I think I had too much butternut squash. They tasted delicious, especially with cucumber mint raita! I will definitely make them again.

  • GeraldineSale on October 09, 2021

    I had similar problems with the consistency & falling off the skewers

• Mangalorean plantain curry (Kele ki subji)

  • mademoisielle on March 16, 2021

    One of my favourite curries! Really easy to make but very tasty. Love to have this with Meera’s asparagus thoran on the side.

• Temple tomato rasam (Tamatar ki rasam)

  • Ganga108 on April 30, 2023

    For a rasam, this makes a lovely dal. It is difficult to define a traditional rasam. As soon as you try you will find examples that break those rules. Rasam is best described as a **thin** spicy broth that can be eaten over rice, used to moisten drier curries, or eaten like a soup. It sometimes has toor dal – but not every time – and tomatoes as a base – but not every time. It is strong on coriander, pepper and chillies – but not every time. Rasam means juice, and in this case, it refers to the juice of the tamarind, on which a rasam is based – but not every time. It has been a way of ensuring health-giving spices with every/most meals. Sodha breaks these rules with ease, changing the dal base (and using far more dal than traditional) and changing the spicing. Yet what she gives us here is an easy and delicious way to make a sort-of rasam - honestly more "dal" than rasam. Use less red lentils and less garlic.

• Tomato + chickpea salad with a lime tarka (Tamatar chana salad)

  • PapaMarcos on June 15, 2021

    Used rapeseed oil instead of ghee

• Journey bread (Thepla)

  • Margret on July 23, 2023

    Easy and quick to made

• Lemon rice with peanuts + curry leaves (Nimbu chawal)

  • aeybkme on March 02, 2022

    Great side dish! An easy but impressive rice dish.

• Grand vegetable biryani (Mast biryani)

  • fbcd on May 27, 2022

    This biryani is packed with color and flavour. I have made it often as a company dish and it is always popular. The vegetables can be varied so I sometimes replace the beets with eggplant. I also don't soak the rice because I find it cooks too quickly and ends up being soggy, and I cook more rice than is called for. It makes layering the biryani easier and provides a better balance for the vegetables.

• Paneer stuffed Romano peppers (Paneer bhari mirchi)

  • anniecc on June 15, 2023

    Really enjoyed this, it was nice to have a different preparation for paneer. The book calls it a starter but I served it as a main course with the maharajah rice from the book.