Notes about Recipes in this book

• Baby corn fritters

  • Ganga108 on June 20, 2025

    Nice! The same recipe can be used with capsicums, zucchini, grated onions, banana chunks or plantain, even paneer and halloumi.

• Pear and cucumber salad

  • Ganga108 on June 20, 2025

    Fresh and nice

• Crushed parsnips in spiced mustard oil

  • Ganga108 on June 20, 2025

    Simple, easy, lightly spiced. Needs lemon juice as parsnips are very sweet. I made it again in Feb 2026. I found that the parsnips needed longer cooking than stated (possibly it was the parsnip), and found it a bit bland again. I added some chopped preserved lemon and a side of spicy salsa. Not Indian :) but the preserved lemon was good! I probably won't bother to make the parsnips again tho.

• Saffron-scented pilau rice

  • Ganga108 on June 19, 2025

    I cooked this pilau in the rice cooker, adding saffron and almonds at the end.

• Mustard greens with ginger, chilli and garlic

  • Ganga108 on June 19, 2025

    An easy enough dish to cook on a weeknight (about 60 mins to cook, much of it simmering time), and it goes well with rice and other curries. I added fenugreek leaves to the mustard leaves and spinach. I like the fact that Sarson ka Saag is an intense dish of greens - we can all do with more greens in our life :). To be honest, it was pretty AWESOME.

• Savoury yogurt drink

  • Ganga108 on June 19, 2025

    A lovely refreshing drink in hot weather. I live on salt lassis when I am in India.

• Spice-infused [tea]

  • Ganga108 on June 19, 2025

    I have made this tea often since my first trip to India. I first came across this beautiful tea in a small shop in a tiny village in Goa, South India, that was run by Kashmiris. They served a magnificent, golden, very subtle and very aromatic liquid that was intoxicatingly India and very special in taste. It is so simple, incredibly exotic, and includes saffron which gives it a beautiful subtle flavour and wonderful colour. I make it without the tea as this is the way that I was served, and the taste of the spices is clearer without the tea. The saffron is so important, don't leave it out but also don't add too much. The taste is very very subtle – no punch here. Drink slowly while sitting with mind clear, or after doing yoga, or meditation. It is utterly divine, and very relaxing.

• Garlic-flavoured mung beans

  • Ganga108 on June 19, 2025

    My Khar turned out much lighter than the book's photo.I added chilli leaves and betel vine leaves - actually it goes well with any greens added. Lots of umami flavours in this dish. A real favourite.

• Spicy egg-filled flaky bread

  • Ganga108 on June 19, 2025

    Recipes for Yoghurt Flatbread abound - even Ottolenghi has one. It may have been one of Bill Granger's books that introduced me to them, during the time spent in London. This recipe is similar/same, but it feels like it's the real deal, this East Indian delight! :) Yum. Made for brunch with the salsa but without the egg.

• Roasted tomato chutney

  • Ganga108 on June 19, 2025

    I have a favourite Indian roasted tomato chutney (Tomato achar), but this one is very good too.

• Milky cardamom coffee

  • Ganga108 on June 19, 2025

    Lovely and warming.

• Cardamom tea

  • Ganga108 on June 19, 2025

    always delicious - drink cold or iced in summer

• Lentil and aubergine curry

  • Ganga108 on March 01, 2026

    I intended this to be a sambar (as described in the recipe), but found chickpeas in the fridge so replaced the dal with them. Then added additional veg that needed using. I kept the same spicing and tamarind, for a wonderful vegetable curry.

• Lemon-laced rice

  • Ganga108 on June 19, 2025

    A nice lemon rice, but needs more lemon juice. Add some at the end of cooking. Also if time, make the tadka at the end and add. The curry leaves stay crisp and green.

• Golden mung bean patties

  • Ganga108 on June 19, 2025

    Crunchy and utterly delicious, they were OMG so good! Requires soaking the dal for 3-4 hours, but I soaked in boiling water for an hour or so. Yum yum.

• Crispy gram flour rounds

  • Ganga108 on June 19, 2025

    These Papris are incredibly addictive, and I wish I had made more - I made half recipe and most of them were eaten. Served for snacks with a cuppa chai and a spicy cucumber masala chutney from "Chatpate Chutneys". I am not sure if they are supposed to, but the Papris puffed up and the chutney could be spooned inside! How devilishly wonderful.

• Carrot and green pea pilau

  • Ganga108 on June 19, 2025

    I am enjoying it today with a simple raita, after a week of incredibly long days at work eating rubbish. So this dish is a godsend today. Divine. Pilau dishes are so common, ranging from central India, up to Northern India and across to the Middle East. They can be very simple (rice, veg, herbs) to ones with complex layers of flavour. This Northern Indian one with peas and carrots (a superb combination) is of the latter kind. It takes a while to make but is worth the effort and time. Unlike rice dishes in the west, a pilau can form a meal with simple accompaniments - all this dish needs is any sort of raita. Or it can form part of a more varied meal.

• Boston Globe by T. Susan Chang

  ...you’ll have to make some judgment calls, and some frustration may ensue. But this slightly uneven, generous volume amply rewards the extra effort.

  Full review