• Leo on December 29, 2023

  A 40th anniversary edition has just been published and it has made me revisit this old favourite. So many good things in here. The instructions are really good and you really can't go wrong. Our children were given copies to take to uni, we have a back up copy in case the original disintegrates and have bought the new one just in case.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Minced meat with peas (Kheema matar)

  • wester on March 24, 2015

    As I was serving this to children, I left out the chiles, cayenne and coriander leaves, and served hot sauce and coriander on the side, to add to taste. The children loved it ("Can we please have this tomorrow as well?"), and I really liked it too, but I thought the coriander and hot sauce were quite indispensible - without them it tasted too "solid". It was simple to make and inexpensive as well.

• Kashmiri meatballs (Kashmiri koftas)

  • wester on September 03, 2013

    Very nice meatballs with "sweet" spices (cinnamon, cloves) as the most prominent flavor. Not too sharp. I made them with beef instead of lamb, and they were lovely. You do need a well-stocked spice cupboard for this. And you would need a very large pan to fry the full recipe in a single layer, but then she does suggest you could use two frying pans. Will definitely repeat.

• Lamb with spinach (Dilli ka saag gosht)

  • anya_sf on October 22, 2023

    Just delicious! Since the spinach is cooked for a long time, I wouldn't use baby spinach (I used bagged "regular" spinach) and the color ends up muddy green. 1/2 recipe just served 3 with rice and a side of chickpeas.

• Beef baked with yoghurt and black pepper (Dum gosht)

  • Leo on December 29, 2023

    Greater than the sum of its parts. The dish is rich creamy and spicy without chilli heat. We have been cooking this for 30 years. Made with good quality beef and properly seasoned it is delicious.

  • anya_sf on January 02, 2024

    So good! I assumed the paprika + cayenne was meant to be a substitute for Kashmiri chili powder, so I used that instead. No way would we have gotten 6 servings from this, as everyone had seconds. Served with mushroom pullao as suggested.

• Pork chops with chickpeas (Chhole wala gosht)

  • Clog on August 18, 2024

    Underwhelming. i chose this specifically because it uses complete pork chops rather than cubed. The meat dried out, and there was far too much liquid which meant there was only a hint of the spices' flavour in what was served.

• Spicy baked chicken (Masaledar murghi)

  • JLDuck on June 28, 2018

    This very easy and a reasonable substitute for tandoor chicken. Tastes great.

• Lemony chicken with fresh coriander (Hare masale wali murghi)

  • kmattingly on June 12, 2012

    Delightful tangy combination of lemon, coriander and chilli

  • JLDuck on April 24, 2021

    This was one of the first recipes I tried from this book many years ago. I was a novice cook at the time so this recipe was a learning experience. I have not made it in decades so decided to revisit it. I found it rather dull inspite of the lemon and coriander. I have since cooked many chicken curries with excellent results. This one can return to history.

• Prawns with courgettes (Jhinga aur ghia)

  • susan_kvp8gz on March 25, 2026

    This has been a favorite recipe for me, for over 35 years! My 1982 edition is missing some ingredients instructions from the recipe - when to add the ginger, and the tomato. I add it together with the cilantro. Also, I add the shrimp last so as not to overcook it. Stil love this recipe!

• Haddock baked in a yoghurt sauce (Dahi wali macchi)

  • JLDuck on November 04, 2016

    It helps if you lightly Fry the onion first. I used Almond oil.

• Cod steaks in a spicy tomato sauce (Timatar wali macchi)

  • kitchen_chick on April 25, 2023

    If a recipe lists TWO onions, it should be listed as an ingredient. Okay, that aside, this is delicious and it's surprisingly simple in spite of all the ingredients (the list is longer in the cookbook). I didn't bake the fish -- I used a fillet instead of steak cut, and I opted to make it even simpler and have one less pan to clean by poaching large pieces directly in the sauce after it had simmered.

  • Leo on December 29, 2023

    This is simple and very tasty. I used frozen fish today as fresh not available and it worked well as written although I had to play with the timings a bit. I did consider just poaching the fish in the sauce but we enjoyed the intensity of the baked sauce.

• Gujerati-style green beans (Gujerati sem)

  • Leo on December 29, 2023

    A family favourite. Garlicky, oily and hot. A great side dish for an Indian meal but it could go well with a plain meat or chicken dish. The men in our family compete over the quality of their version of this.

  • anya_sf on January 02, 2024

    I used about 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes in place of the crushed chili. Reduced the oil to 2 Tbsp and thought the beans were still pretty oily. Nice, tasty, easy side.

• Beetroot with onions (Shorvedar chukander)

  • Clog on May 23, 2022

    This recipe is not in my copy.

• Cabbage with peas (Bund gobi aur matar)

  • Thredbende on December 09, 2011

    This is really good, quick and surprising. The little bit of turmeric makes the cabbage color especially pretty. It is a warm and lovely frugal mid winter veg dish.

  • Clog on February 25, 2023

    The timings made for very crunchy cabbage. We prefer softer cabbage so I needed to add five minutes or so. Still, it's a lovely side dish.

• Cauliflower with fennel and mustard seeds (Baghari phool gobi)

  • wester on January 29, 2016

    Good everyday fare. Easy and tasty.

  • JLDuck on March 19, 2019

    I basically used strictly fried technique and added a little water. The result was a dry dish with the cauliflower just cooked.

• Red split lentils with cumin seed (Masoor dal)

  • JLDuck on February 27, 2021

    A good basic dal.

  • anya_sf on December 06, 2025

    I was looking for an easy way to prepare red lentils, which I chose since they cook relatively quickly. This recipe calls for simmering 1.5 hrs; I ignored that and just cooked them (slightly higher heat) for 30 min, by which time I thought the texture was good (only cooked 1/4 recipe, which may have helped). Easy and tasty.

• Whole green lentils with garlic and onion

  • JLDuck on January 27, 2018

    I used canned lentils and it worked a treat. An excellent but basic dish when you forgot to make a Dahl.

• Whole green lentils with spinach and ginger

  • wester on December 03, 2017

    Tweaked beyond recognition but still a sound basic idea. Maybe a bit more ginger. Halved the recipe, used Savoy cabbage instead of spinach, used Puy lentils and shortened the cooking time, added four cups of chicken stock and one cup of yogurt to make it more soupy. Would also be good to feed a crowd.

  • mcvl on May 02, 2023

    A classic. I used a mixture of spinach and fava leaves, yum.

• Vegetable pullau (Sabzi pullao)

  • kmattingly on June 12, 2012

    A great addition to any Indian meal or as a meal on it's own

• Mushroom pullao (Khumbi pullao)

  • anya_sf on January 02, 2024

    Rather bland on its own, but a very nice base for the beef cooked in yogurt. I used a whole 8 oz package of cremini mushrooms and was happy with the larger amount.

• Aromatic yellow rice (Peelay chaaval)

  • happyeater on May 20, 2011

    The addition of the turmeric makes this rice so silky. The pot of rice is always gobbled up when I make this and it's not much more work than a pot of regular white rice.

• Lamb and rice casserole (Mughlai lamb biryani)

  • Leo on December 29, 2023

    Our go to celebration dish. Absolutely gorgeous. We always use good quality lamb shoulder for this. It is possible to split the prep into stages by doing the stew the day before. It takes forever, the clean up is abysmal but so worth it.

• Yoghurt with cucumber and mint (Kheere ka raita)

  • ebalk02 on October 24, 2023

    This slaps. Would also be good with a little onion but totally perfect as written.

• Yoghurt with walnuts and fresh coriander (Akhrote ka raita)

  • wester on June 14, 2017

    A good but not that special raita.

• Gujerati carrot salad (Gajar ka salad)

  • wester on October 31, 2016

    OK but nothing special. The mustard seeds do look good though.

  • LizCo on May 07, 2023

    I've been making this for years. It's incredibly quick to prepare and absolutely delicious.

  • Leo on December 29, 2023

    I agree with LizCo. This is a really simple side but if you get the balance of salt and lemon right it makes the carrots shine. Fantastic with a curry. There are fights over this stuff at our dinner table.

  • anya_sf on January 02, 2024

    Carrot salads don't usually do much for me, but I loved this.

• Chicken mulligatawny soup

  • Thredbende on December 09, 2011

    This is a superb soup made with a red lentil dal as base, then a ginger garlic paste fried, and raw chicken breast sauteed into the hot spice paste. The cooked chicken is then combined with the dal, water is added and the mixture cooked a few minutes. The soup is fragrant, inexpensive, nutritious and freezes and thaws well as a lunch.

  • kmattingly on June 12, 2012

    It is also lovely served over plain basmati rice. I agree this is a superb soup.

  • anya_sf on February 10, 2020

    I wanted a heartier soup and used a large potato and 2 chicken breasts. Extra liquid was needed to puree the soup, probably due to the larger potato. Next time I won't bother pureeing, since I prefer a chunkier texture anyway. I stirred in some chopped cilantro at the end. We enjoyed the soup very much.

• Delicious cocktail koftas (Chhote kofte)

  • wester on December 25, 2013

    I'm not rating this as I didn't make the sauce, but the meatballs were good.

• Deep-fried, stuffed, savoury pastry (Samosa)

  • JLDuck on June 02, 2021

    I took the plunge and made samosas from scratch. I was amazed as to how easy it was. One of the keys is to not fill the pastry cones too much. Will definitely make them again. Recommend that you try.

• Potatoes with sesame seeds (Til ke aloo)

  • Avocet on April 18, 2014

    This is excellent and very easy. I don't cool the potatoes for more than a few minutes, and I don't bother with peeling them, so it is a quick side dish.

• Spinach cooked with onions (Mughlai saag)

  • anya_sf on August 14, 2025

    This recipe must be written for very mature spinach. I used baby spinach, so reduced both cooking time (uncovered and covered) and the amount of water, but really shouldn't have added any water and only cooked covered for a minute or so, if at all. So I ended up draining excess liquid and the spinach was too soft, but it tasted good. This method would probably work well with heartier greens like kale.