3 inspirational Indian food books

The British love affair with Indian food is longstanding but these three very personal books take our knowledge to another level. Ishita DasGupta takes a look at them.

March and April see the release of three books that give an interesting insight into Indian regional cookery. Ammu by Asma Khan is a tender memoir that contains a collection of recipes that range from the Bengali home kitchen to Mughlai showstoppers; On the Himalayan Trail by Romy Gill is a breathtaking journey through the Kashmir Valley and foothills of the Himalayas shining a light on a region whose food may be lesser known but has had huge influence upon India’s cuisine and culture, whilst The Philosophy of Curry by Sejal Sukhadwala is a whip-snap overview of the history of curry and its influence across the globe. Three very distinctive books, each offering a different facet to the subject of Indian food and culture.

Ammu: Indian Home-Cooking to Nourish Your Soul -Asma Khan. Ebury Publishing, 288pp., £26, March, 9781529148145

Ammu is the latest cookbook by the chef, author, and owner of Darjeeling Express, Asma Khan. Meaning mother, Ammu is a paean to Khan’s own mother, Faizana -the inspiration for her life and work. To simply call this book a cookbook, fails to describe fully what it really is about. Using the language of food, woven within these chapters is the story of two women and their journeys, through childhood, marriage, motherhood, and entrepreneurship.

This collection of recipes draws upon Khan’s Rajput and Bengali background with a mixture of everyday staples and dishes for celebrations and feasting. Quintessentially Bengali dishes such as bhortas -mashed or minced vegetables, fish, and meat, spiked with raw onion, green chilli, and mustard oil, and chorchoris -lightly spiced vegetables cooked in oil with no gravy, sit alongside Afghan chapli kabab, and Mughlai dishes such as korma, kofte, firni and of course, biryani.

Biryani is a specialty for both Khan and her Covent Garden based restaurant, where her Biryani Supper Clubs are much sought after events. The dish is cooked traditionally in a big pot or degh, sealed with dough and steamed dum style. Brought out with much fanfare and a great sense of occasion, the degh is opened in front of diners before the layers are gently mixed and served. For those wishing to recreate this biryani at home, a recipe for Ammu’s chicken biryani, scaled down to feed six, with step-by-step instructions is in the book.

In fact, there is something to satisfy everyone’s appetite and Khan’s recipe collection really showcases the many communities and cultures that have influenced Bengali food. It is a joy to dip in and out of its pages and to see dishes such as Malaikari, Calcutta Haka Chilli Chicken, and Zaffrani Raan make an appearance. In Khan’s own words: ‘This is food I cook for my family every day, meals to comfort, restore and nourish. I give these recipes to you, with love.’

On The Himalayan Trail: Recipes and Stories from Kashmir to Ladakh - Romy Gill. Hardie Grant, 256pp., £27, April, 9781784884406

On the Himalayan Trail by chef, food writer, author and broadcaster, Romy Gill, is a sumptuous book that is part travelogue and part culinary exploration. Beginning in Kashmir, an area largely untouched by foreign and domestic tourism due its political situation, Gill gives us a glimpse into the region’s rich food culture and jaw-dropping landscape.

Kashmiri cuisine draws its heritage from the Pandit and Muslim communities with influences from Persia, Central Asia, and Afghanistan. Certain aromatic spices play a central role in many dishes, as well as ingredients local to the area such as dried Cockscomb flower, saffron and Kashmiri red chillies. In summer, the fertile land offers fresh greens and vegetables, but winters can be harsh, and scarcity of food means that families busy themselves during September and October drying vegetables and preserving fruits.

At the outset, Gill tells us about the many people who shared recipes and food with her, from her driver and guide to professional chefs and home cooks. She takes us to meet food producers and cultivators, café, and restaurant owners and also Waza - chefs who create the famed wazwan, or Kashmiri celebration feasts, which can comprise of up to thirty-six courses. Through them we learn not only about food, but the history and culture of the valley.

From here, a journey to the high-altitude desert of Ladakh where Gill explores its biggest township, Leh. There is a marked change in the food here, heavily influenced by Tibetan cuisine. Thukpa, a noodle soup, and whole wheat pastas such as Skyu and Chutagi are served in vegetable laden broths. Momos, steamed buns, fermented wheat breads and Gur Gur Cha -salted butter tea are iterations of foods that connect communities that live amongst the foothills of the Himalayas.

The book has a lovely range of recipes from quick, everyday meals, pickles, and preserves, to dishes for an unrushed weekend or celebration. Nearly all the spices are readily available here, and Gill has adjusted recipes to suit the UK home kitchen. For those who love food and travel, this gem of a book is a must.

Try this recipe for Romy's lamb harissa

The Philosophy of Curry - Sejal Sukhadwala. British Library, 106 pp., £10, March, 978012354509

The Philosophy of Curry by London based food writer, Sejal Sukhadwala, is part of a series of books published by the British Library, with a focus on food and drink. In this volume, Sukhadwala attempts to give a definition for the somewhat contentious term curry, tracing its origins, its arrival in Britain and influence across the globe.

Associated with the British, the word curry is thought to be a modification of caril, used by the Portuguese in Goa during the 16^th century. This in turn is thought to be an adaptation of kari, used variously to describe black pepper, spices, or a spiced accompaniment to rice, in Tamil. From here Sukhadwala tries to determine what curry is, exploring the long history of the dish and also the valid objections which surround it.

There are some interesting chapters such as the one devoted to curry powder. The earliest recorded being sold by a perfumery warehouse in Piccadilly in 1784. Powders were thought best to ensure consistency of taste, in comparison to grinding one’s own spices. The flavour profiles vaguely based on regional dishes from Madras, Bengal and Bombay.

The spread of curry around the globe is also a fascinating story. Led mainly by Indian indentured labourers, who were shipped across the British Empire to work in various plantations following the abolition of slavery. Modifying their recipes to use local ingredients, many Indian influenced dishes, now absorbed into each country’s food identity were born.

It is impossible to go into too much detail on such a vast subject across a hundred pages, but Sukhadwala does a great job, whetting the appetite and giving a list for those interested in further reading. The writing here is accessible and engaging, and Sukhadwala is not at all precious about her subject. I devoured this book in one evening and hope that Sukhadwala plans to write more on the subject.

Ishita DasGupta is based in Bristol. She is a home cook who writes about food and culture, migration and identity.

Wine and spice

To mark National Curry Week here's an article I wrote for Decanter a while back about Indian food and wine matching at the Cinnamon Club which still contains some useful advice about wine and spice pairing:

Despite the stoic resistance of a stubborn minority who maintain that beer is the only acceptable option with a curry, most fans of Indian food have come round to the idea that wine can be an equally enjoyable accompaniment. Especially in London which now has some of the most sophisticated Indian restaurants in the world.

Much of the credit for this is due to pioneering sommelier Laurent Chaniac who, together with chef Vivek Singh, has incorporated a gastronomic menu paired with serious wines into the regular menu at London’s fashionable Cinnamon Club - the first Indian restaurant to take wine this seriously. They also hold regular winemaker dinners.

Now Chaniac and Singh have taken their mission a stage further by attempting to pin down the effect that individual spices, or groups of spices have on wine and which types of wines they suit. They have discovered, for example, that onion seeds and carom seeds (also known as ajowan) soften the tannins and open up the fruit of young wines such as red Bordeaux and Cote de Nuits burgundies. They also deal with any herbaceous notes in young cool-climate cabernets. “Normally that kind of wine is an enemy of Indian cuisine” says Singh.

Other discoveries are that tamarind, the sour paste that is widely used in southern Indian cooking and which is sometimes used by Singh as a glaze for meat or fish, has a strange affinity with the earthy flavours of pinot noir that is made in the traditional way in open top fermenters. That the fragrant combination of mace and cardamom fires up New Zealand sauvignon blanc and that sandalwood (used by Singh in a tandoori chicken dish) hits it off with gewurztraminer.

Of course in the sophisticated world of Indian spicing, spices are rarely encountered on their own even within a single dish but are skilfully blended so that none predominates. “You should never be able to detect turmeric in a dish, for example” says Singh “but it will very often be there” But the presence of certain spices or spices of a certain style can lead the wine choice in a specific direction, wine becoming part of the overall harmony of the dish.

“When we work on pairings we always look at the spices before we look at the basic ingredient” says Chaniac. “The first issue is the level of heat. That doesn’t necessarily mean how hot it is - it can be a question of concentration.” “Some spices, such as chilli, cloves and cardamom, create heat in the body” chips in Singh.

“When you have a hot dish you need to go for a wine, usually white, with refreshing acidity and a certain amount of residual sugar” continues Chaniac. "The acid tones down the heat and leaves room for the fruit to express itself." An example in the Cinnamon Club Cookbook (£20 Absolute Press), in which he gives wine pairings for all the main recipes, is a dish of deep fried skate wings with chilli, garlic and vinegar, partnered with Australian riesling. Fresh spices and herbs such as green chillies, garlic, ginger and coriander also tend to suggest high acid whites rather than riper, barrel-fermented ones or reds.

For dishes dominated by dried chillies and other warm spices such as cloves the pair diverge , Chaniac tending to favour aromatic whites such as gewurztraminer and Tokay pinot gris and Singh mature, soft reds. “A red wine needs to be concentrated but with soft tannins and a finish which is quite dry” concedes Chaniac. “Older vintages can have a role to play. We like old-style Barossa wines, older vintages of wines like Grant Burge’s Holy Trinity but they’re hard to get hold of. Alternatively we look for a wine that can generate freshness like a cool climate pinot noir or a young grenache.” They tend to serve their reds cooler than average. “All our reds are in fridges held at 16° or 17°C.”

Individual spice blends can unpredictably buck the trend, “If you take a classic pickling spice mix composed of cumin, onion, fennel, carom and mustard seeds, mix it with star anise and then combine it with a grape such as cabernet franc from a very hot climate a wonderful alchemy will take place” rhapsodises Chaniac. “The grape will tend to release aromas of eucalyptus and liquorice which then marry perfectly with the flavours from the pickling spice mix.”

The pair are constantly pushing the boundaries of what is accepted practice in food and wine matching, challenging even their own preconceptions. Their general view is that oak doesn’t tend to work with spicy food but they have discovered that barrel-fermented chardonnay has a real affinity with cashew nuts and toasted sesame seeds. “We also came across a fabulous match recently of Chapoutier’s Le Mal white Hermitage 1997 (100% Marsanne) with a dish of prawns flavoured with star anise, cinnamon and cloves.” recalls Chaniac. “The honey and citrus flavours of the wine were stunning with the dish but the common thread was the liquorice flavour of both the wine and the food, accentuated by the smoky flavours of the tandoor.”

At the same meal Chapoutier had pulled another clever trick. “We were tasting a Cote Rotie that was structured and quite dense and he showed us that when you ate a few raw coriander leaves it became more lively and longer on the finish. Now we’re looking at the effect of herbs on wine too. We’ve already found that where mint is a component of a sauce an Australian style of shiraz works well.”

One word of warning: these pairings won’t work in a conventionally structured Indian meal where several dishes are served at once. At the Cinnamon Club they’re served as courses, Western style. And don’t serve your dish with a chutney unless it’s specifically designed to go with the recipe. “I don’t like people asking for a selection of chutneys as the balance of the dish can get lost” says Singh. “With a chutney there’s so much going on - sweet, sour, bitter. It stays on the palate for a long time.”

The Cinnamon Club is at Old Westminster Library, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BU. Tel (44) (0)207 7222 2555. www.cinnamonclub.com

Other spicy combinations
Some spices are more powerful than others. Coriander seeds, for example, don't tend to affect a wine choice unduly while dried chilli (especially smoked), cloves and saffron, even if used in quite modest amounts, do. Here are some ideas drawn from other cuisines:

Black pepper - best with lush, ripe reds (but not syrah from the Northern Rhone. The pepper flavours cancel each other out!)

Cinnamon - in savoury dishes: rioja and other oak matured Spanish reds; in sweet dishes, especially with apple: late harvested riesling

Cloves - very ripe, full bodied reds e.g. grenache, reds from the Douro

Cumin (especially when roasted) - sharp lemony whites, such as Greek whites

Fennel (and dill) - minerally or citrussy sauvignon blancs, dry Italian whites

Fresh ginger - gewurztraminer or, surprisingly, champagne

Pimenton and other smoked dried red chillies - soft, ripe reds, especially tempranillo

Saffron - strong dry ross and viognier

Star anise/five spice, especially with duck - new world pinot noir

This article was first published in Decanter in April 2005.

The Cinnamon Club holds regular wine events. See the latest ones here.

What Food, What Wine? Indian: which type of wine pairs best with a curry

A lot of people still think that wine isn’t a good match with spicy food but our final session of What Food, What Wine? judging this week suggested that there’s no reason for winelovers to throw in the towel. The success (or otherwise) of the pairings did however depend on the heat of the curries and how ‘wet’ or dry they were.

We had four to consider - a chicken korma, a lamb rogan josh, a chicken tikka masala (which appeared in last year’s line up) and stir fried prawns with tanjore spices, the signature dish of the Cinnamon Kitchen in the City where the judging took place. (Amazing - you can find the recipe here)

The situation was slightly unreal in that we had each dish separately with boiled rice whereas in many restaurants a range of different dishes would have been put on the table at once along with sides like raita and chutney. But it was the most comprehensive attempt I’ve witnessed to find out which style of wines suits which type of curry and produced some fascinating insights.

Shop-bought or home-made?

There’s a big difference between inexpensive supermarket curries and a good takeaway or homemade recipe using freshly ground spices and fresh herbs. The prawn dish was far more aromatic and complex - and subsequently more challenging to match. I’m sticking my neck out here but I’d say on the strength of this tasting that it’s probably only worth spending over £10 on a bottle with a subtly spiced dish, served Western-style on its own - as you get in high end restaurants.

Consider the protein

If the basic ingredient has a prominent flavour it can dictate the match, despite the style of the dish. For instance lamb has much more influence on a pairing (inclining you towards a red) than chicken where it’s the sauce that’s all important

Beware whole spices ...

A rogue chilli or whole cardamom can really blow your wine out of the water. Fresh, well-sourced whole spices will be more powerful than mass-produced ground ones

...and heat build-up

Spicing plays havoc with the palate in ways you don’t quite anticipate. It can anaethetise the palate to an extent but with some dishes there was a slow build of heat making each mouthful taste progressively spicier. Which is where cooling raita comes in ....

So which style of wine pairs best?

Judging by the wines we tried a fruity rosé is the best all rounder - a good default choice when you’re in an Indian restaurant.

White wines - even aromatic ones - are trickier than you might think. Sauvignon Blanc in particular is not the success it tends to be with other dishes. A touch of sweetness certainly helps as does a touch of minerality, according to the Cinnamon Kitchen’s group wine buyer Laurent Chaniac who was one of the judges. Gewurztraminer can be great but doesn’t go with everything.

Reds can work particularly if they’re lightly chilled but they need to be quite soft without intrusive tannins. Unless you’re a chilli thrillophile you don’t want to ramp up the heat with a load of spicy oak.

Personally I’m dying to see the results. I’ll link to them as soon as they’re published.

I should make clear that I am a senior (paid) judge on What Food What Wine but they haven't asked or commissioned me to write this and the previous post which represent my views and not theirs!

 

What to drink with a TV dinner?

This month’s issue of Observer Food Monthly hasa special on TV dinners featuring celebrities talking about their favourite snacks. Very few beverages are mentioned so I thought I’d suggest a few pairings ;-)

Indian takeaway
Amanda Holden is pictured eating pasta with pesto but actually says her regular TV supper is an Indian takeaway. Lager would be the obvious bevvy of choice for most but personally I’d go for an IPA (India Pale Ale) or a strong fruity rosé

Spag bol
A bit of a messy TV snack from Observer restaurant critic Jay Rayner but who wouldn’t be tempted by Angela Hartnett’s 3-4 hour ragu which deserves a good bottle. Like a Chianti Classico riserva. See my 6 best pairings for spaghetti bolognese.

Fish fingers
(Or equally, fish and chips.) Mentioned by novelist Julie Myerson who also admits to enjoying a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. They’d rub along fine together but I must confess to a secret vice which is that I love fish fingers and champagne. Cava at a pinch.

Tapas
Newsreader Mark Austin says he likes tapas and a glass of wine (unspecified though I suspect it might be a Rioja). He should try a well-chilled glass of fino or manzanilla sherry. See also my 6 best Spanish wines to try with tapas.

Cheese on toast
We also don’t know what wine his colleague Julie Etchingham drinks with her cheese on toast made with “strong cheddar, always with Worcestershire sauce” Could quaff a Cabernet but I’d personally be reaching for a bottle of Timothy Taylor Landlord.

Home-made burgers
The fondly remembered childhood treat of X Factor presenter Dermot O’Leary. Adults should try them with a good bottle of Bordeaux: as fine a match with a burger as a steak - provided you don’t overdo the relish.

Chips
Perfect TV food, according to the BBC’s Alan Yentob - and he should know. Personally I think this is beer food again. Or a mug of builder’s tea, which would certainly be a good match for his other favoured snack, fried-egg sandwiches . . .

Fish pie
Mentioned by Property Ladder’s Sarah Beeny. Her version, which includes smoked haddock and a cheesy sauce, is quite rich which would make me reach for a fairly full-bodied (but not ridiculously oaky) Chardonnay. See also my 4 top drink pairings for fish pie.

Image credit: Andres Ayrton