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.

How Greeks celebrate Easter: the feasting after the fast

No-one who hasn’t experienced a Greek Easter can imagine the scale of the feasting. Wine writer Ted Lelekas tells all about "the most lavish and important meal of the year".

Ted writes: "It may come as a surprise to some, but in Greece, Easter is much more important than Christmas, when it comes to food and drink. This is mostly because the period running up to Easter and up to Easter Sunday itself is full of local and religious traditions and customs, which, invariably, stem from or lead to food.

The main reason why Easter Sunday lunch is so greatly anticipated and celebrated is that it comes as the culmination of a long – and not always easy – period of fasting that can last 7 or 40 days. This is a very old tradition of the Greek Orthodox church that aims to lead people to share the burden of the trials of Christ that lead to his crucifixion, and to cleanse their bodies and souls in time for his resurrection.

Modern Greek society is, of course, far more secular, even agnostic, than in the past. However, the majority of people are still happy to follow the culinary customs of Easter as they are dictated by religious tradition, while many even choose to fast regardless of religious beliefs, seeing it as a good way to de-tox before the Easter feast!

Easter fasting means mainly excluding meat and dairy products from one’s everyday diet for the 40 days of Lent, leading to Easter. During the last 7 days, the Holy Week, the regime becomes even more strict, as it also excludes fish, seafood and even olive oil.

Everything starts to return back to normal after midnight on Holy Saturday, when the church bells toll joyfully and Christ’s resurrection is announced in each neighbourhood, amidst chants and fireworks. A few hours later, on Easter Sunday, the whole family , as well as friends, neighbours, sometimes even strangers who have nowhere to go, gather around the table to enjoy what is possibly the most lavish and important meal of the year.

As one would expect, culinary customs at Easter vary amongst various regions in Greece. Understandably, in the islands or in certain seaside areas, fish and seafood play a key role at the Easter table. In general, however, Easter fare in Greece revolves around meat, and mainly lamb so I will concentrate on Easter eating and drinking as it’s done in most of the mainland.

At midnight on Holy Saturday, once Christ’s resurrection has been officially declared, the cook of the household (traditionally the mother) will rush home from church first, to start the preparations for the Resurrection dinner. This is not exactly a full and heavy meal, but it is very cleverly conceived, in order to line the family members’ stomachs, a few hours before the huge carnivorous feast that is the Easter lunch.

The resurrection table will feature lettuce salad, feta cheese and hard-boiled eggs whose shells are painted red, symbolizing the blood that Christ spilled as he sacrificed himself for humanity. People around the table will choose their own egg, that they will crack against the egg of the person sitting next to them, in order to symbolize the release of life. The person whose egg survives the night intact is the lucky one of the night, and will keep it to use in the same way the following day.

The centerpiece on the Resurrection table is the traditional soup, “Magiritsa”. This is a hot, hearty soup that contains chopped pieces of lamb’s liver, intestines and sweetbreads, scented with essential Mediterranean herbs and greens like endives, spring onion and dill, on a base of egg and lemon juice. The delicious Magiritsa will deliver a first, “gentle shock” to the system of the person who just finished fasting, and will prepare them for Easter lunch which will follow in a few hours.

There can be two main wine pairing suggestions for Resurrection dinner: a cool white wine made from the Moschofilero grape (PDO Mantinia, in the Peloponnese), with crisp acidity that will cut through the soup’s richness and delicate green – even floral – aromas to match the fresh herbs in the soup and the salad; alternatively a fresh, ideally unoaked, red from the Agiorgitiko grape (PDO Nemea, in the Peloponnese), with a fruity character and young yet velvety tannins, to match the first red meat to make an appearance at the table for quite a few days.

The “star of the show” at the Easter Sunday table is one of the most traditional dishes in Greek cuisine: “ovelias”, a whole lamb, slow-roasted on a spit, over an open coal fire. A great deal of effort goes in its preparation, to ensure that it is properly seasoned and fixed onto the spit, as well as in the actual roasting.

On the morning of Easter Sunday, the person tasked with manning the spit-roast station wakes up very early to start the fire and prepare the lamb. Even though the fire can be in the form of a hole in the ground or through a sophisticated barbecue grill with an electrically-powered spit, roasting will take several hours, to ensure that the main dish will be ready at lunchtime for everyone to enjoy.

Roasters have an enviable set of privileges. They get to nibble on all kinds of special treats (“mezedes”) such as cheese, traditional bits of charcuterie, pieces of hard-boiled Easter red eggs seasoned with olive oil, and various dips with bread, while at various points in time they will be enjoying pieces of lamb skin cracklings and other pieces of the roast lamb, pretending to check its state of readiness!

Throughout that time, they will be downing endless glasses of ouzo (traditional Greek anise-flavoured distillate), diluted with cold water over ice, chilled tsipouro (the Greek version of grappa), or cold retsina (traditional Greek white wine flavoured with pine tree resin).

Alongside the lamb, delicacies which will also be spit-roasted over the coal fire include “kontosouvli”, pieces of pork tenderloin, and “kokoretsi”, a salami-shaped delicacy made of the lamb’s liver and wrapped with its intestines.

Other dishes which will eventually make their way to the Easter table include feta cheese, various salads, red Easter eggs, dips such as “tzatziki” (yoghurt with garlic, shredded cucumber and herbs) and “tirokafteri” (spicy white cheese spread), spicy sausages, roast potatoes and a traditional baked cheese pie, made of feta cheese wrapped in filo pastry.

Desserts will include fresh seasonal fruit, and “galaktomboureko” (traditional dessert made of sweet custard-like cream wrapped in filo pastry and covered in syrup).

The wines drunk at the table will range from fresh, fruity rosés, to match with the fresh seasonal flavours, served chilled to go with the traditionally warm weather enjoyed at Easter time, to full-bodied reds based on Xinomavro, a grape native to Northern Greece (PDO Naoussa or Amyntaion), characterized by aromas of dark fruit, sundried tomato and black olive, producing tannic wines that can hold their ground when served with the lamb and all the other carnivorous delights.

A good modern-style Retsina is also a usual suspect at the Easter table, as it has the magic ability to match the wide range of flavours on offer. Desserts will be served with popular sweet wines such as the Muscat-based “stickies” from the islands of Samos or Limnos (both PDO) or the famous Vinsanto, based on the while grape of Assyrtiko (PDO Santorini).

Easter lunch in Greece is a veritable feast, eagerly anticipated by everyone for months. Coming as the climax of a period of fasting and religious devoutness (for some), it is a happy occasion that brings the whole family, relatives, friends, neighbours, even strangers around the same table, to celebrate and rejoice.

As a matter of fact, tradition dictates that no one rushes to leave the table; even after the food is finished, everyone will still be there chatting and making the most of the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company. Anyone who has the option to spend Easter in Greece, is strongly encouraged to do so. They’re in for a culinary treat they will never forget!

Ted Lelekas is an Athens-based wine writer and educator with his own blog (in Greek) www.telegourmet.org. He asked that payment for this piece should be given to the charity Kids Company.

This article is dedicated to the memory of Albert Arouh, esteemed Greek restaurant critic and author, who passed away on Saturday 12 April 2014.

This article was first published in April 2015. Top image of traditional Greek bread by rawf8 at shutterstock.com

Here's to Clean Monday!

The start of Lent is cause for gloom for many people faced with the prospect of giving up something pleasurable like wine or chocolate Not for the Greeks however who kick off their fasting with a splendid celebration called Kathara Defter or ‘Clean Monday’.

According to Greek friends and contacts it involves a slap-up lunch - usually out of doors - and the flying of kites - the day is a national holiday. “Clean Monday is a time for friends and family to get together, especially out of Athens if possible” says my friend Marianna Cosmetatos of Gentilini Wines in Cephalonia. “Kids fly kites that they make themselves and then the big lunch follows (it is always lunch).”

But it is the food that is particularly fascinating. As part of the cleansing process that accompanies lent nothing that contains or is derived from an animal that contains blood can be served - so no meat, fish, dairy or eggs - and that includes sweets and pastries with eggs in them. But shellfish, octopus and squid are fine and there are many special vegetable dishes which are served during lent. There is also a special unleavened bread called lagana which is baked only for Clean Monday.

Typical dishes that would be served today are taramasalata, melitzanosalata (aubergine or eggplant purée). fried squid, marinated grilled octopus, lobster, gigantes beans (large butter beans) cooked with tomatoes. black eye peas mixed with fresh onion and parsley and boiled greens. “There are also vegetables like cornichons, roasted red peppers, hot green peppers, pickled cauliflower and carrots" adds Mary Irene Triantafillou of Emery Wines of Rhodes.

"For dessert, people traditionally eat halva, which is made from tahini." Marianna told me. "The best is thought to come from Macedonia. The texture is similar to Spanish turron, but less greasy. It sometimes has nuts or cocoa in it, and can be coated in dark chocolate. Homemade halva can also be served, but this is a different sweet, made from semolina. Other desserts can be made from fruit, nuts, plain chocolate or jelly. Pastry can also be used as long as it is not made with butter."

I wondered if this feast must all be washed down with water but apparently not - far from it. "Wine is freely consumed and in vast quantities!" says Nikos Panidis, the sommelier at one of Athens' top restaurants Milos. "Retsina would be the traditional wine to drink but nowadays many Greeks would drink modern Greek whites such as Assyrtiko, Roditis or the more floral Moschofilero. A Fume Blanc, Pinot Gris or a European Chardonnay are also good alternative." Ouzo and tsipouro (the Greek version of grappa) are also served. (The meal is generally followed by a nap or a walk!)

"I remember discussing with my Uncle Theordore how ironic it is that all these amazing dishes - some of the best fare in Greek cooking - were born out of a need to be abstemious." writes Theodore Kyriakou in The Real Greek at Home, which includes some nice recipes for lent. “If this is ‘spiritual and physical cleansing’ we should all do more of it."

If you’re interested in knowing more about these fascinating traditions Mary also recommends "The Festive Fast" by Marigoula Kokkinou and Georgia Kofinas, "an excellent source of information on how Greeks are supposed to fast and the foods and recipes for the Lenten period."

And if you’d like to try your hand at an authentic recipe here is one from Marianna’s mother-in law Irini, who, she tells me, is a very good cook. “It’s time-consuming and somewhat fiddly, until you get the hang of wrapping, but well worth it.”

Irini’s Lahanodolmades (cabbage rolls)

Makes 35-40 dolmades

1 large white cabbage
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, grated
5-6 spring onions, finely chopped
1 carrot, grated
1 bunch parsley, chopped,
1 little dill, chopped
2 cups short grain rice
2 lemons
Olive oil, salt and pepper

With a sharp knife remove the base and heart of the cabbage, creating a cone shaped hole on the underside. Place in a large pan, hole up and add cold water to come about half way up the cabbage (without floating). Put on the stove over med-high heat. As the water approaches a simmer, the leaves will start coming away easily. Remove them one by one with your fingers as they come away and place carefully on a tray or baking sheet. They should be soft but not soggy. Remove the hard base of the larger leaves and cut in half. If very large, they can be cut in three.

Place some of the leftover inner leaves that are too small and trimmings in a large pan (you can use the same one you boiled the cabbage in) to cover the base. This will prevent the parcels from sticking, and give a better result (they are also delicious for the cook to eat at the end!).

Mix all the ingredients from the garlic to the rice together. Season with salt and pepper. Place a teaspoon of filling in the middle of a cabbage leaf. Fold over the bottom, then the sides and roll into a parcel. Pack the parcels tightly in the pan, on top of the bits of cabbage. If you have any leftover bits of cabbage, use them to divide the layers. Pour over 2 cups of water, drizzle over some olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place a large, flat plate on the parcels, cover the pan and cook over medium heat for 20-25 mins until the rice is cooked-sacrifice one parcel to make sure (you deserve it anyway!), then add water and cook a little longer if necessary.

Remove the plate and pour over the juice of 2-3 lemons. Remove parcels carefully to a plate. These can be eaten warm, but are just as delicious at room temperature.

Variations: You can add some cooked baby shrimp to the mix if you wish, but this is not traditional.

Why the Chinese prefer to drink red wine with food

To most westerners the idea of drinking young red Bordeaux with Chinese food seems bizarre. Especially with delicate Cantonese dishes, the most widely available of the Chinese cuisines in the west . Clearly though the Chinese who are paying stratospheric prices for first and second growths - and presumably drinking them - think differently. They don’t turn to riesling and other aromatic and off-dry whites for a reason.

The most common explanation is that it’s not a question of taste but of face. Bordeaux labels impress according to wine writer and MW Jeannie Cho Lee of Asian Palate but it’s not only about the status of the host. “Ordering an easily recognised wine label shows an acknowledgement of the importance of the relationship with the guest, sending a clear message to the recipient that says, ‘This is how important you are to me’. This is not limited to wine but has always existed in our food culture - high grade abalone can cost over US$200 for a single small serving.”

But why Bordeaux, rather than the more food-friendly burgundy? “Because the Chinese have a strong love of prestigious luxury brands and Bordeaux is the most prestigious accessible wine brand” says Doug Rumsam, managing director of Bordeaux Index in Hong Kong. “Burgundy is much more difficult to get your head around. It’s much less about food and wine matching than the best they can offer of each.”

“There’s also an element of masculinity involved in business transactions. It used to centre around hard liquor. Bordeaux would be seen as a more masculine drink.”

Such an attitude is of course is not restricted to the Chinese. “We have a lot of Bordeaux on our list because of the area we’re in” says Michael Peng of Hunan in Belgravia, one of London’s longest established upmarket Chinese restaurants. “People who love Bordeaux want to drink it with everything. We have a lot of 2nd and 3rd growths at prices that appeal to bargain-hunters.”

The colour red also has a much greater resonance in Chinese culture than it does in the west. “The red for luck thing is certainly true” says cookery writer Fuchsia Dunlop who acts as consultant to the Sichuanese restaurant Bar Shu. “Red is the colour of celebrations such as weddings and New Year's festivities. At a festive dinner table you would try to have red-coloured foods such as lobster and red grouper. So red wine would fit in with that. By contrast white is the colour of funerals in China - traditionally, mourners wear white, while brides wear red.”

Red wine also has a positive association with health, points out Jeannie Cho Lee, which would increase its prestige. “One of the key factors that popularised wine in the mid-1990s was the connection between red wine and health. If one looks at expensive, highly sought after Chinese ingredients such as bird’s nest, shark’s fin and sea cucumber the most common factor is their purported health-enhancing properties.”

There’s also the issue of language, according to Hong Kong journalist and MW Debra Meiburg. “One problem for a white wine producing region such as Alsace, is that the classic Chinese character depicting wine is a catch-all character for any alcoholic beverage. Thus when one mentions ‘white wine’ it is easily confused with domestic white spirits. Chinese newcomers to white wine find them tart and insipid compared to Chinese distilled, high alcohol ‘white-lightening’ beverages.”

White wines are also less appealing than reds because of their serving temperature. “With hot tea the traditional drink of choice for Chinese diners, migrating to a super cold white seems a much bigger step than switching to a room temperature red.” says Meiburg.

Even the tannins of young Bordeaux don’t seem as offputting as one might assume. Again the Chinese are used to tannin from drinking tea and, in some cases, stronger liquor like whisky and cognac. Michael Peng from Hunan also points out that there are dishes that positively benefit from a tannic wine. “Ingredients like jelly fish, sea cucumber and abalone tend to be quite glutinous, chewy and even slithery. When you drink a wine with tannin it cuts right through. Chinese people like those textures.”

And far from turning to an off-dry white to deal with hotter dishes the Chinese enjoy the cumulative build up of tannin and spice on the palate according to Cho Lee. “For those who are not used to the heat of Sichuan pepper for example, the tannins in red Bordeaux can exaggerated the burn. However, this is precisely what spice-lovers enjoy — prolonging the heat and spiciness of chillies, not neutralising the flavours with a jarring sweet wine."

“I’m always cautious about promoting sweet wine with spicy food” agrees Meiburg. “Sweetness has the effect of mellowing spice. For the regions that love spiciness, such as Hunan or Sichuan, diners want their spices cranked up, not toned down.”

There is a generational factor at work however. The questions of ‘face’ and preference for tannic reds is more marked among older more conservative Chinese consumers than among their younger, more widely travelled counterparts who may have been educated in the west. Bryant Mao assistant head sommelier at Chez Bruce is a Taiwanese-Canadian who finds many of the ingredients in Chinese cooking unsympathetic to red Bordeaux. “If I think of my mum’s cooking it uses a lot of sauces and condiments like vinegar and oyster sauce that clash with red wine. And white’s certainly better than red with seafood. If I’m going to drink red I tend to go for pinot noir or Italian reds or Bordeaux with a higher proportion of merlot. White bordeaux can often work better than red.”

“It does depend which region you’re in” admits Charles Sichel of Chateau Palmer. “While I would say that consumption is still 90% red the feeling we get is that white wines are becoming a little more fashionable on the east coast below Shanghai and further south where there’s a lot of fish and shellfish.”

No-one’s putting their money on whites though, least of all China’s homegrown wine producers. “At the moment, all signs seem to indicate that the Chinese are perfectly happy with red Bordeaux and full bodied Cabernet blends with their meals, regardless of how outsiders perceive their preferences” says Cho Lee. “The enormous amount of new vineyard land being planted with Cabernet Sauvignon is a clear indication that even the giant domestic wineries are continuing to bet on full bodied reds.”

This article was first published in the June 2011 issue of Decanter.

Photograph © michaeljung - Fotolia.com