Good, Honest, Indian Food: Recipes from My Kitchen

This collection of foolproof Indian recipes by Nitisha Patel offers ideas for Street Food and Snacks, Curries, Foods for Feasts, Vegetarian Dishes, Rice, Chutneys and Raitas, as well as lightly spiced, often fruity Desserts.

Magical spice powders, sizzling dried whole spices, noisy popping saucepans, aromatic smells, colourful foods… this is what sums up great home-cooked Indian food. In this book, Nitisha walks you through a myriad of spices to understand how each one adds flavour, as well as how they complement each other for different dishes. Most traditional Indian dishes incorporate the use of various different purees, pastes and spice blends. They all contribute to different functions of a dish whether that be aroma, flavour, taste, texture, mouth feel or appearance, and so she begins by setting out the basic pastes, purees, masalas and toppings that can be used throughout the book. The excitement, freshness and snack-friendly appeal of street food leads to an explosive mixture of flavours in recipes for Fish Pakoras, Smokin’ Fiery Chicken Wings, Batata Vadas (deep-fried spiced potato), Samosa Chaat and Dhokla Muffins. The beauty of curry is that nothing defines what makes a good curry - recipes vary meaning that the possibilities are endless. Nitisha’s recipes for curry include Keralan King Prawn Curry, Uncle Rambo’s Goat Curry, Paneer Kadhai and Gosht Aloo Saag Masala. Celebratory dishes are also here, with Masala Grilled Lobster, Tandoori Spatchcock Poussin and Hariyali Salmon. While vegetarian dishes are great as sides and main meals: try a variety of dhals, Channa Masala, and Pili Pili Chips. And if all that wasn’t feast enough, finish up with some sweet treats, such as Pistachio and Rose Water Ice Cream, and Mango and Mint Kulfi.