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Original poster

March Cookery Book Club - Made in India and Prashad

208 replies

HuevosRancheros · 01/03/2015 18:32

Welcome to the Mumsnet Cookery Book Club :)

Every month we choose two books to cook from - we aim to cook at least two new recipes during the month, reporting back to the group on how we got on.

This month our books are Made in India by Meera Sodha and Prashad by Kaushy Patel

Recipes are also available on line if you don't have access to the books - Meera Sodha's here and Prashad's here

If you would like to see what we cooked last month, the thread is here

Everyone is welcome, don't be shy :)

OP posts:
pregnantpause · 01/03/2015 19:38

Marking place. I'm excited by this months choices- I could happily cook everything in made in India, it's such a lovely book, I'm so glad I bought it . I don't have prashad, but there seem a wealth of online recipes so that shouldn't be a problem.

couldhavebeenme · 01/03/2015 20:00

Ooh great, new month, I love made in India and have got prashad from the library!

glorious · 01/03/2015 21:37

Thanks huevos. Must get books.

TwoLittleTerrors · 01/03/2015 21:46

Marking place. I have got prashad. I have made a few things from it and they are all delicious.

Silverjohnleggedit · 01/03/2015 23:05

Love Made in India, already bought it and got Prashad from the library...really looking forward to this month.

Pantah630 · 02/03/2015 09:27

Will endeavour to kill two birds today, give the dog a long walk and make it towards town and the library or bookshop if they're out for at least one of these. I like the look of Made in India so hoping the library have it in.

pregnantpause · 02/03/2015 19:26

I have a recipe from each to try this week- tomorrow I'm making made in India aubergine and tomato curry, with chapattis and Thursday/ Friday I'm making the cauliflower and pea curry from prashad blog on 5th february. Spurred on by dh who loves Indian food- he's been making suggestions since he caught me meal planning from made in India yesterdayGrin

TwoLittleTerrors · 02/03/2015 21:26

I have made the cauliflower and pea curry from the book and it is lovely.

Haywire · 03/03/2015 08:53

signing in Made in India arrived in post yesterday will peruse today to plan some meals on first glance looks lovely.

Original poster
HuevosRancheros · 03/03/2015 16:28

I got Prashad for my birthday, very excited about cooking from it :)
Planning tarka dhal and desi chana this weekend.

Can't justify buying Made in India, but like the look of her sambar, think I will try that next week.

The starters in Prashad are all so tempting, I even considered buying a deep fat fryer! Grin

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pregnantpause · 04/03/2015 09:50

The aubergine and cherry tomato curry from made in India was lovely. Easy to make, and, for me at least, from stuff I always have in. The result was a bit fruity and quite spicy- far too spicy for my dc, but dh and I enjoyed it with chapattis. ( I also lowered the oil to 1 tbsp which was plenty - four would definitely be excessive)

Pantah630 · 06/03/2015 10:28

We had the pistachio chicken and yoghurt curry last night, very tasty, not hot thankfully as two out of four prefer mild curries. I think you could substitute ground cashews for the pistachios and will try this next time as my lot love cashew chicken, from an old MN recipe.

I also have some squid marinating in the fridge for her chilli squid that I'll fry off tonight. Waitrose had some large english squid, rather than the tiny frozen tubes they normally have, so had to clean, gut and debeak myself, very easy to do.

Have haddock to do the fish curry on Saturday night too.

Cantdothisagain · 06/03/2015 12:38

We also had the pistachio yoghurt curry which was lovely even though I forgot to add more yoghurt at the end - it didn't need it.

Coriander chicken curry from Made in India tonight...

couldhavebeenme · 06/03/2015 13:31

The coriander chicken curry is lovely!

Cantdothisagain · 06/03/2015 14:03

Oh good! Thanks - looking forward to dinner now!

Cantdothisagain · 06/03/2015 21:23

The chicken with coriander chutney curry was lovely. Again not very hot - tasty.

Loving this book...

TwoLittleTerrors · 07/03/2015 03:18

Sounds like I need made in India ...

Silverjohnleggedit · 07/03/2015 07:18

Really inspired by Made in India.
So far have tried Whole Roast Masala Chicken - fantastic alternative to Sunday Roast - no chilli in it so very child friendly, in fact the fussy visiting children really loved it - it's a firm family favourite already. As suggested I made Ferrari Potatoes to accompany - minus the peanuts....very good and again a family Favorite but visiting kids were too scared of the green chilli!
Green Beans with mustard seeds and ginger was very quick and a great side without fuss, I used frozen beans for even less prep.
Creamy chicken and fig curry -dcs liked the flavour but found the gritty texture created by the figs to be unpleasant, whereas dh and I really enjoyed it...so a bit of tinkering needed there.
Really want to make the coriander chutney and Pomegranate and Fennel Seed Poha next.

couldhavebeenme · 07/03/2015 07:32

From made in India we have also had mum's chicken curry, really nice, can alter the chilli to suit, v family friendly. Slow cooked lamb and spinach curry was fab and great made in advance then heated up the day we needed it.

The Jaipur slaw was a good side dish I think we had it with the coriander chutney chicken but I could have eaten the whole lot on its own!!!

couldhavebeenme · 07/03/2015 07:34

Posted too soon - going to try tamarind potato curry from prashad this week, I think.

HungryDam · 07/03/2015 07:44

Lovely! I'm going to try this today:

meerasodha.com/coconut-and-tamarind-chicken-curry/

Original poster
HuevosRancheros · 07/03/2015 08:13

I haven't got Made In India, as it sounds quite meat-heavy, but I made this vegetable sambar from her website last night.
Nice enough, but not a wow, I wouldn't bother again. Maybe it's the way a sambar should be, I have a feeling that is the case, but it seemed quite under spiced, not a huge amount of flavour.

Am going to go through Prashad now with sticky notes Grin

As an aside, does anyone have a failsafe naan recipe and technique?
Mind always seem too doughy and undercooked....

OP posts:
Silverjohnleggedit · 07/03/2015 08:18

Huevos have you tried cooking the naan on a frying pan?

antimatter · 07/03/2015 08:41

I can't comment on the sambar recipe as I haven't made it but I never had it with rice.
Tamils (my ex's family) eat it with iddly, as a side dish for dose or with string hoppers.
Photo on the website shows it quite thick whilst south Indians serve it quite watery.
Have look at this page:
www.swapnascuisine.com/2012/01/classic-south-indian-breakfast-dosa.html

Often people just serve dosa and sambar for breakfast maybe with a bit of chutney.
Sambar and and chutney are cooked night before. Dosa cooked/fried from the batter which is sitting in the fridge (traditionaly made out of fermented rice and dal mixture) - very quick to make in the morning. I saw in my local Srilankan shop that they sell chilled dose mixture so no need to make it yourself (or from the packet)

.... I just made myself want to have this breakfast Grin

Original poster
HuevosRancheros · 07/03/2015 08:55

I had the sambar with chapattis, not rice :)

And have just had some for breakfast to "use up" the last remaining chapatti Wink
It seems to have improved overnight :) as curries often do. Yum

Silver, yes I've tried it cooking naan on a heavy iron frying pan, still doughy, maybe it was just too thick to start with?

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