March Cookery Book Club - Made in India and Prashad

[HuevosRancheros]

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 :)

I can see that it would (did!) make a good breakfast as the flavours are subtle so not too much of a spice hit first thing in the morning....

yes, sambar def tastes better next day
if you have indian shop nearby look for dry dose mix in the packet
nearly as good as made from fresh

also many recipes in the SI cousine use some ready made sambar spice mix which is made out of dry roasted spices, that adds extra flavour as well

I wonder if the recipe you used is called sambar because it has tamarind. That is just my guess.

Have look here
www.divinetaste.com/archives/idli-with-coconut-chutney-and-sambar/
they explain how to make idly/dose mix from scratch
quite time consuming

Thanks antimatter - yes, we have lots of Indian shops so I shall look out for dosa mix, it does sound like quite a complicated/time-consuming process :)

Meanwhile I am trying to make sense of this site... www.eatyourbooks.com/

I finally gave in and paid for eat your books, rather than just having five books for free - love it :)

I got to that site hoping to check one recipe for Sambar.
I have this book but one page with recipe for Sambar is missing
I cooked it so many times in the past it got lost.

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0752900803/ref=gno_cart_title_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3AXTBIO0H5DID

but on their site it's not indexed so I guess I am about to buy it.... for that one recipe:
'Sweet 'n' Sour Dal Soup with Mixed Vegetables'
I remember it being delicious and this book wasn't available on Amazon when I last checked few years ago.

Other recipes are amazing too but all very time consuming.
I just found out that Yamnua Devi passed away and having enjoyed that book so much I am very sad....
vaishnava.me/tag/yamuna-devi/
I am going to read more about her on that page later on

(sorry about de-raiing your thread)

Antimatter, your post reminded me to check amazon for my favourite Indian cookbook which I managed to destroy a few years ago by accidentally pouring water all over it, thus sticking all the pages together :(

And amazon finally have it (affordably!) in stock :)

It is this one if anyone is interested - veggie Gujarati food :)

Thanks Huevos! Added to the basket...

Another book which I used a lot to cook Indian dishes from is:
www.amazon.co.uk/Flavours-India-Madhur-Jaffrey/dp/0563370777

her Chettinad chicken curry tastes very authentic but again it takes very long to cook - I used to split it in 2 days if I was cooking it weekdays. Freezes very well and tastes best the next day
It may not suit all tastes but was always highly praised by my Indian friends and ex's family

Also - pretty much all older books nowadays are cheaper on www.abebooks.co.uk/
Amazon charges more!

Ooh the dishes described on here sound delicious. So tempted to buy both of the books!

huevos welcome to the EYB club. It is an amazing website. My latest discovery was the mincemeat cheesecake from the kitchen diaries 2.

TwoLittleTerrors that sounds interesting - could you post a link to that recipe?

antimatter this is the one
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/dec/12/nigel-slater-christmas-dessert-pudding-recipes

I used a lot more butter for the base. Either it's an error or he likes his biscuit base very loose.

Thanks!
did you use Philadelphia in your recipe?

I used a supermarket own brand cream cheese.

Do you have left over mincemeat from Christmas too.

But I can't see why Philadelphia won't work/

Made in India arrived today. Already love it. So many easy dishes with store cupboard ingredients. V happy

Two- the cheesecake in kd 1 has a very loose base as does the one in tender2 ( I'm a Nigel fan) so I think it's his style.

Us the masala whole chicken online, or do I have to wait for my April birthday.

I've bought a copy of Made in India. Looks great value at under a tenner. Looking forward to it arriving!

barbeasty it's here in The Times but behind a paywall I expect. Looking for another online link for you.

Huevos - definitely try making the Naans thinner. It's hard to get the oven temp high enough, I have similar issues with pizza, I have one baking tray Tefal Patisserie that works like magic - better than baking stones, if I could find another I would be happy.

Masala chicken was the first thing we made from that book. The leftovers were good in Singapore noodles.

pantah the link works for me and I'm not a times subscriber.