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 :)

DS1 and I loved the cauliflower,pea and cashew curry, although his was cashew free. DH and DS2 wanted some chicken in it but loved the flavour.

I needed to order something from Amazon for DD1. Made in India accidentally fell into the shopping cart. Oops.

Ooh i like the sound of the beetroot samosas and masala chips. I might have to try making some kulfi. And most of the rest of the book.

Two
Easily happens on here!

I am getting impatient waiting for made in India now, it all sounds so good. I am wondering how I can make some of the recipes veggie, subbing tofu or quorn.

Brassica in the online version if Everyday Dhal (not sure if the book is the same) she has optional cloves and peppercorns - did you use these?

Planning on one of Prashad's dhals this weekend, along with the tamarind potato curry.

Ooh, my books have arrived!!!! :)

Have to take dd to the library now, but may get a chance to flick through when she's reading whatever she brings back :)

Dal...I was keeping faff to a minimum and didn't bother with the cloves or peppercorns

Thanks Brassica

I am completely in love with Made in India - thanks to all of you who convinced me to buy it

So many lovely things I want to make - the Indian version of shakshuka, and the other egg curry, the pickles and breads, the roasted cauliflower, pav bhaji..... really looking forwad to having a proper look through tonight :)

Where it wins over Prashad, for me, is that she has pictures of tricky bits i.e. how to fold paratha and samosas. And she gives a recipe for garam masala! I can understand why Kaushy would want to keep "her" recipe a secret, but she could at least give a recipe

Yum!

What are the best recipes for Prashad - any stunners? I agree made in India is fabulous!

sliverjohnleggedit looking at the list of recipes on Prashad, I remember the following as very good

Aloo gobi - punjabi cauliflower and potato curry
Wattana and flower - pea and cauliflower curry
Renghan bataka - aubergine and potato curry
Mung dhal kichdi - Soothing yellow lentil rice

I blended my chai masala mix last night and DS2 and I had a mug each before bed....wow, that packs a punch I've been surviving on the mix with water chai latte powder for months and it's very, very subtle. This is the real thing, you only need 1\2 tsp in the mix for two people, it will keep us going for months.

Thanks twolittle we have one cauliflower hater and 2 aubergine haters.....I may have to tweak.

Was browsing the kindle store and found James Martins Home Comforts for £1.49 while there Diane Henrys new chicken book fell in too. Off to read now. Any ideas for next month yet?

Just had the roasted cauliflower with cumin, turmeric and lemon from Made in India.
It was delicious, but far too salty imo. And an unnecessarily large amount of oil - sure, you need some to make it taste good, but not that much.

That aside, it was lovely, I would make it again but with less oil and salt.
I had it with chapattis and a (vegan) cucumber raita loosely based on Prashad's, but with no chilli in it - very nice.

pantah I preordered Diana Henry's new book. It was delivered already when I woke up last night for night feeds. I had a look during the feed and wanted to make almost everything in the supper section.

Seems like we have a contender for next month

What would complement it? (not really sure what her style is)

Cauli, pea and cashew curry already made ready for dinner tonight

I agree HV, too much oil! I've knocked at least a table soon of oil off from each recipe so far.

DH adores lamb and the lamb raan roast leg from Made in India got a huge thumbs up tonight. I also made the spinach with garlic chilli and pepper which was nice but nothing exciting - possibly because I cut the required amount of butter... I made more coriander chutney to go with it as I'm officially addicted to it now.

Not sure what to try next...

I made the tarka dhal In prashad last night. Very tasty and easy too. Served with naan and roast cauliflower and broccoli with garlic (Delia's).

That ran looks amazing. We did the roast cauliflower with cumin, coriander, chilli and lemon the other day. Enjoyed it but not as much as the Ottolenghi one.

Also hoping to make kulfi and ondhwa this weekend and maybe some more Later in the week.

*raan. Still not used to this phone.

Last night we had the Daily Dal and Gujarati potato curry, both from Made in India.

The dal was gorgeous - I made it in the morning so it had time for the flavour to develop by dinner time - except I had a portion for lunch too as it tasted so good . I did use the cloves and peppercorns, they were easy to pick out at the end, and by counting them in, it was easy to make sure you'd got them all out :). I wouldn't use cloves again next time though. Will definitely be making this again.

Potato curry was so-so. Potatoes definitely needed much more cooking time than she said, and even then I didn't like the texture much, think they would have been better precooked. I added some fried onions for flavour and texture, it was a bit lacking without. Nice enough, I know it was meant as a side rather than as the star of the show, but I think there are better potato curries out there.

I also made basmati rice her way and for the first time ever had successful absorption method rice :). I followed her to the letter (except reducing the salt), next time I would try reducing the oil a little, but otherwise it was perfect, you really could taste the true basmati flavour. I'm very happy with this

Next week I am determined to do the tamarind potatoes from Prashad, as well as one of her dhals. And I am going to try Made in India's naan I think, or maybe paratha. Oh and the garlic pickle sounds amazing.

Huevos - try the Ferrari potatoes from Made in India - they make a really good side and the kids loved them.
I've ordered some amchor and so sev from Amazon, plan to make the Chaat Salad and the Poppadom Chaat....I love the contrast of the sweet and sour, crunchy, fresh, spicy creamy etc....I can never get enough of this dish if I am ever lucky enough to find it when we eat out.

Thanks silver. There are some very similar recipes in Prashad, the popadom chaat - bhel - looks amazing :)

Hello everyone, sorry I haven't been participating this month. Made in India is basically what I already do as I have inherited many recipes from my mum, who is indian, but I have lived in the UK all my life For example, tonight I have friends coming over so I have made my versions of saag paneer, tarka daal (this one is moong lentils with kidney beans), masala potatoes, fish curry, keema and raita.

I wondered if you had decided on next month or any further? I have just got the itsu book and something very much like Made In India but thai-themed called Rosa's Thai Cafe. Both look good and are quite cheap online.

Just bought Persiana and a few Diana Henry books - Plenty, Simple and A change of appetite. Thai would be an interesting option.