Anyone get Fresh India for Christmas?

[CaptainWarbeck]

I know it's been done by cookery club (and I'm going back to reread those threads!) but wondered if there was anyone new with a copy who wanted to chat through some of the recipes, or any old hands who're up for sharing the recipes they make regularly from it.

I read through it on Christmas day and love it already, lots of yummy looking things and lots made with mostly store cupboard ingredients.

Boxing Day dinner for us (in a different time zone) was the pumpkin, bean and coconut curry on p169 and it was blooming delicious which bodes well for the rest of the book. Creamy with a kick of chilli and the flavour of the mustard seeds, really good.

Just a thread to sing its praises really!

Captain they look great! Ill be giving them a try . Thanks for the recommendation

Also - do them on baking paper rather than oiled foil. They stick a bit!

Captain they look fab!!
One of the things I wanted to try as, like you, I love them but don't want the faff/unhealthiest of deep frying.

Will definitely be trying them now :)

Me! Looking forward to it but currently still making our way through Christmas leftovers probably til February

DH was a bit nervous of buying it as a) he's not veggie and b) he doesn't do spicy or curry. He did get won over to veggie food last yeat by the Anna Jones book he hadn't realised it was veggie so thought it was worth the risk.

Just made the potato coconut curry as my offering for tonight's nye party that we're going to. Have mango and paneer marinating ready to skewer later and also need to make dosas. Curry tastes lovely maybe cut down to 1 tsp of salt though! I'm presuming the chana Dahl makes it a yellow colour is I didn't have that ( I actually thought it is a type of Dahl!)
It tastes lovely!
Those bahjis look lovely captain

I'm doing the paneer butter masala for tonight.

The Anna Jones books are huge favourites here Wolpertinger!

sepsisandAKI (interesting name , hope you're ok?) - chana dhal is a type of dhal - split chickpeas... admit I am confused by what it would add to this dish...

Sounds like you have a lovely meal ahead of you :)

Oh, and from the cookery book club thread, we concluded that she used too much salt and oil in general, so bear that in mind :)

My book has arrived already and the recipes look delicious. Lots of paneer though, which I love, but I was going to attempt Veganuary. I'll probably do a few ingredient swaps until the cheese cravings get to me!
I'm going to start with one of the aubergine recipes, as I have 2 in the fridge atm.

Mine arrived today. Can't decide what to try first!

Huevos name is from when I first joined quite a few years ago. Being a nurse it was/is a regular reason for admission. Just one of those weird reasons
Also made the cucumber rathia. Easy to do and tasty.
Skewers taste nice. My meat eating husband said it's a shame they're only for the veggies. Now that's what I call a compliment!
I suppose you could add a bit of Chana Dahl if you'd made it already.
I like the look of the rainbow chard swag aloo
Skewers

Well, I'm just glad it's not you with the sepsis or AKI :)

A compliment indeed from a carnivore

They look good Sepsis on my list to
cook soon!
The butter masala was mild but delicious. I want to make the celebration biryani this week. Basically I'm obsessed with paneer

Good to hear the butter masala was nice, it's on my list. When cooking with meera sodha I think an obsession with paneer , and or garlic, is a benefit tbh :)

I was all set to make the paneer butter masala for dinner tonight but realised we didn't have an onion/passata/cream and shops are shut for NYD leftover risotto it is then...

Also really keen to make the mango paneer skewers, the marinade looks sticky and delicious.

I made the biriani last night; it tasted nothing like any biriani I've ever had from a takeaway but it was unbelievably delicious. Genuinely fantastic. Although it takes an hour to make it's a pretty simple recipe really - basically you just roast some veggies, layer with rice and pour over a simple coconut and coriander sauce. I didn't have paneer and my local corner shop was no better so I used halloumi which actually worked really well. Recommended x 100!

I made the biryani too- went down very well. Though as pp said not like any biryani I recognise. It's mild and delicately spiced, even the dc enjoyed it.

I also made the bhajis- great recipe, everyone enjoyed them, but they were quite loose. Also the leek mint samosas- which were a faff and nice enough but not special. Not enough spice for me, but the dc enjoyed.

Ok I'm definitely making the biryani tomorrow, looks great.

Oh cookingongas' picture has made me realise I didn't bother with the pastry lid. Just in case anyone was confused by my description. Other than that I was faithful to the recipe also missed out chickpeas cos I didn't have any Still delicious!

The lid didn't offer much beyond beauty tbh. The chickpeas were amazing

Did the chickpeas cook through? I can't abide uncooked chickpeas, one of my bugbears. I wasn't going to try the biryani but the coconut coriander sauce does sound good, as do your goes at it.

Impressed with the samosa folding.

Marjory I made the paneer butter masala tonight too. It is mild, and you can taste the cinnamon in it but it's nice, will make again. Not the most interesting of curries but quite comforting and DS 18m liked and ate it.

Does the paneer butter massala taste really passata-ish?

It tastes more of the ginger and garlic, cream and spices but there is a lot of passata that goes into it Remus so for someone not keen on tomatoes I'd probably avoid.

I can cope with passata if masked by other flavours, so it sounds as if I might be okay with it. Will increase the spices! :)