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“Fundamental Sauce”:

This is the key to a great Indian dish and what generally lacks in the western home to create genuine Indian food that has the depth of flavour achieved in India.

Everyone tends to have their own family recipe that has been passed down through the generations.  We liked one man’s recipe because it had a massive flavour and he cooked it over 26 hours, many people wouldn’t give up their recipe for their gravy, but bribed this man to give up his version! As a restaurant owner who has been cooking for over 20 years we trusted his version. It is more complex than other versions we have seen since, but this really is worth the extra ingredients and effort to make a ‘blow ya socks off sauce’. This is what is known in India as “gravy”, a dish will either have it or not.  Most of the ingredients are the same, but in different quantities that is down to the taste of that family, so if you first make this and like to add or subtract whatever- do so!  This is what Indian cooking is all about- making food to your taste. With this sauce you can make loads of different dishes by adding extra spices in different quantities and a variety of vegetables and meat. This fact makes this recipe the most important of all!

The recipe in the book will show you how to make the best and most authentic version of this amazing and versitile curry paste.

Cheese Kofta:

This dish is perfumed with rose water and “kasoori” or dried fenugreek leaves, while being rich with cream and cheese.  A dieters nightmare but a foodies dream!

Paneer is buffalo cheese that is unpasteurised so needs to be cooked thoroughly. You can buy paneer in the UK but Tofu can be used also as a replacement.  The other main ingredient in a kofta is potato, which has been completely cooked in advance.

Ingredients:

Kofta:
Potato: 1 medium sized approx 5cm diameter or half the size of your fist
Paneer: The same volume as potato
Corn Flour: 2 tblsp
Coriander seed powder: 1/2 tsp
Mixed masala powder (also called meat masala in the shops): 1/2 tsp
Salt: 3 pinches

Masala Sauce:
“Fundamental sauce”: 5 tblsp
Mixed/ meat masala powder: 1/2 tsp
Curry powder: 1/3 tsp
Coriander seed powder: 1/3 tsp
Kasoori Methi (dried fenugreek leaf): 1/2 tsp
Single cream: 50 ml or 1/5 cup
Rosewater: 8 drops (this enhances the perfumed flavour but is not a show stopper if left out)
Coriander (fresh leaf): 1 tblsp
salt and chilli power: to taste

How: Grate the paneer and potato and mix together. Add the corn flour and kofta spices (see ingredients) and with yours hands make 2-3 soft balls that are slightly fatter in width than height that are approx 5cm in width and 4cm in height.  Cover each ball in a light dusting of corn flour in your hands and add to a hot pan that is filled with enough oil to deep fry the koftas. Preheat the oil until hot and the oil has started to smoke. Fry the koftas on a high heat for 10 minutes until golden brown on the outside. Take them off the heat and lightly squeeze them to ensure they are still soft. Skewer one to make sure it is hot all the way through and set aside until the gravy is ready.

Add the kasoori to the cream and set aside.d. For the gravy add the fundamental sauce to a medium hot pan and cook until bubbling. Add the masala, coriander and curry powder, then cook for 5 minutes. Add the cream and cook for a further 3 minutes until boiling. Add the rosewater and immediately afterwards add the koftas. Cook for 1 minute spooning the gravy over the koftas. To serve spoon out a kofta in to each dish or plate and spoon over the gravy evenly between them both. Grate some fresh paneer over the top and add fresh coriander to finish.

Goan Fish Curry:

South India is renouned for their use of coconut in their dishes and this is no exception. Goa is also well known for it’s hot dishes, like the Vindaloo, however Goans always add chilli and spice according to their own particular taste. As the guy who taught us this said “heat is not everything- taste is!”

Ingredients:
Firm white fish or large prawns: 300gms
Onion: 2 small diced
Tomato: 2 skins removed finely chopped or puréed
Garlic: 3 cloves finely chopped
Chilli (dried is best): 2 finely sliced
Coconut cream: 1 cup
Coconut: 1/2 coconut flesh grated and roasted
Coriander (fresh): small handful
Turmeric: 1 tsp
Coriander powder: 2 tsp
Cumin: 1 tsp
Cinnamon powder (or whole to the same amount): 1 tsp
Salt: 1 tsp
Vegetable oil: 1 tblsp

How: First add the dried chilli to the coconut milk and leave for around 30 minutes if you have the time to infuse, if not no worries, but mix them together now.

Fry the onion and garlic in the oil on a medium heat until they turn soft and start to brown for around 5 minutes. Add turmeric, coriander powder, cumin, cinnamon, tomato and salt and cook for further 5 minutes until everything turns into a brown paste and is well mixed together. Now stir in coconut cream/ chilli combo and the roasted coconut, then bring back to the boil. Simmer everything for 10 minutes stirring regularly until the consistency is a slightly thick sauce.

Add the shrimp or fish and simmer with this lid on for a further 10 minutes until the fish is cooked. Add the fresh coriander just before serving.

Dried Bombay Duck (or Dried Prawn) Curry:

This dish has its ingredients list taken from Goa, but has been adapted by the Maratis (from Maharastra) as their own dish, with the specific use of Bombay Duck (an ugly fish that is often dried for preservation).  This dish can also use dried shrimp instead of the fresh prawns used in Goa so that they can be transported to Maharastra without going off and also be prepared out of season, when fresh fish is a lot more expensive. Either of these two dried fish work well in this curry, but the fact they are dried makes it Marati as opposed to Goan as the fish taste is stronger here with more punch and less of a coconut element.

Timing in this dish is crucial to ensure all the elements are cooked well, have released their flavours and yet not overcooked so that the ingredients can still be tasted individually and the dish doesn’t turn into a curry of all the same flavour.

Ingredients:
Shrimp (dried): Full/ large handful or Bombil/ “Bombay Duck”: 5 dried with the heads cut off if they haven’t been.

Onion: 1 small diced
Potato: 1 medium cubed
Chilli (dried is best): 1 finely sliced
Coconut cream: 1 cup
Coriander (fresh): small handful
Water: 1/4 cup (hot)
Turmeric: 1 tsp
Salt: 1 tsp
Vegetable oil: 1 tblsp

How: First add the dried chilli to the coconut milk and leave for around 30 minutes if you have the time to infuse, if not no worries, but mix them together now. Fry the onion in the oil on a medium heat until they turn transparent. Add potato, stir regularly and cook until brown. Add turmeric and salt and cook for 5 minutes. Add coconut cream/ chilli combo bring to boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.

At this point add a metal plate or a lid upside down to the pan so you can simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on, but add the water to this ‘well’ so you are also heating the water up at the same time. If you do not have something suitable (e.g. do not use a ceramic plate or anything that will crack under high temperature, then avoid this and just boil water.

Add the dried shrimp and simmer with the lid on for a further 15 minutes until the shrimp is still firm, but is not hard in the middle, so test them regularly by eating a few! Add hot water as needed by tipping it into the pan using a cloth ensuring that the sauce remains thin (so it doesn’t thicken into a gravy).

Vegetarian Jalfrezi:

This is a north Indian dish that originated in Bengal from the word “Jhel”, which means spicy in Bengali and “frezi”, which ultimately means fried. This dish was designed to be used when leftovers needed using up and were deep fried to kill any bacteria that may have developed so a combination of vegetables that do not turn to mush when fried can be used. There are a few ‘usual suspects’ in this dish however and these are given as our ingredients, but don’t feel like you need to stick to this.

Ingredients:

Vegetables:
White cabbage: 1/4 cup cut into 2cm cubes
Green pepper (capsicum): 1/4 cup cut into 2cm cubes
Carrot: 1/4 cup cut into 1cm cubes
Green beans: 1/4 cup cut into 2cm lengths
Paneer or small mushrooms (optional to add a bit of class): 1/5 cup cut into 1cm cubes

Note: All in all the above need to make 1 cup of vegetables or 300 gms per person, play with the amount of each vegetable combination depending on what you like to eat! You can replace the above with cauliflower, different types of beans baby sweetcorn etc. Just avoid things like spinach, butternut squash etc that all turn to mush when cooked.

Spices:
Chilli (fresh): 1 sliced
Garlic: 2 pieces (not bulbs!) finely chopped
Ginger: 2cm cube finely chopped
Onion: 1 small
Tomato: 1 medium
Black pepper: 4 pinches
Garam masala: 1 tsp

Poppadum (papad): 1 uncooked

How: Shallow fry all the vegetables together until they are all cooked and soft. Remove from the pan with something that will remove excess oil and rest on a wad of kitchen towel (or in a sieve if you do not have kitchen towel) to remove a lot of the fat. You need some, but we remove a lot to make this a slightly healthier dish. This can be done in advanced or simply use pre-cooked/ leftover vegetables you already have in the fridge

In a frying pan add the spices dry until they start to brown and then add the vegetables. If you are using leftovers you need to add a little oil in at this point, but if you have fried fresh vegetables the oil they have been cooked in is fine. Stir well until the vegetables begin cooking again then a minute before serving stir in the fresh coriander.

While the vegetables are heating up the second time turn on a flame to a medium heat. Using metal tongs wave the uncooked poppadum in the naked flame until it starts to go brown and small bubbles form. Move around the flame cooking evenly (while ensuring it doesn’t go black) until it has changed from semi see-through to completely non see-through.

While piping hot push the poppadum into a serving bowl so it makes a “bowl in a bowl” and then add the heated vegetables.

Vegetable Momos:

In Sikkim these are everywhere. Everyone agrees that they have made their way down from Chinese Tibet, although the difference here is that the favourite momo is considered pork momos. Although Sikkim is in India the Sikkimese eat a lot of pork and treat the animals well. You would not see pork on the menu in many other states but for the Sikkimese pork momos are a winning dish to eat for lunch and as many as 30 as an evening meal!

They are fairly trickly to learn how to make and in a restaurant you will be waiting around 30 minutes to have 8 made fresh, but it is worth it. From frozen they are not as good as the key is the fresh filling. We have given you the method to make them the ´proper´way, but many people love having a laugh with them and will make them into loads of shapes and sized as a fun party food- maybe try to make them pasty shaped, a cracker shape or any other you can come up with!

Ingredients:

Momos:
Wheat Flour: 200gms for 8
Water: Approx 30ml (enough to turn flour into a ball when mixed, which is not sticky but is not dry)
Garlic: 1 clove crushed
Ginger: 2cm x 4cm or double the size of the garlic
Onion: 1 small, finely diced
Carrot: 1/2 medium sized or approx 2cm in diameter and 7cm long
White Cabbage: 4 leaves from small cabbage finely diced
Salt: 2 large pinches
Pepper: 2 pinches

Chilli Sauce:
Coriander: Large handful
Green chilli: 3
Garlic: 1 clove
Lime: The juice taken from 1
Salt: 1 pinch
Pepper: 2 pinches
Water: 10ml or a dash

Optional: You can use 75% or 100% pork, using minced “belly pork” insead of the vegetables (carrot and white cabbage) to make another Sikkimese favorite of Pork momos. Simply add 10 drops of soy sauce to this mixture to make a meaty momo!

How: Finely dice all the vegetables and/or pork. Add your chosen combination to the garlic, ginger, salt and pepper then leave to stand for an hour in the fridge.

Make a basic dough by sieving the flour and then slowly adding the water bit by bit. Using your fingers make sure all the flour absorbs the water each time you add it, until the flour forms a ball. At this stage knead or ´punch´the dough to work the water into the flour more. Add enough water to make a stretchy dough, but one that is not sticky or wet. That is bad news for dough.

Pull off balls of dough that are marble sized or 2cm in diameter. Add flour to a clean surface and roll the dough out rotating it as you go to make a circle of dough as thin as possible without breaking (1mm is great!) Make as many as possible with the amount of dough you have.

Take the filling mixture out of the fridge and place a heaped teaspoon of the mix into the centre of a dough circle. Pick this up in your stronger hand loosely between your two middle fingers. Using the other hand pinch the dough together 1cm in length using your thumb and index finger. Using the thumb on the hand carrying the momo (or index finger on other hand if easier) press the mixture down to give yourself as much dough showing as possible, then fold the edge of the dough nearest that thumb over the part you have just folded (so 1/2cm overlaps). Make sure the fold is well stuck together and doesn´t come apart. Repeat this process until the momo develops an edge that starts to curve around and that each fold is well stuck together. When you reach the end of the momo in your palm simply pinch the end together well to finish.

Add the momo to an oiled steamer (a bamboo one is best, but metal is also fine) and then make all the momos as above and add them to the steamer ensuring they have space separating them. Steam for 15 minutes.

While the momos are steaming cut the ends off the chilli and remove the seeds if you do not like it too hot (the sikkimese would not do tihs!) and add all the ingredients into a blender. Blend them together until a rough sauce is made where some small chunks of the individual ingredients remain (although you could make a smooth paste if you wish).

To serve take the momos out of the steamer and make a circle on a plate with the sauce in the middle in a small bowl.

Thukpa:

This dish can also be found in a similar form in Tibet and Nepal, but the Sikkimese people who mostly originated from Tibet and Nepal call it their own, or Bhutanese, which, although sounds like they are from Bhutan actually means they are Sikkimese people with Bhutanese/ Tibetan origin. A thukpa is ultimately a hearty, spiced soup, which is great for long winters in the hills. It can be vegetarian or have pre-cooked meat (mostly buffalo or pork) added.

In Sikkim many restaurants use MSG instead of salt as it avoids the sodium problems associated with salt and gives a more filling effect, so is often more readily available than salt (and cheaper). We have provided a salt alternative if you’d prefer to use this.

This dish makes a one person bowl.

Ingredients:
Garlic: 2 Cloves finely chopped
Onion: 1 sml chopped
Ginger: 2 cm cube finely chopped
White Cabbage: 1/2 handful sliced so they make thin strips
Carrot: 1/2/ handful cut into very thin strips the same size as the white cabbage
Water: 1 cup/ 200ml
Monosodiumglutimate (MSG): pinch or salt: 1 level tsp
Wheat noodles: 150 gms
Black pepper: 1 tsp course ground
Chilli powder: 1/3 tsp
Soy Sauce: 1 tsp
White vinegar (malt if you do not have white): 1 tsp
(optional) Crispy Onion: slices of pre-fried onion that has been cooked until crispy.

How: Boil a pan of water and cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet or until they are soft all the way through when you eat one. While this is cooking fry the onions, ginger and garlic on a medium heat for 4 minutes until the onions turn brown. Add the carrot and white cabbage and fry for a further 8 minutes until soft and cooked through. Add water and bring back to the boil, simmer for 1 minute. Add chilli powder, MSG or salt and black pepper. Simmer for a further 5 minutes, then add the soy and vinegar. Put the noodles in the bottom of a large bowl and pour the soup over the noodles.

Tibetan Bread:

This stuff is great and a fantastic breakfast alternative to the usual. It is filling and nice and warm, so it is great with butter added so it melts into the bread and also good for those winter days or if it will be a while until your next meal (collecting cow food from the jungle for example!).

Ingredients:
Wheat Flour: 500gms
Baking Powder: 1 1/2 tsps
Salt: 2 pinches
Water: 1/2 cup
Veg oil: 1 tsp for the flour mix and 1 tsp for frying

Mix everything except the water together in a bowl. Gradually add the water into the flour mix using your fingers so each time water is added the flour fully absorbs the water. Add water and thoroughly mix into the flour until the mixture forms a ball and the bowl is ´clean´with no remaining flour stuck to it.

Knead the dough by pushing the ball out with the palm of your hands, folding air into it and repeating. Add as much air as possible to make a light bread. Pull off 5 balls and pat down lightly to make a fat, flattened circle approx 1 1/2 cm in height.

Oil the bottom of a steamer and place on the balls, ensuring they have at least 3cm space between them. Steam for 10 minutes. Take them out of the steamer and fry them immediately in a medium hot frying pan with the remaining oil until the water on the outside has evaporated and they turn very slightly brown.

Indian Street Food:

It is everywhere in India and where most Indian people eat, other than their homes.

Puran Poli:

This Marati (from Maharastra) dish uses jaggery (a sweetener) not generally found in the UK. This can be replaced with a half and half mix of dark brown sugar and Maple syrup, Molasses or palm sugar.

Ingredients:

2 cups chana dal, soaked in water for 4 hours
1 1/2 cups jaggery or replacement
2 cups white flour
3 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp cardamom powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
3/4 tsp turmeric powder

Pani Puri:

6 small crispy containers filled one at a time with channa masala and two sauces (one sweet and one cooling with herbs) and served individually on a plate.

Ingredients:

Puri (crispy containers):
1 cup Semolina (Rava / Suji)
3 tblsp Fine Wheat Flour (Maida)
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
Oil to deep fry

Pani sauce:
1/2 cup Tamarind Pulp (or you can find tamarind fruit in Asian shops and grind your own, but the tinned version is fine)
2 cups Water
2 tblsp roasted Cumin Seed Powder
2 tblsp un-roasted Cumin Seed
handful of Coriander Leaves
3 Green Chilly
2 tblsp Mint Leaves 1 tblsp Black Salt
2 tblsp Jaggary or replacement (see Puran Poli)

How: coming soon!

Bhel Puri:

This is a complex “salad” that has numerous of different parts that are brought together when desired and mixed together vigorously.

Ingredients:
Puffed rice 4 cups (rice crispies will not work as they must be firmer!)
Onion:  1 finely chopped
Tomato:  2 finely chopped
Chilli powder:  1 tsp
Grated carrot 1/4 cup
Cucumber: 1/2 cup finely chopped
Coriander leaf (fresh):  1/4 cup finely chopped
Salt: 2 pinches
Chilli: 1/2 finely chopped

Green chutney:
Corriander 1/2 bunch
green chillies 6 finely sliced
lemon juice 1 tsp
Salt: 1 pinch

Sweet/sour chutney:
Tamarind extract 1 cup, tamerind juice in a can
Dates: 5 without stones
Brown sugar 1 Tbsp.
Lemon juice 50 ml
Cumin Powder 1 tsp.
Chilli Powder 1 Tsp.
Salt according to your taste, I suggest none!

How: Simply blend all the green chutney ingredients together in a blender or using a pastel and mortar to a fine paste, then reserve for blending with the above. Add the puffed rice and dry ingredients into a bowl, add the herbs and chilli. Then add the sweet/sour chutney and green chutney while stirring vigorously. Serve in a bowl with a sprinkle of fresh coriander on top.

Chilli Omlette:

Here because you see them everywhere. The key to an Indian omlette is finely cut onion and chilli (of course)

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 small sweet shallots finely sliced
1/2 green chilli crushed
dash of lemon/ lime juice
10 corriander leaves crushed
salt to taste

How: Mix the crushed corriander and chilli with the lemon/ lime juice and pound together to make a paste. Scramble the egg well and add the shallot and salt to taste. Add mixture to a hot frying pan and add a smear of the chilli paste according to how hot you want your omlette. Serve in a white bread roll. Simple, cheap and yummy!

Vadapav:

Ingredients:
Coming soon!

Kacchi Dabeli:

Ingredients:
coming soon!