Did you watch the recent BBC cookery programmes featuring Cyrus Todiwala and Tony Singh and meant to check out some of the recipes, but forgot? Well here they are in the book written to accompany the series.
Dotted through the recipes are columns written by Cyrus entitled ‘Spice Focus’ – offering fascinating insights into various spices – their history, how they are produced, where they grow and how to use them in the home. I had never heard of Cassia Bark before – it’s similar to cinnamon and apart from being used in cooking in India it is used to treat ailments like coughs and colds. Also by Cyrus is an introduction to various farming and production methods, such as cattle farming and cider brewing.
Recipes range from soups and salads, through fish, meat and veg to desserts. The boys give instructions on how to make the various pastes and rubs needed to add flavour to every day dishes -the chicken thighs cooked with a masala paste with mushrooms and mash looks like wonderful, warming comfort food, and as for the ‘splendidly spicy beef burger’ – yum! Just want a light snack – try chilli cheese toast with spicy chutney.
To be honest we’re not sure about Victoria sponge with fennel – the fennel is in the icing, cardamom in the sponge, but one day maybe we’ll give it a go. But a treacle pudding with nutmeg, lemon and lime definitely gets our thumbs up.
The Incredible Spice Men. Cyrus Todiwala & Tony Singh. BBC Books, Ebury Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-849-90706-4. £20. www.eburypublishing.co.uk
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Special Foody Traveller Give Away
If you want to try adding warming and comforting spices to your cookery let us know – we have 25 packets of a spice mix to give away to the first 25 Foody Traveller readers who email us with their name and postal address. Email hello@foodytraveller.com