Topic: New book entitled 'British Indian Restaurant Food At Home' available at Amazon

[George]

Steven, Glad to see you have met the resident Statler and Waldorf  ;D

I find it interesting that the present moderator allowed the above insult to remain, even after I'd written to him to ask if it could be deleted. My guess is because he's so grateful to you for being a key member of the group who mounted a coup to get your man installed.

[jb]

So,I ordered my book from Amazon,I really shouldn't buy any more BIR cookbooks,I have far too many and I always seem to be disappointed when I get a new one.Full marks to the author for actually producing a cookbook though,if I had the time and resources I should gather all the information I'm learning at the moment in the takeaway and produce a book myself.

The book itself is ok,anyone starting out in BIR cooking would find it contains a lot of good information,if I had had this book twenty years ago it would be a goldmine of information.To be honest though all of the information(and a lot more) can be found within this forum.

Probably the most interesting thing in the book is the recipe for seasoned oil,or 'niter kibbeh'.I was sure this had been discussed on the forum before.After a bit of searching I found it,a post by Ghanna way back in 2005 (wonder where she is now?)

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,190.msg1078.html#msg1078

[Naga]

Good on you for actually ordering and reading the book rather than merely pontificating on it, jb. Good detective work on Ghanna's posts too!

[london]

Thanks for your feed back JB, very interesting.

London.

[George]

Made the spiced ghee and base gravy from the book today, the ghee has that instant restaurant/take away aroma

But JB confirms the recipe is much like Ghanna's from 2005. I've made Ghanna's recipe several times I agree with Ghanna that the smell is 'out of this world'. But, in my opinion, it's nothing like the BIR smell, so I find your comment surprising and difficult to reconcile. The difference is the main reason why I don't use it when cooking BIR dishes. My guess is that IF (and it's a big IF) many BIRs use flavoured oil, it's more likely to come from the bulk cooking of onion bhajis, chicken, etc.

[Ghoulie]

Excellent book Steven - written as it should be - a simple, unpretentious style for the beginner to follow easily from square one to full curry making (most types covered).  Perfect for those wanting the definitive guide without wanting to search all over the show for the many different aspects.

When my daughter was writing her book about an introduction to the complex Alexander Technique - I advised her to write it in a style that a simple layman with no knowledge of the subject could pick it up and read it easily and understand it.  Something advice-wise I have given to many sales reps I have employed over the years when they complained about secretaries mis-typing their reports.

You have achieved this Steven - an admirable accomplishment - well done.

[Steven Heap]

@ Ghoulie,

Thanks you very much Ghoulie  ;D

[meggeth]

Hey Stephen! Thought we'd  frightened you off! 

Hope you can stay around...

[Steven Heap]

It's great to see positive feedback on my book and also positive people's comments who are willing to give people a chance. When I read some of the nonconstructive negative criticism

[Steven Heap]

I've written a new book about South Indian food. I've always felt BIR is such a small genre and I really wanted to strive to broaden this cuisine further and introduce recipes and knowledge from a region in India that doesn't seem to get the recognition and attention it deserves. Here's a link for anyone interested:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Authentic-South-Indian-Cuisine-Steven/dp/1534703608/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468436664&sr=8-1&keywords=authentic+south+indian+cuisine