'The Roasting Tin Around the World' by Rukmini Iyer

I first encountered Rukmini Iyer's recipes via some cuttings from The Times that my mum gave me, and on the strength of one of those recipes (Indonesian style roasted aubergines), I asked my family for some of her Roasting Tin cookbooks for my birthday. I duly received this one and two others, 'The Quick Roasting Tin' and 'The Green Roasting Tin', and have been working through the recipes in them since.

The books are well designed. Most of the recipes are accompanied by a full-page photo of the dish shot from above, against a solid colour background that makes the dish pop from the page. It gives the books the feel of an artsy catalogue, encouraging browsing - they could easily double up as coffee table photobooks.

Each recipe gets it own neatly structured page. The wording is clear, to avoid confusion, and concise, to emphasize simplicity. There's plenty of empty space around the text, so the pages don't feel crowded or overwhelming, further reassuring the reader that the recipes are simple and easy to use. It also means there's plenty of room to leave your own notes next to the recipes.

Unfortunately, there is the occasional typo or omission. For example, in the chilli recipe (p36), ground cumin is listed twice in the ingredients, but only used once in the method; the 'shrimp and gritz' recipe (page 56) is described as 'garlicky', but there is no garlic in the ingredients list (though it is easy enough to intuitively add it). These are not grave mistakes but they do bring the quality of the book down a bit.

A minor annoyance is that the page numbers are distinctly absent from the contents pages at the start of each section, which is less than ideal for navigation. It is a curious and unpractical omission, but I expect it made sense from a design perspective, making the contents pages cleaner. The recipes are listed in the order they appear, so it it easy enough to find the recipe you want by flicking through the section. There is also a comprehensive index.

The recipes are all fantastically and deceptively simple, given the quality of the finished dish. All involve whacking a mixture of things into a tin, putting it in the oven, and doing a bit of garnishing at the end. Sometimes you need to make a paste from certain ingredients beforehand, sometimes you need to add things to the tin at different times throughout cooking. You don't learn fancy and challenging cooking techniques from Iyer, but you do learn an awful lot about the wide range of flavours and textures your meals can so easily have.

I am not sure whether this is the fault of the recipes or my oven, but some of the more liquid recipes - for example the Indian Rice Pudding (pg112) - did not cook properly in the time given, or even with extra time, and so I started heating these dishes up to simmering on the hob before transferring them to the oven.

After getting accustomed to Iyer's style, I looked through various famous/popular cookbooks at Waterstones and friends' houses, and in many of them I was struck by the badly worded and overcomplicated recipes, the cluttered and unpleasant pages, and the inconsistent quality of the photography. It made me better appreciate how thoroughly well designed the Roasting Tin books are; they are user-friendly, practical, and aesthetically very pleasing. All those involved in putting these books together should be immensely proud of the results (Pene Parker is credited with the art direction in the acknowledgements - I hope they have an incredible career).

Of the three, the Around the World book has been my favourite, and is the cookbook I would give to anyone wanting to broaden their diet with minimal effort (so long as they were omnivorous and didn't have strict dietary requirements). The recipes are arranged by geographical region, which made it easier for me to flick through to find a recipe that suited what I was feeling, and the sense it gives of exploring the world through food made working through the recipes rewarding and exciting, especially as I encountered dishes and flavour combinations that were new to me.

By contrast, in the Green book, the recipes are organised by Vegan/Vegetarian and then Quick/Medium/Slow, while in the Quick book they are organised into vague categories, such as 'Worknight Dinners' and 'Date Night'. I appreciate that others might benefit from this organisation, but for me the geographical grouping was more inspiring.

Over the past year or so I've made 53/75 recipes in this book, some of them multiple times. The range of flavours and textures in the dishes has completely transformed my appreciation of food and cooking. It is worth mentioning that many of the recipes, having been adapted for oven cooking, are doubtless inauthentic and untraditional, but they thoroughly showcase the range of food flavours available around the world.

Even though my move to making better and more exciting food was a gradual process (which coincided with things like moving to a house with a better kitchen, working more regular hours, learning which foods I have an intolerance for and therefore to avoid, etc), the impact of the three Iyer cookbooks I received for my birthday, and this one especially, has been colossal. The earlier years of my life now seem in retrospect to be a vast culinary desert, and I can barely remember most of what I used to eat.

Some personal highlights from the Around the World tour:

In 'Central and South America' (8/12 recipes made), I had various dishes served in warm tortillas, including a Mexican slow cooked pork pibil (pg26), and smoky roasted sprouts (pg46). I've always thought of sprouts as the grim over-boiled vegetable served at Christmastime due to perverse and masochistic tradition, but Iyer's various roasted sprout recipes have given me a new appreciation of a vegetable I thought I hated.

However, my absolute favourite recipe from this section was the Brazillian black beans & rice with avocado & radish salsa (p30). The fragrancy of the lime and coriander made this very refreshing and lively, while the mix of greens, beans, rice, radish, avocado, and peanut was a textural delight. I made this for an evening meal and then very happily had the leftovers for both lunch and dinner the next day. I felt like I could eat it forever.

In 'USA and the Caribbean' (6/11 recipes made), I was blown away by the Baked polenta with prawns / Shrimp & Gritz (pg56). This dish is so quick and so satisfying: the baked polenta is like a cheesy mash potato cake, and makes a very satisfying combo with spicy seasoned prawns and the explosions of flavour from roasted cherry tomatoes. Baked avocado with walnuts and blue cheese (pg62) made for an extravagant-feeling and intensely flavoured lunch. The sweet and salty dark chocolate S'mores Rocky Road (pg76) was incredible, and quickly devoured when I took it to a work fuddle.

I made all but two of the recipes in 'Asia' (12/14). The jackfruit avial (pg88), mushroom and saffron pilau rice (pg92), spiced paneer and potato curry (pg98), and whole butter chicken (pg104) were standouts. Many of the Indian dishes from this section I served as part of an Indian Feast meal alongside dishes from the previously-reviewed 'Indian Food Made Easy' by Anjum Anand.

From 'Africa and the Middle East' (8/12), highlights included the lamb tagine (pg120) flavoured with orange zest and juice, Ugandan black-eyed beans (pg130), and the saffron pearl barley (pg140). The Persian love cake (pg146) was absolutely demolished and received a lot of compliments when I took it to a work fuddle.

The most recent dish I made from this section was the roasted squash with pomegranate and dukkah (pg138), which was such a delightful mixture of flavours and textures that I am very excited to make it again and for friends. Over the past few weeks I've made several of Iyer's Persian-style dishes, made with pomegranate seeds and molasses, and copious amounts of herbs. The intensity of the flavours - the sweetness, savouriness, and herbiness - has been revelatory.

I made everything except the steal & ale pie (pg160) from 'South East Asia & Australasia' (12/13). This section contains the recipe I first encountered via the Times cutting: Indonesian-style aubergines (pg168), which I've made multiple times and for various friends, many of whom wanted the recipe afterwards.

Other highlights include Malaysian coconut and lemongrass roast chicken (pg158), Peranakan-style mushroom and squash curry (pg164), and roasted aubergine with chilli and peanut (pg154), which is so easy it has become something I make when I 'can't be bothered to cook'. The salted chocolate and raspberry Lamington cake (pg180) was another work fuddle hit.

Highlights from 'Europe and North Asia' (8/13) include the chicken and chorizo paella (pg186), which I made on Boxing Day and would happily eat constantly; croque monsieur gratin (pg194), a savoury French bread and butter pudding made with croissants and an extreme amount of crème fraiche (Iyer says, 'It will look like you have far too much crème fraiche'); rosemary and hazelnut salmon with roast potatoes, asparagus, and lemon yoghurt (pg198); 'porcupine' meatballs (pg200) with rice in the meat mix, served in a tomato and sour cream sauce, which is now my favourite meatball recipe; and the stilton, pear, and walnut tart (pg208), which was another extravagant-feeling and flavoursome lunch.

In the introduction, Iyer says,

'What I wanted to recreate in this Roasting Tin book was that feeling of amazement that I had in trying dishes from abroad for the first time, but presented in a way that was accessible for easy weeknight cooking.'

For this reader at least, Iyer's objective was very thoroughly accomplished.

'Indian Food Made Easy' by Anjum Anand

Over the past year or so I've made 39 of the 70 recipes in this book, some of them multiple times, so I feel like I'm in a reasonably good place to review it.

The experience of making recipes from this book was revelatory: having never made a curry from scratch before I found the intensity of the flavours incredible compared to shop bought, takeaway, and even many restaurant curries. Making dishes from this book led me to seeking out other cookbooks, making better and more interesting meals, and therefore improving my quality of life. For that, I will always be thankful to this book, regardless of the fact that it is probably not the best Indian cookbook available: the photography is of inconsistent quality, some of the instructions could be better written, and personally I was not interested in the fusion dishes.

The book serves its purpose well as a gentle introduction to Indian cooking. I imagine those with prior experience will find little of interest here, and will likely consider the recipes very basic, but if you are new to Indian cooking then regardless of your skill level this is a good place to start.

__________

Some of the author's comments in the book's introduction have dated and now seem a bit bizarre. Apparently, it used to be accepted wisdom that Indian food was unhealthy, an allegation the author hopes to refute. There is also a much wider array of Indian food available now in shops and restaurants compared to the situation Anand describes. Perhaps, we could therefore see the book (first published 2007) as part of an extremely successful cultural shift around Indian food over the past few decades.

Recipes are divided into nine sections: Light Meals & Snacks, Chicken, Meat, Fish & Seafood, Vegetables, Lentils & Beans, Bread & Rice, Raitas & Chutneys, Drinks & Desserts.

The vast majority of the recipes I cooked just for our household of two, but we also had friends over to sample our favourites as part of a larger meal consisting of a chicken or meat curry, a prawn or vegetable dish, a lentil curry, and rice or naan or both, and sometimes a raita. It was easy to adapt the recipes for vegan or vegetarian friends with only simple substitutions of fake chicken and vegan yoghurt.

Light Meals and Snacks (4/10 recipes made)

This section contains recipes which are the gentlest introduction to Indian cooking, and may be more fusion than traditional. Chicken Tikka Wraps, Tandoori Lamb Wraps, Paneer & Mushroom Wraps, Chilli Cheese Toast, Masala Scrambled Eggs. Tortillas are used rather than Indian flatbread in the wraps, and the chicken wrap even contains cheddar cheese - Anand says that the cheese was first introduced to please tourists but has now become standard. 

I didn't think these recipes sounded particularly exciting and only made the Cheese on Toast and Scrambled Eggs, which were both fine, but if you are already aware that seasonings can be added to these dishes then they are nothing special. However, I can imagine them being a pleasant introduction to the spices for someone more accustomed to blander food.

Of the more traditional sounding recipes in this section, I made the Semolina Pilaff and the Savoury Semolina Cake (Handvo). 

The pilaff was an excellent quick snack which I would happily make and eat again. I made the cake to take to a work fuddle as a bit of gamble, and both myself and my colleagues were initially sceptical of the idea of a savoury mixed vegetable cake, but were quickly converted after the first mouthful. It tasted incredible and was texturally divine: the crispiness, the sponginess, and all the vegetable textures. I absolutely want this to become a regular in my household.

Chicken (8/9 recipes made)

Recommended Chicken Recipes: Goan Coconut Chicken Curry, Oven-Fried Chilli Chicken, My Chicken Korma, Classic Northern Chicken Curry, Mangalorean Chicken. The Northern and Mangalorean dishes I have made on multiple occasions, and all the rest listed here I intend to make again at some point.

The remaining chicken dishes - Chicken in Creamy Yoghurt, Green Coriander Chicken, and Chicken with Peppercorns and Shredded Ginger - were not unpleasant but did not stand out compared to the better dishes.

I had no interest in making the Chicken Burgers fusion dish.

Meat (4/9 recipes made)

This section should really have been called Lamb, because no other meat is used - apart from chicken which gets its own section?

I found the Himalayan Lamb and Yoghurt Curry extremely disappointing, though at some point I do intend to try making it again with better quality lamb. The supermarket lamb I used was probably not good enough to give this simple dish enough flavour. I used lamb from a butchers for the Easy All-In-One Lab Curry, and it was great, so I do think that is what went wrong with my attempt at the Himalayan recipe.

Both the Honey-Roasted Spicy Leg of Lamb and Herby Lamb Chops sounded incredible, and they were certainly pleasant, but I didn't think either was good enough to justify the effort of making it or the cost of the meat.

I would still like to make other recipes in this section - in particular, North Indian Lamb Curry and Dry Coconut Lamb - if I can justify to myself the cost of lamb from a butchers. 

This section also contains an overtly fusion dish (Lamb Burgers with Herbed Yoghurt) and something which looks like a fusion pasta dish but is described as traditional (Curried Lamb Meatballs - served with noodles not pasta), neither of which I was interested in making.

Fish & Seafood (6/12 recipes made)

The two prawn curries I made - Mangalorean Prawn Curry and Prawn Balchao - are my two favourite recipes in this book. Gorgeous mixtures of flavours and spices that work incredibly with the both the texture and and taste of good quality prawns.

The Coconut Mackerel Curry was also excellent, while the North Indian Fish Curry and Green Fish Curry were both pleasant but underwhelming. The Coconut and Chilli Pan-Fried Halibut was a definitely superior to plain battered/bread-crumbed fish, but is not something I am likely to cook regularly.

Vegetables (6/14 recipes made)

The Southern Indian Mixed Vegetable Dish (Avial), Fried Spiced Okra (which we nicknamed 'Okra Chips'), and Paneer with Spinach are excellent as part of a feast, providing great textural contrast to other dishes, though I would not recommend them as meals in themselves.

The Spinach with Tomatoes, Stir-Fried Spring Onions, Aubergine Cooked in Yoghurt were underwhelming.

The other recipes I've not tried include two peanut salads, two sweetcorn dishes, two potato dishes, stir-friend cabbage, and stuffed jalapenos. I'm tempted to make the Five-seed Potatoes as well as the Stir-Fried Nigella Cabbage in future. 

Lentil and Beans (5/6 recipes made)

I was very happy with the curries in this section, and the toasted spiced chickpeas make a decent side dish. However, the Broad Bean Thoran was extremely bland and is probably the dish I liked least out of the entire book. 

On my second time making the Spinach and Lentil Curry, I used tomato puree as a substitute for the 'small tomatoes' and used ready chopped frozen spinach leaves, which made the recipe even simpler and, in my opinion, tastier and more aesthetically pleasing.

The first time I made the Garlic and Chilli Slit Pigeon Pea Curry, I accidentally burnt the garlic which made the dish very bitter. On the second try, the garlic was unburnt and it was great.

I've still to make the Buttery Black Lentils (Makhni Dahl), but I intend to make it in the next month or so.

Bread & Rice (3/9 recipes made)

I've made the Basmati Rice, Spinach Pilaff, and Mushroom Pilaff. The Spinach Pilaff is our favourite so far as the bright greenness of blended fresh spinach makes it stand out on the table. Looking through the rice recipes again while writing this review has made me realise that I should make the other rice recipes: Lemon Rice, Coconut Rice, Creamy Rice & Lentils, Simple Pilaff.

I cannot be bothered to make my own bread.

Raitas & Chutneys (1/5 recipes made)

The Cucumber and Mint Raita is refreshingly cooling, and I might get round to the other recipes in this section in future.

Drinks and Desserts (2/14 recipes made)

The Masala Tea wasn't for me, and the Coconut Sweets were delicious but I didn't cook them for long enough so they didn't set properly. Hopefully I'll get round to making some of the other recipes in this section; friends I've spoken to have said that they've never used the desserts sections of the Indian cookery books they own, and I would like to break that trend.

'Greater' by Penny Mordaunt & Chris Lewis

I got a copy of Penny Mordaunt's book when she was one of the frontrunners to win the Conservative leadership contest back in summer.

I was originally intending to write a proper review of it, but the experience of reading it has been so exhausting and frustrating that I do not want to spend that much energy on it. While there was the occasional interesting observation or argument which I could either get behind or constructively disagree with, it is not those that spring to mind when I think about the book.

What comes to mind is the inane waffle that pads out the word count; words for the sake of words, the literary equivalent of filibustering. The parts that are potentially interesting or worth reading are utterly drowned by a relentless deluge of shallow cultural commentary, tedious rehashes of already stale arguments, groan-inducing attempts at humour, and excessively long lists.

So. Many. Lists.

Every few pages there is an atrociously long list. Used sparingly, such lists could be good for humour or emphasis, but there are SO MANY of them, and some of them are SO LONG. A few times I verbally exclaimed in frustration when I reached the next one.

The book is appallingly written; all the padding gives it the feel of a rushed AS level essay written the night before the deadline. I am quite confident that at least 50% could be cut out, leaving behind an at least slightly better book.

However, a shorter book wouldn't look so impressive. The physical copy is a nice edition. The cover design is elegant, and its thickness gives it a satisfying weight and the illusion of depth and seriousness. It perfectly encapsulates the way politicians adopt the aesthetics of intelligence and competence to hide the shallowness of their thinking - see Jacob Rees-Mogg for a particularly extreme example of this tactic.

The book comes recommended by various political or business figures - Bill Gates wrote the foreword, and blurbs are provided by the likes of Tony Blair, Richard Branson, Elton John, and more. Assuming those quotes are genuine recommendations and not just a friendly favour, this is a damning indictment of our political class.

If you ever wanted a physical manifestation of the sheer intellectual and imaginative bankruptcy of the political class, then this book is for you!

Some excerpts: