Kaushy Patel - Prashad at Home: Everyday Indian Cooking from our Vegetarian Kitchen

Kaushy learned to cook as a child on her grandmothers farm in northern India, coming to live in the UK in the 1960s. The success of the deli in Bradford she ran for 22 years with her husband led to the opening of Prashad , the restaurant, serving authentic Gujarati cuisine. Award-winning Prashad has now become a destination for food-lovers and fans of vegetarian cooking. Last year saw the launch of a new venture: Bundobust, in Leeds, championing traditional Indian streetfood dishes with craft beers.

Kaushys skills both as a professional chef and as a home cook, and her wide knowledge and enthusiasm will inspire you to get into the kitchen and get out your spice jars.

www.prashad.co.uk

Follow Prashad on Twitter: @Prashad_veggie

www.saltyardbooks.co.uk

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Saltyard Books
An imprint of Hodder & Stoughton
An Hachette UK company

Copyright Kaushy Patel 2015
Photography Matt Russell 2015

The right of Kaushy Patel to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

The tiles on / 0845 366 0400

The background papers on pages

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

eBook ISBN 978 1 444 73476 8
Book ISBN 978 1 444 73474 4

Copy editors Bryony Nowell and Laura Herring
Proof reader Annie Lee
Indexer Caroline Wilding
Food stylist Ellie Jarvis
Prop stylist Lydia Brun

Saltyard Books
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ

www.saltyardbooks.co.uk

To Mohan, my husband and best friend. Thank you for believing in me, encouraging me and supporting me through every step of my amazing journey. You make me feel as warm and special today as the first time we met.

Family and community are at the heart of Indian culture, and theres no better way to bring people together than through sharing a meal. If youve read my first cookbook, youll know just how important food has been throughout my life, from learning to cook with my grandmother in India when I was a little girl, to setting up our award-winning restaurant, Prashad, here in the UK with my husband, Mohan. Its been an incredible journey, and it makes me very proud to see the same dishes that have been passed down through the generations in my family now being served every day to our diners. I wonder what my grandmother would think of her famous karella na reveya (stuffed bitter melon satay, ) appearing on the menu. Its a long way from her farmhouse table in her rural village in north India.

Times change. People are busier, and many of us dont live as close to our families any more. But that doesnt mean we cant all enjoy eating well, and taking every opportunity we can to get together around the table with the people that are important to us. Your food should take into account your lifestyle, and it should be a reflection of how you feel. Whether you have 20 minutes or two hours, cooking is something to be enjoyed, bringing you and those you are cooking for great pleasure. I always talk about cooking with love, and I really do believe its the most important ingredient you can stir into your food. If you make a meal for someone with love, you can taste it. Its full of passion, warmth and depth.

In this book I have included all the recipes we cook at home. These are the quick dishes we prepare on weekday evenings when everyone is tired after work, they are the meals we can leave to bubble away quietly while we get on with weekend chores or to take our time over when we have something to celebrate, and they are the tasty snacks we can have ready at a moments notice for those unexpected visitors or during a particularly hungry afternoon. Eating well means paying attention to what we put into our bodies and so, although these arent specifically healthy recipes, they are all good wholesome meals to feed our hunger as well as our soul. But, since we Gujaratis are also well known for our love of nibbles and sweets, youll find plenty of tasty treats too. Life is all about balance after all.

Youll find that some of the recipes are a bit of a step away from the more traditional dishes served at Prashad. Many are ones that have been in my family for generations, perhaps simplified a little to make them more suitable for everyday cooking and adapted to work with ingredients we can easily pick up at the supermarket potatoes might replace purple yam, and ground spices often take the place of fresh ones. Other recipes are entirely new, reflecting our current lifestyles and the people around us. Throughout our forty-nine happy years living in the UK, we have fully embraced British and other cultures, and this in turn has influenced the way we cook now. Since the first book came out, Mohan and I have taken a bit of a step back from the running of the restaurant, letting Bobby and his wonderful wife, Minal, take over the reins. Im still involved in the food, of course, but now its a real family affair! Minal brings her own take on food, and its been wonderful to watch the menu develop. This has also allowed us to spend more time with our gorgeous granddaughter, Maitri, and Ive been able to get back into the kitchen at home, creating new versions of the dishes I cooked professionally that are suitable for my busy family life. The result is this collection of reliable dishes that anyone can cook at home.