Harneet Baweja - Gunpowder

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Indian food is a vast treasure trove. It is a unique collection of multiple cultures and centuries-old recipes handed down and personalised by every household. My wife Devina, Head Chef Nirmal Save and I have carefully collected the gems and jewels of our families kitchen secrets to create Gunpowder, a home-style Indian kitchen restaurant. Now, we have gathered them into this book to share with you.

Growing up in Kolkata, I was surrounded by the mingling flavours and aromas of my familys cooking and the citys street food. School days were rounded off with queuing for pani puri, an enormously popular snack of hollow puri, fried until crisp and filled with tamarind chutney, chaat masala, potato or chickpeas delicious sweet, spicy and sour flavours that we enjoyed together, standing or sitting with family and friends. Then we would rush home to Maas Kashmiri Lamb Chops. These beautifully spiced chops remain one of my favourite foods (heres the ).

Devina is also from Kolkata and our lives very much interlinked around the Indian foods of the city. Her mother and grandmother cooked delectable meals that they created and adapted in their own ways. Devina undertook an education and career away from the kitchen, but even with a degree in journalism and a Masters from Goldsmiths, University of London, the craving for the cuisine of Kolkata never faded for her, such as fond memories of her best-loved comfort food kichdi a mix of rice and lentils that her granny made for her growing up.

Kolkata is a cultural and intellectual hub, buzzing with Ambassador taxis whizzing past, swarms of people going about their daily lives and the hum of ever-popular street food vendors offering piping hot delicacies. The city has an abundance of market stands and food stalls such as Dacres Lane, where my wife and I have whiled away hours trying every creation you can think of, from traditional Bengali ghugni (dried white peas mixed with tamarind, chillies and jaggery) to Bengalis own take on Chinese chow mein, which uses turmeric and chicken masala for a twist on the original.

Originally from Mumbai, Nirmal was born into a family of second-generation farmers. He began cooking alongside his mother and grandmother at just 12 years old. They introduced him to a variety of regional dishes and flavours, and passed on their closely guarded recipes. Growing up on the farm ensured that he was surrounded by fresh produce, spending his hours catching game, digging up vegetables and collecting fruit from the Sapodilla trees, thus instilling in him a lifelong appreciation of cooking with fresh ingredients.

Devina and I moved to London in 2014. We were instantly captivated by the city, and its vibrant and diverse restaurant scene. What was striking, however, was that despite knowing how much the English love their curries, we felt they were missing out on a huge part of what makes Indian food so special: the intricacy of flavours found in home-style dishes. We couldnt find anything like this on the market.

Thus, we sought to create a restaurant centred around incredible family recipes passed down from generation to generation, learnt at our mothers feet. We all grew up surrounded by this and weve missed it since moving to London.

We opened Gunpowder, a home-style Indian kitchen, in 2015 at Whites Row, Spitalfields. Taking residence in an old curry house, the restaurant is named after the spice mix gunpowder, a heady blend of pulses and spices, including chilli, curry leaves and hing, Hindi for asafoetida.

Its a happy coincidence that we are located close to Brick Lane, so famous for its curries, though it feels to us as if it has lost its soul. We wanted to bring something new and fresh to the scene, adding to the changing face of British curry, and bringing to it a sense of experimentation mixed with family tradition.

Since we opened, we have been delighted to find our 20-cover restaurant full at every lunch and dinner time, with people sometimes queuing in the street for a table. For us, the essence of Gunpowder is the smell of savoury spices mingling and the sound of friends laughing and talking as they gather to share plates of the food of our childhood.

ASAFOETIDA

Extracted from a plant of the giant fennel family, asafoetida is known for having a pungent smell but, by contrast, it adds a subtle flavour to dishes when cooked with other spices. Its a brilliant alternative to garlic and onions in dishes.

BLACK CARDAMOM

The pods of black cardamom are larger than the more-familiar green variety and they have a smoky character derived from the method of drying over open flames.

BLACK CUMIN (NIGELLA) SEEDS

Also known as nigella, black cumin is one the most revered medicinal seeds in history and its one of the oldest spices known to be used. The tiny black seeds have a slightly bitter taste with some of the pungency of onion but also offer many other subtle nuances of flavour.

BLACK HORSE GRAMS

These small flattened lentils, multicoloured in a spectrum that goes from beige to dark coffee brown, are one of the most protein-rich pulses on the planet. Historically, race horses were fed with this gram, hence its name.

BOONDI

These water droplet-sized, deep-fried crispy Indian snacks are made with chickpea flour and few spices. Its a main ingredient in making boondi raita and other snacks.

CAROM SEEDS

The use of carom seeds is mostly limited to India, in particular, Gujarat. The seeds have a thyme-like flavour and are traditionally used in roti and paratha.

CHAAT MASALA

Chaat is a generic name for hot, tangy, sweet nibbles but here it refers to a zingy, tangy, slightly hot spice blend. It gets its distinctive flavour from the black salt used to make it. Though often used as a spice in cooking, chaat masala is mostly used as a garnish on salads.

CHANA MASALA

This is a special blend of spices used to make a traditional chickpea curry. While every household will have their own unique recipe, many recipes feature asafoetida, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, mango powder, cumin, fennel, black pepper, cloves, chilli, cinnamon, bay and fenugreek.

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