Singh - Spice At Home

First published in Great Britain in 2014 by

Absolute Press, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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Text copyright Vivek Singh, 2014

Photography copyright Lara Holmes, 2014

First reprinted 2014

Publisher Jon Croft

Commissioning Editor Meg Avent

Project Editor Alice Gibbs

Art Director and Designer Matt Inwood

Assistant Designer Kim Musgrove

Editor Gillian Haslam

Photographer Lara Holmes

Recipe Tester Genevieve Taylor

Props Stylist Jo Harris

Indexer Ruth Ellis

The rights of Vivek Singh to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 9781472910905

eISBN: 9781472910912

A note about the text

The headline fonts in this book are set in Orial, a striking contemporary font designed by Salman Boosty.

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In the memory of Roger Looker, for his friendship, wisdom and support. Roger, your 'Spirit in Life' will forever be an inspiration and example for us.

CONTENTS

MY HOME COOKING

Home is where everyone first experiences food. It shapes their memories, likes and dislikes. Most peoples understanding of family and community is shaped through their experiences of food, of celebrations big and small, so much so that food even shapes peoples personalities to some extent. Most peoples introduction to food and the joy it brings, begins at home but one thing I have begun to appreciate more and more recently is how home cooking is rapidly changing with the changes in lifestyle, with travel and migration, and the changing socio-economic climate each day.

For example, my home cooking is very different from my mothers. I still remember the time in 1970s in a colliery near Asansol, West Bengal, when she used to cook on a coal fire, 3 or 4 full meals for the 5 of us each day, prepared from scratch using only the freshest ingredients bought from the vegetable market or the sellers that would bring produce to sell at our door-step.

We didnt have a refrigerator, so shopping had to happen every day, sometimes twice a day. There was nowhere to store leftover food, so we were encouraged to finish everything on our plates and wasting food wasnt an option.

Guests, relatives, friends and other visitors would often arrive unannounced and stay on for weeks, frequently more guests would join in for the odd meal and my mother would conjure up dishes to feed everyone, as though by magic! I have a huge amount of respect for her flexibility, innovation and ingenuity in being able to come up with enough food to feed so many at such short notice.

Fast forward to today, cooking has changed significantly. Ingredients are easier to source, better prepared and packed, and storing leftovers has also become easier. It has become easier to plan and prepare as folks tend not to drop in unannounced so much either!

Joking aside, I look at the kind of cooking that goes on in our household in London and it couldnt have been more different. For one, it may appear crazy but the amount of international influence in our home kitchen today would be unimaginable a few years ago. Partly through travel, and partly because of the melting pot of different cultures that is London, we have access to the whole worlds ingredients in Britain. I must admit, my being a chef must also have some bearing, but really, most of the cooking at home is still done by Archana! I am myself surprised sometimes how seamlessly the menu at home changes from Italian (Keralan Spiced Seafood Linguini) to Thai (Tom Kha Gai), to a French-inspired Pithivier, to Chinese (Toffee Banana) and then closer to home to those eternally familiar parathas with a variety of fillings.

Some things dont change however. Whether its a regular meal at home, or a siblings birthday when 20 of their friends have arrived for evening snacks, the birth of a relatives child, or celebrating Holi or Diwali or one of the other hundreds of festivals with friends and neighbours, food was, and is, at the centre of all these celebrations and is in many ways the unifying factor.

When I think back to my mothers cooking when I was a child, I dont know how much of it was a pleasure and how much of it a challenge for her. But I know for sure that in the world that we live in, where people work hard and have little time for themselves, the act of cooking for others, of entertaining, is an act of ultimate generosity and needs to be a pleasure for everyone involved.

Its important for some people to put on a great show, a big spread and the most elaborate, thought-through event. I know people who plan things meticulously, following recipes and timings to the letter. Such precision helps, but its not more important than pleasure.

I place much more importance on pleasure when cooking at home, so dont get too worked up about perfection or precision and get stuck in.

PRACTICE

I remember reading a quote from Bruce Lee somewhere and he said: I fear not the fighter who has practiced a hundred moves once, but the fighter who has practiced one move a hundred times.

Pick a few dishes that you like the sound or look of and try cooking them several times until you feel youve really got the hang of it, and the recipe has become a friend.

I also remember being on BBCs Saturday Kitchen with James Martin and John Torode. I was cooking chargrilled partridge with peanut and dried mango. James saw me spicing the marinade and commented on how easy I made it look. Whenever James tried to recreate a recipe of mine, his results werent quite the same. At that point John Torode said something I will always remember. He said that just because we learn to read music doesnt guarantee we could play a piece from Mozart or Beethoven and it would sound the same! It requires practice, and one should be prepared to give that time, at least to those recipes we like the sound of and wish to make our own.

I suggest trying the same dish a few times before moving onto the next. Practice does make perfect and it goes a long way in building confidence as a cook. You could also try cooking the same ingredient in a few different ways. That way, you give yourself a chance to really get to know the ingredient well and make it a friend.

Another thing that really helps while cooking things first time around are the techniques of touch and taste. When grinding spices, roasting, crushing, cooking, seasoning, use your fingers where possible, use touch as a guide, and taste, taste, taste all along. With the exception of raw chicken, most other spices, vegetables, meat and seafood can be tasted throughout the cooking process. Regular and frequent tasting of the cooking vegetables, smelling of the roasted spices, tasting of the marinated meats etc. allows your brain to map the transformation of ingredients and helps you when youre cooking the dish next time round.