John Gregory-Smith - Fire & spice : fragrant recipes from the silk road and beyond

FIRE AND SPICE

JOHN GREGORY-SMITH

First published in the UK and USA in 2019 by

Nourish, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited

Unit 11, Shepperton House, 8393 Shepperton Road London N1 3DF

Recipes in this book have been previously published in the following volumes:

Mighty Spice Cookbook by John Gregory-Smith

Mighty Spice Express by John Gregory-Smith

Copyright Watkins Media Limited 2019

Text copyright John Gregory-Smith 2019

Photography copyright Watkins Media Limited 2019

The right of John Gregory-Smith to be identified as the Author of this text has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Commissioning Editor: Kate Fox

Managing Editor: Daniel Hurst

Design: Karen Smith

Production: Uzma Taj

Commissioned photography: William Lingwood and Toby Scott

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-84899-369-3

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Typeset in Harman & Brandon Grotesque

Colour reproduction by XY Digital

Printed in Malaysia

Publishers note

While every care has been taken in compiling the recipes for this book, Watkins Media Limited, or any other persons who have been involved in working on this publication, cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, inadvertent or not, that may be found in the recipes or text, nor for any problems that may arise as a result of preparing one of these recipes. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding or have any special dietary requirements or medical conditions, it is advisable to consult a medical professional before following any of the recipes contained in this book.

Notes on the recipes

The food symbols are used even when only a small amount of an item is present. Peanuts have been classed as nuts and pine nuts, quinoa and amaranth as seeds. Dairy free milk, yogurt, cheese and cream have been classed as either nut- or soya-based. And dairy free margarine has been classed as nut-, seed- or soya-based. New products continually come onto the market, however, making it impossible to be definitive about symbols. So its vital to check the manufacturers labelling carefully before using any food or drink, since the ingredients used by different brands do change and vary, especially regarding small quantities of ingredients. Do be aware, also, that manufacturers are not required to detail minuscule quantities of ingredients.

Do not mix metric, imperial and US cup measurements: 1 tsp = 5ml 1 tbsp = 15ml 1 cup = 240ml

nourishbooks.com

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Lets start by winding things back ten years to when I first began working on what forms part of this book. To be honest, it wasnt really a book back then but more of a ruse to get me get out of London and go travelling around the world. You see, I needed to escape. Just previous to this, the successful sauce brand that I had spent the past years building up from nothing to the point that it was stocked in supermarkets across the UK had folded. The recession had hit and demand for premium ethnic sauces had nose-dived. I needed a new start, so I did what anyone irresponsible twenty-something would do and fled the country to avoid reality and figure out what on earth I was going to do with myself

Now, this is not a sob story, far from it. In actuality, this hiccup, which at the time felt monumental, kickstarted my career as a writer something that I now know is my true calling and cherish more than anything. To date, I have written five cookbooks, become a specialist in Middle-eastern cuisine and been fortunate enough to write for publications all over the world. Beyond writing, I regularly appear on TV, cooking up a storm or talking about the subject I adore. I also get to go host lively events in fabulous restaurants when I am promoting a new book. I love the buzz of being in the kitchen and nailing a successful dinner service. The rise of social media has also allowed me to reach an even wider audience and my Instagram account and website are fantastic tools for me to showcase recipes and test out new ideas. Have a look: @johngs. In short, what then seemed like a disaster led me to my dream job. I just didnt know it at the time.

If youve ever been travelling solo, youll know that its both incredibly rewarding and, at the same time, a bit lonely. You have to make a real effort to find company. Thankfully, when most people see that you are alone they are very willing to extend the hand of friendship and welcome you to their circle. I enjoyed the company but dreaded the opening gambit of getting-to-know-you questions that would inevitably follow. I hadnt yet come to terms with the real reason that I was abroad myself, so I certainly wasnt ready to share it with strangers. To circumnavigate these awkward enquiries, I made up a fake project to justify my travels; I told people I was researching a cookbook about spices and street food that was a cinch to use, and only ever had up to five spices per recipe. It wasnt so far from the truth after all, spices had been my work and my passion for years, so writing about them didnt seem like too much of a leap! The odd thing was that the more I talked about The Mighty Spice Cookbook (yes, I named it very early on who would believe me without a title?) the more I became invested in it. Id conjured this book out of thin air, but it was a book that I knew that I would really like to read so, in the end, I decided to knuckle down and write the thing. My little white lie quickly became a reality.

So began a wonderful new chapter of my life. I spent six months travelling around the Far East, South-east Asia, India, The Middle East and Mexico. I learnt about exotic cuisines with local people in far-flung destinations, often working in home kitchens to get to the true heart of the cuisine. I spent time in some of the greatest cities on the planet, eating street food and marvelling at the myriad of sights, sounds and flavours of the world we live in. Its bloody cool! I have always enjoyed travelling but this changed everything. It turns out that this project, conjured out of thin air to justify my travels to a group of strangers, was just what I needed it gave me a new lease of life and brought the fire back to my belly. Sadly, I didnt quite understand the business of books and when I handed in my neatly organised travel receipts as expenses to my poor publisher, they looked deeply alarmed. This was what my advance was for. Whoops! I got that a bit wrong, but it didnt matter, the project had saved me and I was blissfully happy. Its funny how things pan out, isnt it?

My first book, The Mighty Spice Cookbook, was published a few years later in 2011. What a ride; me an unknown with an actual cookbook that real people could buy and not only that, one that they could use to recreate my recipes. The Mighty Spice Cookbook flew off the shelves and was sold around the world and I was quickly commissioned to write another. In 2013,