Jenni

Chris, I sometimes feel that the number of people who cook their own foods is actually increasing! I am currently trying to sell my Indian cookery book, and practically every friend, workmate, friend of my Dad, etc. that I show it to says "Ooh, I love cooking, let's have a look." Not only are they cooking, but they want to try making things that they have never made before, or even heard of! Cooking is definitely alive and well in my local area. You only have to look at, for instance, my local Indian grocer. It's always busy, always people buying lots of raw ingredients. They want home-cooked meals, not something from a packet or a can.

Anyone here make rice noodles at home? I make a kind of South Indian rice noodle called idiappam. It's quite delicate though, and I have only ever used them to make little noodle "nests" with coconut - see the picture here: http://www.manjuscookingclass.com/images/food/idiappam.jpg I imagine that the more robust kind that could be stirfried and so on is trickier to make.

I do agree with Sugar Apple somewhat. In our family, food and cooking is more than just for survival - it's a part of our lives that is important to us. I don't think any amount of easy-food options such as fast food and ready meals is going to change that.

Real chocolate, whole milk, not too much sugar. A bit of cinnamon and chilli powder adds a nice touch too.

Corinna, I like to dip the pancakes in the sauce, and also use them to scoop up bits of the solid vegetables. Please note, this is not (as far as I know) a traditional combination, I just wanted to make up a new way of making and serving adai.

This is really not such a great photo, I apologise! Supper was a simple spinach and tomato toor dal, plus another pancake from my upcoming book and a vegetable in coconut-yoghurt sauce dish. The pancake is loosely based on adai, except that I use slightly different seasoning and also make the batter (and the pancakes) much thinner than is normal. The results are very light and tasty. The vegetables in coconut-yoghurt sauce is based on moru kalan.

Pancakes - then you can make sweet or savoury, depending on what mood you're in

Ice cream, hands down. The coolness soothes the tongue, the sweetness soothes the ego.

Just out of interest, for the people who prefer savoury breakfasts, do you find that in general you prefer savoury foods? For me, sweet foods are a nice little extra if I feel like it, but most of the time I would rather have something savoury.

I need savoury in the morning, preferably spicy. Give me idli sambar, upma, or even just a bowl of dal and some roti. I hold back on the garlic if I have college though!

Tonight's supper was a very simple masoor dal, plus a pancake and carrot mash dish from my upcoming book. The pancake is ripped because I started eating too quickly! Pudding was a very ripe and delicious mango.

I think I am right in saying that bacos are even vegetarian.

Tonight I made greek style baked beans and olive bread. It was served with a little cheddar cheese. Delicious - I can never understand why people don't make their own bread more often. It literally takes a few minutes of work, and then it's just a matter of waiting and baking.

I am not unduly worried by this article. It seems to me that there always has and always will be people who are not that interested in food. They don't like to cook. They don't care where stuff comes from. These people go for the easiest route out - restaurants, take-outs, ready meals, pre-prepared ingredients and so on. Then there are those who enjoy cooking. They always will. Even if sometimes they are so busy that they have to get take-out meals for supper. Even if sometimes they are so tired that they can't face making anything more than pasta and pesto (store-bought!). When they have the time and energy, they will make something from scratch, because they love doing it and they think it tastes better than everything else in the world. Hey, even my brother, who is damn lazy, loves to cook when he can. He is a student, but he and his housemates enjoy whipping up impressive meals for each other, in between the days they live on beer and 7p sausages! And when he comes home, he loves the fact that he can get home-cooked meals 2-3 times a day (depending on what time he gets up!). Don't worry yourselves too much - there are plenty of people, young and old, who will never give up cooking.

I feel I should share with other eGulleters my version of the Sunday roast! Roast potatoes, roast sweetcorn (not shown), green beans and masoor dal with courgettes. Roast potatoes immersed in dal is one of life's greatest pleasures. The potatoes, sweetcorn and beans were all homegrown. It may be a mistake to call the beans green, as they are actually purple before cooking. My Dad informs me that they are a variety called "Cherokee trail of tears" beans. They are very tasty.

Hmm, I've tried quite a few vac-packed chestnuts, and really liked them (even though they are ridiculously expensive, well where I live they are anyway). Then again, I've never eaten freshly home-roasted chestnuts.

Nutella. God, take it away from me, now!

At the risk of totally derailing this thread (mods, please allow me this one post to clear it all up!) - One book is already out (Mango Soup). Next book will not be out for a while, I am taking my time with it because I am also at college and doing far too many other things!

I'm flattered by the interest guys, but I'm gonna keep this one quiet, because it's hard enough to sell books without the recipes already being available for free online! I will say that there is besan and coriander (fresh) too, but no yoghurt. No more guessing! My book on pancakes is supposed to be something slightly unusual and interesting so that people buy it out of curiosity!

No egg, I don't eat eggs so none of my food contains egg. Don't want to give away too much about the pancake, as it will be a recipe in my next book, so let's just say there are fresh herbs and spices in it!

Tonight's supper was cucumber raita, figs from Madhur Jaffrey' "World Vegetarian" and a pancake from my next book. I love recipe testing!

To me, pizza is a thin layer of bread with toppings on it. Yes, there's the traditional Neapolitan pizza, but there are also other things that can still be called pizza. I put an enormous variety of toppings on my pizza. Spinach, artichoke and caper (with tomato sauce and mozzerella) is a real favourite right now. I also like asparagus, aubergine, courette, feta, olives, cheddar, red onion, fresh tomato, mushrooms, goats cheese, peppers....there are so many wonderful possibilities! I agree that it's probably quite true that you shouldn't overload too much on quantity of topping. On the other hand....I'm not a big fan of bread, and prefer the toppings to the pizza base. My whole family really enjoys making overloaded pizzas! Here's one we made this weekend (before cooking): There are a lot of toppings on that pizza,and it also has a wholemeal base. Say what you like, it was delicious, and I'd make and eat it again.

In my recipe book I recommend soy yoghurt for those who can't or don't want to eat yoghurt. It's a pretty good sub, and the alpro soya brand seems readily available. There are lots of other brands too.

Home grown peas and home grown kale made masoor dal with kale, green pea pilau and ajwain carrots.

Yesterday morning I was making idlis to take to college for lunch and I had some batter left over. So I made utthappam with carrot and onion topping for my Dad. Here it is cooking on the pan. And on the plate. Sorry it's not a very good picture, I am not very good at presentation!