Hello eG

[Tempest63]

Hi,

I am a 60 year old man, born in London, England (in the same street as Charlie Chaplin) and have resided in the Essex countryside for over 40 years. I live with my wife, three English Springer Spaniels and a Labrador.

We are both foodies and in the past our holidays were always based on what local food we could eat when we got there. I love cooking, probably more so than the eating.

My overriding passion is traditional and regional Indian cuisine, having realised that what one buys in a BIR (British Indian restaurant), tastes nothing like traditional food.

I'm looking to find some new and interesting recipes here and am happy to share some of those I have on file.

[Tropicalsenior]

Welcome to EG. We need more Brits, I'm glad to see that you are joining us. I've never been to the UK but I've had a lifelong love of the history and the food history of the British Islands. The Indian food of England may be different than what you would find in India but by simplifying it Britain has contributed some pretty fantastic dishes and enabled the rest of the world to enjoy The Taste of India without a lot of the complications.

I would love to be able to cook Indian food but because of allergies in our household to onions, garlic, and fresh peppers, it is almost impossible. I would love to work with you to find some recipes that I might be able to make.

I'm looking forward to your contributions to our community.

[Tempest63]

4 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Welcome to EG. We need more Brits, I'm glad to see that you are joining us. I've never been to the UK but I've had a lifelong love of the history and the food history of the British Islands. The Indian food of England may be different than what you would find in India but by simplifying it Britain has contributed some pretty fantastic dishes and enabled the rest of the world to enjoy The Taste of India without a lot of the complications.

I would love to be able to cook Indian food but because of allergies in our household to onions, garlic, and fresh peppers, it is almost impossible. I would love to work with you to find some recipes that I might be able to make.

I'm looking forward to your contributions to our community.

Hi, my diet is slightly curtailed at present as I’m trying (with difficulty) to stick with an Ayurvedic diet for a digestive disorder.

The Ayurvedic diet excludes a lot of commonly used ingredients found in Indian food, tomatoes, chillies, turmeric, amchoor, asafoetida and no red meat at present, although chicken is allowed three times a week.

I don’t know how I could survive without onions and garlic, but the Kashmiri Pandits are Brahmins who will eat meat, but abstain from garlic, onion and tomato. A traditional Kashmiri Rogan Josh will often not contain those ingredients for that reason. Madhur Jaffrey had a version in her first cookbook and I have just found this on the web. https://cathyingeneva.wordpress.com/2021/07/27/madhur-jaffreys-kashmiri-rogan-josh/

[ElsieD]

Welcome to eGullet.  You're going to like it here!

[blue_dolphin]

Welcome, @Tempest63!  

Do you have any favorite cookbooks for Indian cuisine? 

This is what's on my "Indian shelf, with a few more on Kindle.

 

[Tempest63]

1 hour ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Welcome to EG. We need more Brits, I'm glad to see that you are joining us. I've never been to the UK but I've had a lifelong love of the history and the food history of the British Islands. The Indian food of England may be different than what you would find in India but by simplifying it Britain has contributed some pretty fantastic dishes and enabled the rest of the world to enjoy The Taste of India without a lot of the complications.

I would love to be able to cook Indian food but because of allergies in our household to onions, garlic, and fresh peppers, it is almost impossible. I would love to work with you to find some recipes that I might be able to make.

I'm looking forward to your contributions to our community.

Hi, my diet is slightly curtailed at present as I’m trying (with difficulty) to stick with an Ayurvedic diet for a digestive disorder.

The Ayurvedic diet excludes a lot of commonly used ingredients found in Indian food, tomatoes, chillies, turmeric, amchoor, asafoetida and no red meat at present, although chicken is allowed three times a week.

I don’t know how I could survive without onions and garlic, but the Kashmiri Pandits are Brahmins who will eat meat, but abstain from garlic, onion and tomato. A traditional Kashmiri Rogan Josh will often not contain those ingredients for that reason. Madhur Jaffrey had a version in her first cookbook and I have just found this on the web. https://cathyingeneva.wordpress.com/2021/07/27/madhur-jaffreys-kashmiri-rogan-josh/

[Tempest63]

24 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Welcome, @Tempest63!  

Do you have any favorite cookbooks for Indian cuisine? 

This is what's on my "Indian shelf, with a few more on Kindle.

 

I have many favourites. I started like many people here in the U.K. with Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery which accompanied her BBC tv series over 40 years ago(1982). I have two copies, a battle stained version printed in 1987 that goes into the kitchen with me and an earlier pristine version from 84 used for perusing. I moved onto the late Pat Chapman books from the Curry Club and have enjoyed reading and trying recipes from many chefs, Camellia Panjabi, Atul Kochar, Vivek Sing and some of the later ones like Sumatra Usmani and a particular favourite, Meera Sodah.

My Indian book collection must be close to nearly 200 now and are all over the house but the main ones are here in the lounge

 

[blue_dolphin]

1 minute ago, Tempest63 said:

My Indian book collection must be close to nearly 200 now and are all over the house but the main ones are here in the lounge

 

Holy cow - that's quite the collection!  

[TdeV]

Hello @Tempest63. Some great folk here on eG for you to find. Welcome!

[C. sapidus]

Welcome! Always happy to hear from another person who enjoys cooking Indian food.

[cdh]

Welcome.  We have some history here at eG with Indian cooking... Search for the 20-year-old threads where @Suvir Saran was sharing his takes.