Cookbook Recipes- Indian Flavours by Marut Sikka
I read and re-read the title I have given to this post again. And I looked at the cookbook I had just finished admiring. After so many days of drooling at the dishes this person cooked on TV, I finally gave in and searched for the book and now I am a proud owner of this collection of recipes by Marut Sikka.
For intro, Marut Sikka is known as the Culinary Ambassador of India. He has 14 Indian restaurants all over the world and is known for his unique recipe creations for airlines to hotels to events. I had a chance to see his program on ndtvgoodtimes when we started getting that channel with our usual set up.
I must say Marut Sikka’s recipes are simple, looks good, tastes good. There are no elaborate, over the top, 20 different stages to look after before making a dish. Neither does his recipes make you run to the supermarket to get some unique spice or vegetable to make a meal. Its all in the pantry and its all about putting the right things together.
To start with, the book describes indian spices, herbs and their uses and flavors. Then it is divided into sections dedicated to:
-Basics (chutneys,stocks, easy drinks)
-Under the Spice section: Veg and Non veg dishes with spices(some of the recipes in this section are potatoes in cashew qourma, stir fried vegetables and gravies, Lamb Biryani etc)
-For the fresh herb and vegetable section there are soups, mirchi ka salan, kebabs etc.,
-The section Seeds and Leaves describes recipes about pineapple and sweetpotato salad, rawalpindi chana, achari baingan, the famous rose petal rice etc.,
-And then there are spicy snacks that could be made with dried fruits like crispy karela!!
The roundup is ended with traditional sweets of India.
While I was browsing through the book, I really wanted to try out each and every one as the method was easy, did not require specific ingredients and I had a picture of the completed dish next to each recipe to urge me to race to the kitchen.
Since I am a vegetarian, I am planning to cook the veggie gravies and rices first and write about the experience and the taste and then adapt the non-veg recipes with either cauliflower, mushrooms or potatoes.
The other thing I liked about this cookbook is that it did not provide the usual list of gravies found in most cookbooks, yet with the same ingredients I would be able to cook up a different side dish to go along with rotis or jeera rice.
I also wondered if the book will contain the same recipes I have seen on Marut Sikka’s shows but nope. The recipes featured were different so I guess I have double the number of recipes now 
The person who is really happy about the purchase(other than me) is my hubby. For a change he is happy that its not going to be dal,kadhi, chana, rajma, paneer or palak that will be served with his roti for dinner. Tried out recipes from the book will follow soon!
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