If you read my article, Curry – A Journey, published on the Curry page of this site, youll know that my first experiences of the dish were of the generic variety which the British invariably cooked and ate when living abroad a few decades ago. Youll also know that I then discovered real Indian cookery and decided that as I couldnt afford to eat out that much, I needed to learn how to cook the stuff myself.
My first stop then, was a local bookshop, where the choice of books on Indian cookery was somewhat limited. However, I struck lucky and discovered a book called Indian Cookery by Madhur Jaffrey – what a find. Written in simple language but with lovely descriptive text and recommendations on what to serve with what, it was just what I had been looking for.
There was a stumbling block, however, which was the endless list of spices, seasonings and flavourings in the front of the book. I didnt know where to start – Id heard of quite a lot of them, having watched a few TV programmes on Indian cooking but, help I thought, buying that many all at once is going to cost a fortune. If youre thinking the same, dont panic. Check in your store...