Cook and Drink

Recently we bought Asma Khan’s cookbook Ammu, Indian Home Cooking to Nourish Your Soul. ‘An entrancing book’, according to Nigella Lawson.
Asma Khan is an Indian British chef, cookbook author and restaurant owner. In 2012 her pop-up restaurant started for 12 guests at her home, serving food cooked from traditional family recipes. Today her all-female Darjeeling Express restaurant in London offers Indian Rajput and Bengali home cooking specialties.

In 2024 she won the Johannes van Dam Prize, a lifetime achievement award for an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the world of gastronomy. Previous winners of the prestigious prize include Yotam Ottolenghi, Carlo Petrini, Alice Waters, Claudia Roden, Jeroen Meus and Alain Passard.

We prepared five dishes from the book and asked our esteemed panel (André, Joke, Martine and Rutger) for their thoughts. In this post we will look into Asma Khans Pumpkin and Coconut Soup and a dessert from Bengali, Bhapa Doi. On July 17^th we will post part 2 of this review.

Flavours and Aromas

Asma Khan’s cookbook is about the food she enjoyed when she lived in India, the food she missed so much when living in the UK. By publishing the recipes, she creates an opportunity for all of us to enjoy the food that is close to her heart. That’ s why we followed her instructions to the letter, with one exception; we used less chillies.

Spices

Buying the right spices was a bit of a challenge. One of the ingredients of the Pineapple Chutney is Tej Patta, or Indian bay leaf. It has a clear cinnamon-like flavour and is not to be confused with common bay leaf.
We also needed not too spicy large chillies. We found some excellent Kashmiri Red Chilies. Flavourful, a touch spicy and dark red.
One dish required Cassia Bark which we couldn’t find and replaced with cinnamon.
We wanted to serve original Indian beer, so we had to find a few bottles of Kingfisher or Cobra.
The shopping took a bit of time, but it was worth the effort!

Not Just Another Cookbook

The book is called ‘Ammu’ which translates to ‘Mother’. The stories, the recipes, the whole book is a tribute to the food her mother (and the family’s cook) prepared. But we feel it’s more: it’s also a tribute to original flavours, to people taking time to prepare food, to sharing and enjoying, to communities and heritage.

Pumpkin and Coconut Soup

The panel was impressed: a delicious pumpkin soup, spicy, but not the kind of spiciness that lingers on. The fennel worked beautifully with the pumpkin and coconut. The star anise gave the soup a nice additional and unexpected aroma. André’s favourite.

Bhapa Doi

The Bhapa Doi is rich and moist, the taste long and (not overly) sweet. It made us think of cream cheese pie. The raisins combined very well with the creamy flavours and the cardamom. Perhaps we could have made smaller portions?

What You Need (for 7 ramekins (150 ml))

• One tin of Condensed Milk (approximately 400 grams)
• 250 ml Greek Yoghurt
• 100 ml Whole Milk
• 1½ teaspoon of finely crushed Cardamom Seeds
• Handful of Sultana Raisins
• Pistachio Nuts (to decorate)

What You Do

1. Soak the sultana raisins for 15 minutes in lukewarm water
2. Preheat your oven to 170 °C or 340 °F traditional (no fan)
3. Combine the condensed milk with the yoghurt until smooth
4. Add the milk and combine
5. Add the crushed cardamom seeds
6. Use kitchen paper to dry the raisins
7. Add the raisins to the mixture
8. Fill the ramekins with the mixture
9. Place the ramekins in a baking tray
10. Add boiling water up to 2/3 of the height of the ramekins
11. Close the oven door and reduce the temperature to 120 °C or 250 °F
12. Leave in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes, until set
13. Test with a needle (it should come out dry)
14. Remove the ramekins from the baking tray and allow to cool.
15. Best to refrigerate the ramekins for 4⁺ hours in the refrigerator before serving
16. Decorate with pistachio nuts

The Book

Ammu, Indian Home Cooking to Nourish Your Soul by Asma Khan is for sale via the usual channels or your local bookstore for 35,00 US$ or 26,00 EUR.
Some of her recipes were published by the BBC, other recipes were published by Great British Chefs and these by the Foodnetwork.