review – Cook and Drink

Exploring Asma Khan’s Ammu (Part 1)

26 June 2025

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 Bengalihome 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

When talking about our menu, we looked at the menu of The Darjeeling Express and decided to prepare one starter and four dishes as main course. A vegetarian Pumpkin and Coconut soup would be ideal as a starter. The ingredients are pumpkin, onion, garlic, ginger, red chillies, coconut cream, salt, star anise and fennel seeds. Two tablespoons of fennel seeds (for 6 servings)? Star anise? Would that work?

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

When reading the book, we noticed that the recipes are not too complex, however, most are rather labour intensive. The book includes several recipes for desserts but given the time we needed to prepare the other dishes we decided to make a relativity easy Bengali dessert (not included in the book).

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

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

Nothing Fancy!

19 June 2023

Recently we reviewed Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman as part of the inspiring cookbook review project by Bernadette. The subtitle of Nothing Fancy is ‘Unfussy food for having people over’, and it contains ‘low-stress and high impact’ recipes. A book that promises to help you serve colourful plates, casually roasted meat and desserts, even when you’re struggling timewise. An interesting idea, having guests over for dinner or lunch, serving tasty food, remaining relaxed and enjoying every minute of it.

We prepared three dishes and asked our panel (Carolien, Hans and Joke) for their thoughts.

Tomato Salad

The first dish we prepared was a Tomato Salad with Anchovies and Fennel Seeds, a combination of ripe and tasty tomatoes with fennel flavoured oil and anchovies. Our panel was very happy with the salad. The combination of tomatoes and fennel is a trouvaille and the salty, umami flavour of the anchovy gives the salad an extra dimension. It’s great to serve as a salad on its own. It will also combine very well with swordfish or skate.

Green Pea Salad

The second dish (a Salad with Green Peas, Black Olives and Burrata) was very easy to make and absolutely delicious. We added some extra grated lemon and mint. Our panel was pleasantly surprised by the refreshing flavour, the aroma and the velvety, juicy mouthfeel.

Roasted Chicken

The third dish was casually Roasted Citrus Chicken with Herbs. The recipe suggests setting your oven to 230 °C or 450 °F. Isn’t that a bit too hot, we thought? But okay, let’s do as suggested and follow the recipe. We transferred the chicken to the hot oven. Five minutes later we were busy turning off the smoke alarm. Our panel had a good laugh (although we couldn’t hear them very well because of the noise). So far for remaining relaxed!

The chicken is marinated for a number of hours in a mix of lime and lemon juice, orange juice, soy sauce, olive oil, sambal and garlic cloves. Then fried in the oven on 180 °C or 355 °F and served with some cooking liquid, caramelised lemon and orange slices and a generous amount of herbs (Cilantro, Parsley, Rosemary, Thyme and Oregano)

We served the citrus chicken with a glass of red wine made by Domaine La Tour Beaumont in the French Loire region. It is made using Gamay grapes, well known from the Beaujolais region. A very fruity, juicy wine that should be served slightly chilled. We also served a glass of zero alcohol rosé produced by Domaine de L’Arjolle, made with Cabernet Franc and Syrah grapes. The wine is dry, aromatic and has long lasting taste (raspberry, strawberry). Beautiful colour, not sweet (as many other zero alcohol wines) and light. Both worked beautifully with the chicken and the herbs thanks to the lightness and the fruity flavours.

(Y) our Shelf

Should this book be on (y)our shelf? Definitely yes if you’re looking for tasty food that doesn’t require too much work. If you want to remain relaxed while cooking and entertaining, be sure to test the recipes before having people over, because some aspects of the recipes may need adjusting.

Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman is available via your local bookstore or the usual channels for US$ 20.00 or € 30,00.