I'm going slightly mad-ras (Rice, Spice and All Things Nice - Reza Mahammad)

Member Name: fizzywizzy

Product:	Rice, Spice and All Things Nice - Reza Mahammad
Date:	22/09/09 (90 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gorgeous illustrations, accessible ingredients, good alternative suggestions, degrees of complexity

Disadvantages: Not enough illustrations

If cooking is the new rock and roll then Reza Mahammad must be the culinary Freddie Mercury - slightly camp and dramatic, refined and charming and in possession of a somewhat regal air. Actually it's my esteemed OH who has this bizarre idea that Reza is like Freddie Mercury. Reza is not, of course, from Zanzibar; nor is he or has he ever been the lead singer of a band that also included the becurly-haired Brian May (are he and Anita Dobson the same person?). Or possibly any rock band, I can't say for certain. He did, however, go to the same boarding school as Freddie Mercury although not, he is keen to point out, at the same time.

So who is Reza Mahammad? Well, he's an utterly charming man who was raised in India and who now runs The Star of India restaurant on London's Old Brompton Road (having taken over from his father). You may have encountered Reza on television. He appeared in the 'fly on the wall' "A Place in France" when he became an advisor on Indian restaurants to Nippy and the hapless Nigel who opened "L'Ete Indienne" in the south of France. Soon after, when the restaurant had folded, he gave some much needed interior design advice when the ever bumbling Nigel decided to go into holiday letting. And perhaps most brilliantly, Reza flirted mercilessly with Sanjeev Bhaskar as part of the TV cookery and culture series "Delhi Belly".

"Rice, spice and all things nice" is a beautifully illustrated book in which Reza presents a collection of Indian recipes, some from his frequent travels, some used in the Star of India restaurant and a few handed down in his family.

Of course, there are loads of very eye-catching cookery books on the market but the real proof of a book's worth is whether the recipes work and whether they can be easily made at home. With eastern cuisines in particular, you need to know that you can get your hands on the ingredients. Can you make Reza's recipes from the store cupboard or do you have to mail order vital ingredients?

In the book's introduction, Reza states that he wants to inspire serial microwavers to use the cooker. Although he'd like people using the recipes to grind their own spices he concedes that supermarket ones will do. He also stresses that the recipes given here are only a guideline and you should experiment as you wish - which is just as well if you go to my local supermarket! Finally he points out that the recipes in each section are listed so that they gradually get more complex which means not only are there a variety of recipes to suit all skill levels but you can try more complicated dishes as you gain confidence.

The recipe sections are - Soups, snacks and breads, Fish, Poultry and game, Meat, Vegetables, Salads, relishes and side dishes, Rice dishes and, finally, Desserts. One of the first things you notice is that it's almost always a page to a recipe and that there are large sections of blank page - the ingredient lists are usually much longer than the method description. These are intensely flavoursome dishes rather than ones that entail complicated culinary skills. There are a couple of lines at the beginning of each one to tell you something about it - why Reza included it, perhaps a memory it evokes for him, or maybe where in India it comes from. It's all done in Reza's chatty and engaging style.

From the first chapter I have made the "Chicken kofta and rice broth". For this one I had all the ingredients except for fresh dill but the finished dish was still delicious. The only issue was that, in spite of taking great care to follow the recipe quantities, I found that the stated amount of liquid was not sufficient and I had to add more which I feared might dilute the flavours of the broth; fortunately it didn't.

Also from this section I tried making the duck samosas, not using a duck breast as suggested but using leftovers from a roast duck which worked just as well. All the other ingredients - such as green chilli, ground turmeric and garam masala - should be store cupboards staples for people who like to cook Indian food.

As the spattered pages of my book will attest, the fish kebabs recipe has been a popular one, recreated many times and often with slight differences depending on what I have in the cupboard. A bulb of fennel is listed but I've found it's not essential. This is a lovely light dish that uses cod and salmon but you could make them just as well with only one fish but using the same delicate spices.

Banana-leaf-wrapped Sea bass is another brilliant and very easy recipe but acquiring the leaves usually defeats me and I resort to Reza's alternative of tin foil. Only if I make a special trip to an Indian food store can I get the green mangoes for relish so I usually just make one from my own recipe.

The spice whole leg of lamb has become a party piece and everyone who has been granted this treat has loved it. It tastes as if lots of work has gone into it but it's really the overnight marinading that makes it so good. This recipe asks for green papaya though says it's optional - certainly it doesn't appear to miss it.

The meatballs in a green sauce are now a firm favourite in our house and are simple to make though the recipe uses lots of ingredients. I would recommend that you lay everything out before you start and read the recipe fully as some ingredients require a little preparation rather than being thrown straight into the pot. I would actually recommend this for most of the recipes as you don't want to be scrabbling frantically in the cupboard for fenugreek seeds as your onions are going black in the pan.

The Afghani aubergine casserole is a simple dish but packed with flavours and a perfect dish to cook up for veggie guests. Some of the salads would be good vegetarian dishes too - the warm okra salad is my favourite and one we now do for a lunch if the market happens to have fresh okra in - don't try this with tinned okra - it doesn't work!

The Indian rice pudding is a really simple dish and is a good dessert to follow a good meal because it's familiar dish that has a real Indian flavour with the use of the spices and it doesn't require a lot of preparation. Unfortunately for me, many of the desserts are nut-based and you can't really make substitutions in these recipes. One happy exception is a simple crème caramel which uses cardamom as a flavouring; I could happily eat this all day long. My first attempt failed and was awfully eggy but my other attempts have been rather successful.

Overall I've found the recipes easy to understand and quite simple to execute but I'd suggest that even very competent cooks read the recipes carefully in advance and get all the ingredients assembled prior to starting. Although you'd keep lots of spices in the cupboard, the recipes are mostly dependent on using fresh ingredients and it's worth maybe noting down the requirements for a couple of alternative dishes if you're going shopping and might not be able to find a key ingredient for a dish.

About a quarter of the recipes have colour photographs and there are occasional pictures from the filming of "Delhi Belly" and "A Place in France" as well as shots of the restaurant and its staff. The food shots are beautifully done but I'd like to have seen more of them and less of Reza on his travels (although some of these are lovely).

Although there are some familiar "curry" dishes the recipes here are more varied and would probably fall into the description "contemporary Indian cooking". There are some interesting ingredients such as venison or wood pigeon that would make good dinner party or special occasion dishes but equally there are some simple soups and salads that any cook could tackle.

A beautiful book to treasure but it would be a shame to display this and not try some of Reza's excellent dishes. One of the best cookery book investments I've made.

Mine is the hardback edition; the paperback edition is available from Amazon priced from £6.88

176 pages

Summary: An attractive and inspiring Indian cookery book