When I was little my mum was always baking cakes and pies etc and I really enjoyed helping her. However, in this busy day and age, the art of home baking seems to be dying out a bit – there are so many ready-made cakes and pies to buy, and I guess we are all that bit more health and weight conscious so do not want to be continually eating this sort of food. Having said that there, there is little more satisfying than seeing your freshly baked cake come out of the oven, and within a short while actually being able to taste it!

I was on the lookout for a good baking recipe book, mainly because I thought it would be good to do some baking with my daughter like my mum used to do with me. I already knew of Leiths Cookery Bible so when I saw Leiths Baking Bible I didn’t need to look any further! The recipes are actually compiled by Susan Spaull and Fiona Burrell but are all tested at Leiths School of Food and Wine.

baking, Fiona Burrell, Susan Spaul

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Camellia Panjabi leaves no stone unturned for Western lovers of her country’s food in this little book that is more than just a collection of recipes. Following an introduction there is a page with a map alongside on culinary India, and then a chapter on The Philosophy of Indian Cuisine. This is followed by Why an Indian Meal? I was pleasantly surprised on reading the last paragraph of this section to discover just how beneficial some spices are: turmeric is anti-inflammatory while curry leaves are anti-bacterial; cumin and clove aid digestion whereas black pepper dries mucus.

The preliminary section continues with What Exactly is a Curry? This section of the book explains that curry simply means gravy.

Camellia Panjabi, curry, India

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