The Vegetarian Curry by Asha Naran. I used to work with Asha’s Daughter. While we were doing a course at Said Business School in Oxford she mentioned that her mum had published a cook book. I searched and found a copy. It has taken until now for me to try some recipes. They were really really worth it. Mrs b was feeling a bit under the weather and the recipe for Gujarati-style Tea sounded like just the tonic. You start by making a tea masala which has some wonderful spices ground into a spice mix. Cardamom, cinnamon, dried ginger, cloves, white peppercorns – it smelt so fragrant that anything you were going to add it to was bound to taste good. Then it’s case of brewing some tea with sugar, tea masala and milk plus a couple of other spices to make the tea. Now I’ve had masala chai in India when I’ve visited and it’s often overly sweet but I have to say that this recipe was perfect! In the week we tried Cauliflower and Pea Shaak which was a firey little side dish which we had with a chicken and mango jerk curry blending the Caribbean with India. The cauliflower was fried in spices and oil then peas added and finished with garam masala. Wow. This is one of the best side dishes I’ve ever cooked with Indian food. Just delicious. I’m sure my friend is but she should be so proud of her mum. Her food is awesome and her book a delight.