Curry Compendium: Misty Ricardo's Curry Kitchen

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I was so excited to be asked to review this book. Cooking and cook books are my thing, so to receive this was an honour. Inspirational, no-nonsense and practical - A treasure trove of traditional and lesser known recipes The QR coding is a wonderful idea and how better to follow a chef in your own kitchen on YouTube, pause, rewind at your own leisure. I would highly advise reading the beginning of this book before diving straight into the individual recipes. I learnt a lot about base gravy and other things by doing so which I think made cooking the recipes easier and gave me some context as to why I was doing what I was doing. It’s also really interesting.

Richard lives in the North West of England and dedicates his 'foodie' time to cooking, recipes, social media, Then add the ginger/garlic paste, stirring for about 30 seconds until it starts to brown a little. Avoid burning! Last Christmas was a wash-out for many Brits, so this year thoughts are turning to making this one to remember. After years of enjoying a Christmas curry on the Big Day itself, Richard Sayce, author of Curry Compendium believes many people will be looking to reduce stress in the kitchen, spend extra quality time with family and friends, making Christmas more memorable than ever.

Now add the chilli powder, spice mix, kasuri methi, salt, and 30ml of the base sauce to help the powdered spices cook without burning. Richard Sayce, the man behind the Misty Ricardo’s Curry Kitchen, has many years of experience in the world of Indian food. To date his two Gourmand award-winning books, Indian Restaurant Curry at Home Volumes 1 & 2 have sold 50,000 physical copies. This new book offers 99 fully detailed recipes, covering starters, mains, sides, rice, accompaniments, and traditional Indian & streetfood. With just under 100 mouth-watering, easy to follow recipes to try out and delight your tastebuds, any curry lover will just love this recipe book! Curries as we know them from our favourite takeaways and restaurants are generally Indian dishes modified for British tastes, known as BIR or British Indian Restaurant style curry, and they generate billions of pounds for the UK economy with most British towns and cities having at least one Indian restaurant or takeaway. Being able to recreate your favourite curry dish at home in the comfort of your own kitchen might be a challenge for a lot of people, but with Misty Richardo’s Curry Compendium by Richard Sayce you will be able to do just that! Curry Compendium includes starters, side dishes, curries, rice and bread, along with a generous portion of vegetarian, traditional and street food style recipes. Readers benefit from supporting YouTube tutorials for the majority of recipes, each with a QR code to scan with a smartphone/tablet to watch online instantly.

So, most of it didn't make much sense, although it suggested solid knowledge and valuable tips were being imparted. I really like the inclusion of QR codes in the text that allow readers to jump directly to YouTube videos by the author. Next add 75ml of base sauce. Stir into the sauce, and leave on high heat until the sauce has reduced a little, the oil has separated and small craters form around the edges again. Let me start by saying that I absolutely love Indian food. I have travelled to India and eaten authentic food there, but I also adore British Indian food; which is different. Getting a takeaway on a Friday or Saturday night is a British tradition and Indian is my favourite takeaway to get. So to have the option to create those kind of flavoursome and tasty meals at home is very exciting to me. Thank you to NetGalley, Misty Ricardo’s Curry Kitchen, and Richard Sayce for an Advanced Copy of this book as well as letting me participate in this book tour. All opinions in this review are my own. I made Tomato and Chilli chutney last week and 1 jar has already been eaten it was delicious with cheese etc.

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Add a second 75ml of base sauce, stirring and scraping the bottom and sides of the pan once when first added, allowing the sauce to reduce again without unnecessary stirring. The first chapter has so much useful information; don’t skip it to get to the recipes. There are tons of hints such as how to avoid a harsh tasting curry, an explanation of the spices and how to get the most out of them, and the fact that so often high heat is necessary. I would usually be tempted to turn the heat down when things get really bubbling.

For those that love a good Indian restaurant style takeaway in their own home, this would make an excellent gift this year for the curry-loving family member. They will be able to save themselves a fortune on takeaways and hopefully, with a little bit of practice, do a good job of recreating great tasting British Indian Restaurant style meals. The book is beautifully illustrated and the style of writing is engaging, taking the reader from the basics to more involved recipes in a no-nonsense practical style. I particularly enjoyed the hints and tips which the author shares with the reader throughout, gained from his many years mastering the cuisine. It contains chapters on starters, classic curries, special dishes, extra hot curries, vegeatable curries, side dishes, rice and breads and sundries, not to mention a selection of mouthwatering street food and specialities. This is by far the best curry cookbook out there. Anyone who wants to master good curries at home will consider this a “must have” cookbook. It will be used over and over and will keep curry lovers happy with new curries for months on end. A knowledgeable friend told me in no uncertain terms that I had to get this book, that Richard Sayce writes the best and tastiest curry recipes. I like that each recipe has pictures included so you can see what you're making. I'm confused why Sayce refers to the base of a curry as gravy and a few other points, but the recipes are thorough and helpful. There's a lot of information on how to learn to cook BIR food.

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Everything is explained what is best for what dish you are creating. A great guide to recreating British Indian Restaurant favourites from the comfort of your own home! and you can recreate superb British Indian Restaurant food at home with the works of Misty Ricardo's Curry Kitchen" This is one of the most in-depth types of cooking I have ever tried to do, and when I succeeded I felt like the most successful person in the world, but when I struggled I wanted to give up cooking completely. Now, that’s not the fault of the cookbook – that is just the nature of the food being prepared. This book gives step by step instructions, with all of the measurements needed at the beginning of each recipe for ease of mise en place (“put everything in place” aka prep for those who don’t watch a ton of cooking shows like me), before starting cooking. However, the cookbook does have a few quirks that requires some getting used to – especially if you aren’t using this book a lot, or like me, you don’t use the metric system (darn you U.S. schools!). Let’s talk about my successes though! I successfully made pilau rice, naan, the base spice mix, the base for curry, and vegetable samosas (kinda)! (see below pictures) Not only were they successful but they tasted good too – well, I didn’t taste the base sauce, but it smelled good! I ended up having cooking nights with a few different people (COVID-safe of course), so it was fun even with all of the complicated things and having to fudge ingredients. The naan was the easiest thing I cooked, it didn’t take too long from start to finish, and it tasted delicious. I can’t wait to make it again & try incorporating different flavors. There is nothing better than soft bread, and this definitely hit that spot.