Meena Pathak Celebrates Indian Cooking: 100 Delicious Recipes, 50 Years of Patak's [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Meena Pathak (Author), Anjali Pathak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2007

Fans of Indian cuisine, as well as busy modern cooks in search of quick and easy recipes for weekday meals, will find this collection irresistible. Created by Meena Pathak—the force behind the world’s most popular brand of Indian food and the author of Indian Cooking for Family and Friends—it celebrates traditional flavors in healthy dishes perfect for today’s on-the-go lifestyle. Bombay Pitta Pockets, based on snacks she used to eat as a girl, is perfect for picnics or a child’s school lunch. Mouthwatering Seared Keralan Prawns take just five minutes to grill. In addition to the recipes, Pathak serves up plenty of cooking tips and background on Indian culture.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Meena Pathak OBE was born in Mumbai, India. She trained in food technology and as a chef with the prestigious Taj hotel group. In the late 1970s, she married Kirit Pathak and together they began to grow the family's spices and pickles company in England. Today, Patak's (they dropped the "h") is the UK brand leader in Indian foods, exporting to over 40 countries. Her highly successful first book, Flavours of India, won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award in 2002 for Best First Cookbook. She has also written Indian Cooking for Family and Friends. Both are published by New Holland. She lives in Bolton, Lancashire.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

Since I wrote my last two cookbooks, I have been inundated with requests for more delicious recipes. This next instalment, as I like to call it, celebrates my husband's heritage: 50 years of Patak's.

The way we cook now is a far cry from how our parents and grandparents cooked 50 years ago. Techniques, ingredients and cooking styles have all developed and Indian food is no different. Clay cooking pots have been replaced with stainless steel saucepans, and those hard-to-find ingredients are now sold at the local shop.

When I was a young girl growing up in Mumbai, my mother used to share with me her experiences as a child, from the food she was brought up on to how she was taught to cook. I now do the same with my daughter, and the changes that have taken place are huge. The recipes in this book reflect these transitional periods, from the basics through to the modern way of cooking. However, the flavour of Indian food has never been lost. It has always been the most exciting cuisine and its use of exotic herbs and spices livens up even the most basic recipes.

Over the last 50 years, Patak's has been a big part of these wonderful changes and is now a household name and an everyday cupboard item. Whether it is adding a little bit of paste here, or having a bit of chutney there, Patak's influence has been far-reaching. My husband Kirit and I have always tried to make Indian food more accessible and less daunting, for the student who has never cooked, all the way to the experienced chef. My passion has always been to share my knowledge of India and Indian food.

My memories of being introduced to Indian food and traditions are very vivid. In particular I remember the summer I finished my final exams -- oh what a relief! It was April and the height of the famous Indian summer had begun. Temperatures were soaring into the 40s and the humidity was off the chart. School holidays had begun and plans, as usual, were being made to get away from the sweltering heat. The mango season was in full swing and the female members of the family, children and grandmothers included, had to make the pickles and chutneys for the year ahead. So it was "all hands on deck" to make sure the task was completed before we all left for the summer. My grandmother was busy ordering the raw green mangoes and my grandfather was getting anxious to book the train tickets to Simla, a Northern Indian town where the climate would be cooler.

We had got word from our vegetable supplier that the best and freshest fruit was being picked off the trees in a village 100 miles from our house in Mumbai, and that we would have it on our doorstep within 48 hours -- all 80 kilos of it. My mother, aunt and grandmother began busying themselves with ordering spices, whilst the children were given the task of washing the brass pots and filling them with water ready for the soaking of the fruit. The vegetable wallah kept true to his word and at 7:30 the next morning the doorbell rang. Five men and one woman were standing on the doorstep carrying baskets on their heads full of the freshest mangoes I had ever seen.

Though I was only nine years old, this has become one of my fondest memories. It was a great time to talk about different recipes, but my grandmother was truly in charge. Whenever I asked her the ingredients she would always omit one of them (deliberately). The pickles were made using love and attention, some hot and spicy and some sweet. It was one of my favourite times of the year as it gave us all a chance to exchange family gossip, sing songs and get up to all sorts of pranks. The pickles were made using a secret blend of over eleven different spices known only to my grandmother, which were then tempered in hot oil and mixed with the mangoes. The chutneys were boiled up, whereas the pickles were placed in large earthen pots tied with muslin cloths for maturing. It was then time to unpack our woollen clothes from storage and pack the monstrous tiffin ready for the long journey ahead of us.

This book is all about these memories of learning how to cook as a child. India is a versatile country of colours, spices, flavours, culture and above all, heritage. I have tried to share with you my passion for food and also want to show you how India is evolving constantly. Some of these recipes have been in my family for generations, and I sincerely hope they inspire you to cook.

Fifty years is a milestone for Patak's. My late father-in-law, L.G. as he was fondly known, was the first person to import Indian spices and vegetables into the UK. Even today people remember him as the "Guru of Indian food" and he is often remembered as a pioneer and ambassador. Kirit can still remember the hardships of 1957 when it all began. Those humble beginnings were the start of something amazing. If I cast my mind back to 1976, when my journey with Patak's began, I realise how fortunate I was to marry into a family that shared my passion for Indian food but I also had something to offer, knowledge. As a girl from Mumbai, having studied Food Technology and being lucky enough to have travelled around visiting my father at various army bases, I had a good solid background in Indian cuisine. When Kirit and I married, I joined the family business and began developing products for them to recreate in their factory. Not an easy task, but 30 years on we are still striving to deliver great tasting authentic recipes. Patak's may have only been around for 50 years but there are so many more years to come. Indian food is evolving all the time and there is so much more to be tasted. We have only begun to show you the diversity within Indian food and we think we might be getting that little bit closer to showing you just what India has to offer. My three grown-up children, Neeraj, Nayan and Anjali, share our passion for Indian food and they are all part of the family business. I am delighted that Anjali has taken a keen interest in cooking -- she has even helped me with the recipes in this book. I hope this book stirs excitement and encourages you to learn more about India, its culture and its cuisine. From my kitchen to yours, I hope you are inspired.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: New Holland (May 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845377052
• ISBN-13: 978-1845377052
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,911,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Patak promo, February 26, 2008

By 

Brian B. James "BrianJ" (Atlanta, Ga) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meena Pathak Celebrates Indian Cooking: 100 Delicious Recipes, 50 Years of Patak's (Hardcover)

Some interest recipes, but it is a real pity and a little unfair that many of the recipes require that you use Patak's (her late father in laws company) Curry pastes. I think the book should be clearly identified as a promo for Patak products.