October 2003

Brittania Spice - Meet the Chef

Fiona Anderson, who writes for Edinburgh's 'The List' magazine, reviews Discover the Taste's 'Meet the chef' event, held at Britannia Spice, Leith, on 14 October. To finish, Discover the Taste has selected some spicy books to inspire you.

So you know your way around an Indian takeaway menu better than the huge array of out-of-date spices abandoned in your kitchen cupboard? You are not alone.

Indian food has long been a favourite with the Scottish palate, especially on dark winter nights. The exotic scents and spices of Eastern cuisine work a powerful magic on one's spirits but few curry-lovers have the courage cook our new 'National Cuisine' from scratch, not least because opportunities to watch professionals are so rare.

Organised by Discover the Taste, the gourmet tasting events company, this particular event was held at the award-winning Britannia Spice in Leith - one of the very first restaurants in Edinburgh to offer multi-cultural cuisine including Northern Indian, Bangladeshi, Nepalese, Thai and Sri Lankan dishes.

Guests began the evening with brief talk from the likeable and hugely enthusiastic Wali Uddin, the owner. His passion for food and unerring entrepreneurial talents have resulted in a string of successful restaurants in the UK over the last quarter century along with an MBE for his community, charity and educational activities.

Wali's talk started with a birds' eye view of the differences between the main styles of Indian cuisine, interspersed with his own food philosophy. Guests were then ushered into the surprisingly small kitchen, literally stacked to the ceiling with colourful herbs, spices and prepared ingredients.

The cookery demonstration included a dry vegetable curry, bhajis, and various breads shaped and baked in the charcoal oven. The freshly baked and piping hot 'Peshwari' naan was particularly popular, stuffed with moist golden coconut and gobbled up by the appreciative audience. The cheerful team of chefs demonstrated their dishes with good humour, explaining their methods (without revealing too many trade secrets!) and encouraging guests to taste the spices to understand the subtle differences.

After the demonstration, guests returned to table for a superb meal, including samosas, bhajis, vegetable curries, fragrant spiced rice, and a variety of freshly baked breads.

COOKERY BOOK REVIEWS

Discover the Taste reviews some inspirational cookery books:

The Cinnamon Club Cookbook

Iqhal Wahhah and Vivek Singh | £18

The Cinnamon Club Cookbook comes out of the restaurant of the same name based in London. This restaurant sources all its spices from India importing an incredible 150 kg every two weeks! Vivek Singh (also featured in 'The New Tastes of India' below) passion comes through with the easy to follow recipes.

The World of Spice

Michael Bateman | £19.99

This book is in two parts, the first describes the use of spice in each region and includes a selection of both traditional and modern recipes. The second part describes 60 spices in detail.

The New Tastes of India: Over 100 Vibrant Vegetarian Recipes from Southern India

Das Sreedharan | £13.99

This volume of contemporary Indian cuisine is by the founding chef of the award-winning chain of Rasa restaurants and is inspired by the wonderful ingredients from the author's homeland of Kerala, Southern India.

Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible

Madhur Jaffrey | £25

Mahur Jaffrey discovers that the Indian curry influenced the cooking of many other great cuisines of the world, including Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia, Trinidad, Kenya and China. This book features both history and recipes (more than 200) and as usual provide easy-to-follow instructions.