Anyone can cook

Television chef and cookbook writer Anjum Anand is one of the faces of Indian cuisine in Britain. A new season of her series Indian Food Made Easy has recently started on Discovery Travel & Living. In this, Anand visits Indian homes — Gujaratis in Leicester, Kashmiris in Birmingham and Punjabis in Scotland — in search of recipes and is at pains to establish that anybody can cook Indian food. Really? asks Anoothi Vishal

Can “anyone” really cook Indian food? Traditional recipes can be fairly complicated and laborious...
Cooking Indian food can be really simple or difficult depending on what you cook. Some dishes are elaborate and were normally prepared for a feast, others are simple, everyday food. It is definitely a little complicated if you are new to spices, but once you get started, it becomes easier. I always suggest starting with simple dishes and building up your repertoire with your confidence. Indian food does require you to cook with your senses; you need to smell when your garlic is cooked, listen to the crackling of spices to know when they are done and taste it to check the balance of flavours.

You juxtapose British traditions with Indian preparations. A high tea apparently had Kashmiri dishes in an episode. Details please.
The Kashmiri preparation was not a substitute for high tea — it was dinner but many here eat a lot earlier than they do in India. Having said that, I do like to mix the cultures. I like to serve Indian snacks such as samosas at tea time even if it is followed by cakes. It works well in practice even if it doesn’t sound so good on paper.

How difficult was it to get your British subjects to cook Indian meals?
Some were easier than others. Some people are really keen to learn and try really hard. The most common mistake is that it is hard to remember all the steps correctly and many don’t read the recipe properly.

Any failures...
Unfortunately yes, in the Kashmiri show, when the caterers were cooking, they were quite panicked and in a hurry as they misjudged how long it would take to cook the quantity of ingredients such as onions and lamb. So a lot was done in a hurry and often without measuring ingredients. By the time it came to dessert, they were not measuring anything. The seviyan went out without any sugar as nothing was measured. I am sure they all thought it was a problem with my recipe but it doesn’t matter how good or bad your recipe is if it isn’t followed.

A lot of Indian food is not “healthy” or “light”. How do you simplify it?
You are right, a lot isn’t but many recipes do not need as much oil/ghee as was traditionally used. Indian food has so many delicious ingredients in it already, and while oil is a flavour conductor, you only need a moderate amount to bring these out. I believe that as long as you have enough oil to cook the onions with, you should be fine.