I also made this a day ahead and let it sit overnight in the fridge so the flavors really had time to mingle. Head east to Kolkata for a "kati roll" - an egg-fried wrap of meat or vegetables; west to Gujarat for some fluffy ondwa (see here) or addictive pea kachori (see here); and south for dosas, thin crispy pancakes made from rice and lentils. That said, apparently this makes it kid-friendly because both boys mopped up their curry with the chapati bread from the same book without complaining.

The perfect basmati rice, Naan, Worker’s curry (Chana masala), Chaat salad, Chili paneer, The perfect masala chai, Roasted cauliflower with cumin, turmeric, and lemon (Masala phool kobi). No matter what time of day, or the nature of the visit, a warming and delicious feast would suddenly appear and no one would leave hungry. What might have started out as an idea on the street can now be found in the homes of many Indians, recreating the famous dishes they first tried on a hot, dusty street corner and adding them to the snacks already served in their homes. Great flavour, despite having minimal marinating time - looking forward to repeating and increasing the wait.Here to show you that you can still indulge in bakes, puddings and sweet treats, this collection of lighter recipes is perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth.

When I last made it, I'm not sure if I used two pans to roast the cauliflower, but this time I spread it out thinly over two pans, making sure it wasn't too wet after blanching it scarcely a minute.

Had a load of cilantro in the garden and made the chutney using cashews since that’s what we had on hand. I put everything into a ziplock bag and tossed it that way, because it is difficult to do in a bowl.

To make the kachori, pop a heaped teaspoon of pea mixture in the middle and bring the sides of the pastry up tightly around the peas. Amazingly, pea kachori can be made almost entirely from items you'll probably already have in the freezer and pantry. The dough was easy to roll out, it puffed when cooking (follow the method in the book and it should happen! You could probably cook it a little faster by increasing the heat in the oven or cooking it under the broiler, which also would give it a nice bit of char.Travel down to Delhi and you'll see spiced potato tikki (see here), dressed with tamarind chutney, and delicious blackened kebabs served with "roomali roti" - chapatis as thin as hankies and as big as car wheels. I was intimidated to attempt cooking Indian food since I've never tried before, but I love eating it! Since caramelizing onions is the step that takes the longest for this otherwise fairly easy curry, I just started that right away as the first step and got the onions going while I took care of the ginger/garlic paste and pulling together the other ingredients. I would start with fewer dates next time, as I found it too sweet when made as written, and had to add a lot more tamarind to balance the flavors.