Essence and sensibility

Indian food is as diverse as its culture, geography and climate. It is vibrant, colourful, enticing, easy to prepare and wonderfully satisfying. The essence of good Indian cooking revolves around the appropriate use of aromatic spices. Spicing is not a difficult concept. In the same way that salt and pepper are used in the West, the skill lies in using spices to enhance rather than overwhelm the intrinsic flavour of a particular dish.

From a young age, an Indian child is exposed to an extraordinary array of flavour combinations. Indian cuisine is based on a variety of flavour sensations, which encompasses hot and sour, hot and nutty, sweet and hot, bitter and hot, bitter and sour, to name but a few.

In seasoning, it ranges from the freshness and sweetness of aromatic curry leaves to the dark pungency of the resin, asafoetida. Indian genius lies not only in combining seasonings, but also in drawing out several flavours from a single spice - by roasting, grinding or frying - to create a vast spectrum of flavours.

Indians are adventurous and there is nothing that cannot be spiced up in an Indian kitchen, but it is important to understand the distinction between spice and heat. In India, heat is generally applied with chillies and selectively, whereas spicing is all about flavouring.

In the south, chilli heat is valued for its ultimate cooling effect on the body, by inducing perspiration. In the north, dishes are not overly hot - it's all about bringing out the best of the spices. Though, of course, there are always pickles and chutneys to impart fiery heat.

Extract and recipes taken from Indian Essence by Atul Kochhar, published 27 May. Atul Kochhar is chef-proprietor of Benares, London.

Prawn and green mango curry (chemeen manga charu)
"This dish comes from the Moplah Muslims of Kerala, a community descended from seventh-century Arabs. Its fragrant mix of coconut, curry leaves and fresh seafood is typical of Kerala."

Ingredients
300g large raw prawns (about 16)
4tbs coconut oil
70g grated fresh coconut
½ onion, finely chopped
1tsp fennel seeds
1 onion, finely sliced
2 green chillies, chopped
1½tsp garlic-ginger paste
1½tsp ground coriander
1tsp chilli powder
1½tsp ground turmeric
100g green mango, julienned (plus extra to garnish)
1½tsp salt (to taste)
200ml coconut milk
1tsp fenugreek seeds
1tsp black mustard seeds
25 curry leaves

Method
Peel and de-vein the prawns, leaving the tail attached. Rinse and pat dry. Heat one tablespoon of coconut oil in a pan, add the coconut, chopped onion and fennel seeds, and saut‚ over a medium heat until the coconut is golden brown. Remove and grind to a smooth paste, using a blender.

Add another two tablespoons of coconut oil to the pan and heat. Add the sliced onion and fry until translucent. Add the green chillies with the ginger-garlic paste, and saut‚ for two to three minutes. Stir in the ground spices and half the mango strips.

Add the prawns to the pan with the salt and cook, stirring, until they are opaque and almost cooked. Stir in the coconut paste, coconut milk and the rest of the mango. Simmer until the prawns are just cooked.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining coconut oil in a separate pan and saut‚ the fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and curry leaves until aromatic. Serve the prawn curry topped with the aromatic spice mixture and green mango strips. Accompany with rice or Indian bread.

Stuffed aubergine steaks (vaingan katri)
"I have cooked this recipe with different regional influences, but this version from Gujarat is my favourite."

Ingredients
400g aubergine
1¼tsp salt

For the stuffing 200g potatoes, peeled and quartered
Salt
3tbs vegetable oil (plus extra to shallow-fry)
Pinch of asafoetida
1tsp garlic, chopped
I green chilli, chopped
1tsp cumin seeds
50g carrots, grated
50g cauliflower, grated
2tsp ground coriander
1½tsp red chilli powder
1½tsp ground turmeric
1½tsp raw sugar or jaggery
1tbs root ginger, chopped
3tbs coriander leaves, chopped

To serve
Coriander sprigs, for garnish
Mustard and yogurt chutney

Note: Asafoetida is a gum-like resin derived from ferula (giant fennel plants), which is also available as a powder. Use it very sparingly. Jaggery is dark, raw cane sugar.

Method
Cut four steaks from the widest part of the aubergine, each 2cm thick. Scoop out the pulp from the centres, leaving a 1cm border intact. Sprinkle with the salt and set aside for 30 minutes to degorge the bitter juices.

Meanwhile, make the stuffing. Cut the potatoes into even-sized pieces and parboil in salted water for five to seven minutes. Drain and leave until cool enough to handle, then grate finely.

Heat three tablespoons of vegetable oil in a saut‚ pan, wok or kadhai. Add the asafoetida and, as it sizzles, add the chopped garlic, green chilli and cumin seeds. Saut‚ for a minute or two until the garlic is light brown in colour and the cumin seeds crackle.

Add the grated carrots and cauliflower and saut‚ for five minutes, then stir in the ground coriander, chilli powder and turmeric, Saut‚ for 30 seconds.

Add the grated potatoes, sugar, ginger and salt, and cook well for 12-15 minutes, then add the chopped coriander leaves. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Rinse the aubergine steaks carefully under cold running water and dry with kitchen paper. Place on a board and spoon the stuffing into the centres.

Heat a thin film of oil in a non-stick frying pan. Using a fish slice, lift the stuffed aubergine steaks into the pan and fry for about one-and-a-half minutes on each side until golden. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

Serve warm, garnished with coriander sprigs and accompanied by mustard yogurt chutney.

Date and orange pastries (khajoor ka khaja)
"I have seen these crisp pastries sold in vast quantities during Muslim religious festivals in India. The authentic khaja pastry is somewhere between filo and puff pastry. Here, I have used filo and drizzled the date pastries with a citrus cardamom sauce."

Ingredients
300g dates, pitted
1tsp cumin seeds, toasted and crushed
120ml orange juice
150g butter, melted
50g almond paste
20 kumquats, finely zested (or zest of 1 orange, blanched and finely shredded)
8 sheets filo pastry, 20cm square
Icing sugar, to dust
For the cardamom sauce
Juice of 4 oranges
Juice of 2 lemons
180g sugar
15 cardamom pods, bruised

Method
Mince the dates in a blender, then transfer to a small pan. Add the cumin seeds, orange juice and 100g of butter. Cook on a low heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat, stir in the almond paste and kumquat or orange zest, then set aside to cool.

Brush one sheet of filo pastry with butter, lay another sheet on top and brush again with butter. Put two spoonfuls of date filling along one side and roll up the pastry to enclose the filling; twist the ends like a toffee wrapper to seal. Place on a greased baking tray and brush with butter. Repeat to make another three pastries, then rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to between 170°C and 190°C. Bake pastries for 10-12 minutes until crisp and golden brown. Cool.

To make the sauce, put the orange juice, lemon juice, sugar and cardamom pods in a heavy-based pan. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar, then boil to reduce to a thick syrup. Allow to cool.

To serve, dust each pastry with icing sugar, cut diagonally in two and arrange on a plate. Drizzle with sauce.

Getting published
You may have an absolutely brilliant idea for a book, but the fact is that publishers have to invest a lot of money in developing a project before it even gets to the printing stage - and they want as surefire a guarantee of success as they can get.

That's why the Gordon Ramsays, Giorgio Locatellis and Jamie Olivers of this world get a first bite of any cherries going around. A high-profile name is a far likelier bet when it comes to shifting sales and making profits than someone still on the way up.

Zoe Waldie, who is a literary agent with Rogers, Coleridge & White, and who numbers Heston Blumenthal among her clients, says: "Five to 10 years ago, it was a boom era in the market. But it is now saturated. People who make a real go of it nowadays have a tremendous media machine behind them."

If you are a less-established name, adds Waldie, publishers will look not just at your idea but at whether you are a presentable package. "You've almost got to be hand-picked because you have the potential to be on TV as well," she says. "Publishers are selling more than just a book, they're selling a lifestyle."

That said, here are a few things to consider if you have a book burning inside your head that won't let go.

Research publishers, advises Peter Gordon, chef-proprietor of London's Providores, who has three books under his belt. "Ask yourself, does the publisher produce small-volume books with no illustrations, or large, glossy, photo-led books?" he says. "And do you want to make vast sums of money, or to pass on your skills?"

Gordon also suggests getting yourself an agent - Rogers, Coleridge & White, Peter Fraser Dunlop, and Deborah McKenna are among the top ones. Also bear in mind that you will probably have to write a chapter of a book, with a synopsis, to hawk around to publishers if you have not been approached by them.

Another tip is to leave plenty of time to write the book (remember that you have to hold down the day job as well). Gordon wrote all his books and tested out all his recipes, and Blumenthal is another chef in print who writes all his own words. But this is not the norm - most chefs write books in collaboration with a food writer who will test the recipes, while some have their words ghost-written.

What sort of money can you expect to get for a book? Waldie says: "An unknown chef can expect no more than £10,000 if they get a deal. If you have a TV tie-in, then you will get maybe £100,000."

Cookbook publishers - Michael Joseph

• Ebury Press
• Quadrille
• Fourth Estate
• Headline
• Grub Street
• Conran Octopus
• Absolute Press
• Aurum Press
• Bloomsbury Publishing
• Prospect Books
• Penguin

Thanks to Peter Gordon, chef-proprietor of the Providores, and Zoe Waldie, literary agent at Rogers, Coleridge & White.