Book review: Curry Everyday by Atul Kochhar

Atul Kochhar has collected curry recipes from across the globe for his latest cookbook

The latest addition to restaurateur and cookbook author Atul Kochhar’s library has seen him pull together more than 100 simple vegetarian curry recipes from across countries and continents in a follow-on to his 2013 book Curries of the World.

Kochhar has taken his definition of ‘curry’ from Chinese-American chef Ken Hom, who described it as a “style of cookery and not a single taste or degree of spiciness”. This means Curry Everyday ranges from South Africa’s bunny chow and hot and spicy rice cakes from Korea to classic Thai curries, Laos’ national dish het larb turned veggie, and plenty of mango curries, as well as breakfast dishes such as North African shakshuka spiced with baharat, Ugandan rolled egg wraps and scrambled paneer.

There are also many recipes you may not expect from a self-titled ‘curry’ book, for example, fried aubergine slices inspired by the predominantly vegetarian Sindhi Hindus in Pakistan, vegetable dumplings served with tomato salsa, and potstickers – as well as an intriguing cashew and cucumber curry from Tamil Nadu in India.

There is also a chapter devoted to sides and foundations, with recipes for mixing spices and pastes, breads, sauces and dips.

Split by area – Far East Asia, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East – many dishes are vegetable-based while others use meat substitutes such as soy mince and tofu, and there are plenty of vegan as well as vegetarian options to choose from.

Kochhar says he kept the book vegetarian because of the shift in people’s eating patterns due to an increasing awareness of the impact on the environment, something he’s seeing in his own restaurants. Some of the recipes in the book he serves at his establishments, clearly marking them out as appropriate for a foodservice environment.

Curry Everyday doesn’t go into any great depth on the provenance of its recipes – a few sentences in a book of simple, straightforward recipes presented in a simple and straightforward way.

Curry Everyday by Atul Kochhar (Bloomsbury Absolute, £26)