In Shandong, Hebei and the northeast, these thin, lacy potato pancakes are a cheap street breakfast and a favourite filler for children's lunch boxes, crisp at the edges and soft in the middle. The potato is cut into very fine matchsticks, seasoned with spring onion, salt and a little white pepper, and bound with just enough flour to hold. The mistake is rinsing away all the starch and squeezing too hard: the shreds then won't stick together. Rinse once, drain, and squeeze lightly. Chef's tip: press the pancake thin with the back of a spatula as soon as it hits the pan; thin pancakes crisp right through and stay crisp longer in a box.
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A comforting one-pot khichda of rice, green gram and pigeon pea lentils with little cubes of potato, cooked in cumin-scented ghee with ginger and green chilli. It's soft and mild, everyday food. Serve with Gujarati kadhi or plain yogurt.
Tandoori roti made at home: wholemeal dough spread with chilled, solidified ghee, rolled into a cone and pressed out again so it bakes into soft, flaky layers. Cook it in a tandoor or on the back of a perforated earthenware tava over the flame until brown-spotted. Serve with a curry of your choice.
A quick vegetable biryani made in a pressure cooker: peas, carrots, potatoes, beans and tomatoes cooked with fresh coconut, yogurt and gentle spices, then steamed with the rice until each grain is separate. Finish it with crisp potato chips and fried vegetables. Serve with masala yogurt.
A mild, creamy biryani: rice and husked green gram roasted in ghee, then cooked in coconut milk with peas, carrots, potatoes, peanuts and cashews, and finished with soft fried paneer and a fresh coriander yogurt. Serve hot, garnished with more fried cashews and paneer.
A rich party pullao: cardamom-and-cumin rice baked in layers with crisp paneer and potato koftas simmered in a tangy tomato and curd gravy. The top is scattered with browned onions and fried cashews. Serve hot with masala yogurt.
Five kinds of lentil cooked together, then simmered in a gravy of browned onion, tomato, garlic and ginger under a fragrant tempering of cumin, cloves, cinnamon, red chillies and curry leaves. It's thick, hearty and full of protein. Serve hot mixed dal with chapaties or paratha.
Chapatis are the everyday Indian flatbread: thin rounds of soft wholemeal dough, cooked on a hot tava and then puffed over a wire mesh on the flame. Spread with ghee and serve with any curry or dal. Tip from the book: you can half-cook a stack of rotis ahead and do the final roasting just before serving.
Puris are small rounds of wholemeal dough deep fried until they puff into golden balloons. They're best eaten straight away with a curry of your choice, potato bhaji or shrikhand. Tip from the book: puris can be rolled out an hour ahead and kept between well-rinsed wet muslin cloths, then fried just before serving.
A quicker bhatura that needs no long rising: soaked bread and yogurt with a pinch of bicarbonate make the dough soft and puffy, and wholemeal flour and fresh fenugreek add flavour. Deep fried until golden, they're ideal with channa paneer masala.
A bright, quick rice dish: boiled rice gently mixed with sweetcorn and julienned red and green capsicum tempered with cumin and curry leaves, sharpened with lemon juice. It's light and colourful. Serve with plain yogurt or masala yogurt.
Fresh sweetcorn is ground to a smooth paste with ginger and chilli and cooked into thin, lacy pancakes, covered so they steam and turn light brown. They're naturally gluten free and sweet-savoury. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or mint chutney.
Small, crisp squares of brown-sugar butter dough mixed with crunchy home-made almond praline, then topped with cinnamon and more praline. A lovely biscuit for festive tins. Like all biscuits, they feel soft in the oven and crisp up as they cool.
Two thin rounds of dough sandwiched around a filling of potato, carrot, peas and cauliflower cooked with cumin, ginger and chilli and mixed with cheddar and lemon, sealed with a flour paste and shallow fried. Filling and kid-friendly. Serve hot with spring onion and yogurt dip.
Here the rice is 'brown' because sugar is caramelised in the oil before the rice goes in, which gives it a deep golden colour and a gentle toasty sweetness. It's layered with crisp matchstick vegetables tossed in a sharp, spicy vinegar marinade and ketchup, then baked. A good party dish; serve it with yogurt or raita.
Easy home-made naan: a soft dough of self-raising flour, yeast and yogurt, left to rise and then cooked under a hot grill until puffed and light brown. Brush with butter or ghee if you like and serve hot with curries.
A traditional vegetarian biryani with whole baby potatoes cooked in a fragrant paste of onion, coriander seeds, poppy seeds, aniseed and warm spices, layered with saffron rice and crisp browned onions, then slowly baked. Serve hot with masala yogurt.
A colourful, mildly spiced rice cooked in puréed tomatoes and coconut milk with carrots, peas and french beans. Creamy coconut softens the tang of the tomatoes. Garnish with coriander, tomato slices and coconut, and serve with masala yogurt.
Plain, crisp, old-fashioned biscuits flavoured with custard powder, the kind that fill a big tin. Shape them as thin ovals with a fork, or roll and cut rounds and prick holes in them. For a change, swap the custard powder for 5 tsp ground ginger and 1½ tsp ground cardamom, or use wholemeal wheat flour instead of plain flour.
Warmly spiced butter biscuits with cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and a kick of freshly ground black pepper, made rich with ground almonds and cream. Dusted with icing sugar, they are perfect at Christmas.
Chikki is an Indian brittle. This crystal version is made with plain white sugar, melted until clear and golden, with peanuts, almonds, pistachios and sesame seeds, scented with cardamom and saffron. Work quickly: the brittle sets in moments.
Chewy-crisp cookies made with crunchy peanut butter, honey and condensed milk, with rice crisps for crunch and roasted peanuts on top. No creaming needed: everything is melted together.
Flaky little crescents made from a rich yeasted dough, cut into wedges, spread with cinnamon sugar and rolled up from the wide end. Serve them with coffee or tea; they are best on the day they are baked.
Hearty wholemeal cookies with rolled oats, mixed nuts and coconut. Pressed with a fork and baked until brown, they are a wholesome tea-time biscuit.
Chewy, golden oat bars bound with butter and golden syrup and studded with walnuts, sultanas and chunks of chocolate. They are cut in the tin and keep well in an air-tight container, so they are handy for lunchboxes.
A chocolate pastry base topped with a chewy brown-sugar, coconut and mixed nut layer, then drizzled with dark chocolate and cut into squares. Rich and satisfying with a cup of coffee.
A small, moist chocolate cake made without eggs, using condensed milk and fresh orange juice and rind for a lovely chocolate-orange flavour. Serve with chocolate sauce.
The book's basic eggless sponge, made with condensed milk and melted butter in one bowl. Sandwich it with jam and top with coconut, ice it any way you like, or use it for the Pinacolada cake. For a coconut cake, add 100 g desiccated coconut to the mixture.
Crisp, lemony biscuits flecked with passion fruit seeds and glacé ginger, sandwiched with a passion fruit butter cream and dusted with icing sugar. A tangy, tropical treat for tea parties.
Wholesome, lightly sweet biscuits with wheat bran flakes, wholewheat flour and chopped dates, warmed with nutmeg. A good mid-morning snack.
Soft golden butter cookies, brushed with warm plum jam after baking and dipped in desiccated coconut. Bright, simple and loved by children.
Big, crunchy cookies made with jumbo porridge oats and desiccated coconut, then rolled in more oats and coconut before baking. Wholesome and filling, perfect for lunchboxes.
A quick baked oat bar with coconut and a touch of cocoa and golden syrup, pressed thin and cut while warm. Crisp, buttery and very easy.
Classic crunchy ginger biscuits made with golden syrup and plenty of ground ginger. Good for dunking in tea, and they keep for weeks in an air-tight tin.
Buttery cookies with chopped pistachios, crushed rice bubbles, coconut and a hint of chocolate, each topped with more pistachio. Crunchy outside and tender inside.
Short, crumbly crescent biscuits flavoured with instant coffee and ground walnuts, rolled in caster sugar while still warm. Lovely with an after-dinner coffee and at festive times.
Melt-in-the-mouth biscuits made with semolina and coconut, each pressed into a mix of shredded pistachio and almond. Similar to nankhatai, and very easy: everything goes into one bowl.
Chewy brown-sugar cookies loaded with roasted macadamia nuts, white chocolate chunks, oats and coconut. A bakery favourite that is easy to make at home.
Small, soft eggless vanilla cupcakes in paper cases, topped with sugar sprinkles: just right for little hands and children's parties. The same mixture also bakes as one large basic cake in a 25 cm round tin.
Crunchy, wholesome biscuits made with crushed Weetabix (wheat biscuit cereal), coconut and mixed nuts, rich with fresh cream and rolled in more cereal and pistachio. If the dough is too firm, add 1–2 tbsp milk.
A slice version of florentines: a layer of dark chocolate topped with a chewy bake of cornflakes, almonds, glacé cherries and sultanas bound with condensed milk. Cut into small squares; it is rich.
A big batch of crunchy cookies with rolled oats, coconut, chopped almonds and chunks of cooking chocolate. For a change, use cashew nuts instead of almonds.
Crisp, golden finger biscuits flavoured with aniseed, made in the book with a biscuit press (No. 4 disc) to give long ridged strips. Without a press, shape small ovals and mark them with a fork.
Wholesome oval biscuits made with wholewheat flour, wheat bran, crushed cornflakes and a mix of seeds, then coated in more sesame and linseed. Crunchy and only lightly sweet, with unrefined sugar.
Rustic, crunchy cookies made with wholewheat flour, porridge oats, brown sugar and fresh coconut, with a gentle aniseed note from fennel seeds. Not too sweet, so they are good with a cup of tea or masala chai, and they keep well in a tin.
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