Thank you to NetGalley, Misty Ricardo’s Curry Kitchen, and Richard Sayce for an Advanced Copy of this book as well as letting me participate in this book tour. All opinions in this review are my own.
Let me start with I am not a professional chef. I enjoy cooking, I want to be a better cook, and I enjoy reading cookbooks to get inspiration for recipes that I might be able to make at my skill level. I also live in a small desert city in the United States (population of roughly 100,000 people with most of them being for the two universities), so the ability to get specialized ingredients is always a bit more difficult, so I have to fudge a lot of things if I am trying to make things on my own. Pause: Story time from trying to make recipes from this book. I went to the store to get filo dough or wonton wrappers, and asked the clerk where I might be able to find them (new store still for me) and he asked if it was like pizza dough and took me to that, since that was the closest dough he had at that grocery store. I ended up going with pastry puff sheets and crescent roll dough from a different store, which worked out better than expected for the samosas (see below), but are DEFINITELY not what is called for. That being said, I have never backed down from a challenge, and the ability to try and cook out of this cookbook was exactly that – a huge challenge.
This is one of the most in-depth types of cooking I have ever tried to do, and when I succeeded I felt like the most successful person in the world, but when I struggled I wanted to give up cooking completely. Now, that’s not the fault of the cookbook – that is just the nature of the food being prepared. This book gives step by step instructions, with all of the measurements needed at the beginning of each recipe for ease of mise en place (“put everything in place” aka prep for those who don’t watch a ton of cooking shows like me), before starting cooking. However, the cookbook does have a few quirks that requires some getting used to – especially if you aren’t using this book a lot, or like me, you don’t use the metric system (darn you U.S. schools!).
First, if you are like me and are in the US, so you don’t intrinsically know the metric system, make sure you have something ready to convert all of the measurements for ingredients for every recipe. I would have loved if there was a conversion chart or something in the back of the book, but alas, the internet became my friend a lot during this cooking process. Also, there are some key components to British Indian Cooking (what these recipes are) that get used throughout multiple dishes, but they are told once at the beginning at the book, and then not again during the recipes they are used in. For example, there is a spice mix that is used in some of the dishes, but if you just go to make that dish it will say you need the spice mix without telling you what is in said spice mix. You need to go back to the beginning of the book, make the spice mix, and then go back to your recipe, unless you have pre-prepared spice mix already. This is when that mise en place is very important, but it can make things a bit complicated if you are like me and don’t realize you are missing something for a base ingredient until you have already gone to the store 5 times to get other things since ingredients are cross-listed so many places. As I continue to use this cookbook I am sure I will get the hang of figuring out where everything is located, but until then, it was a bit difficult. Some of the steps were also not very clear, but I am going to chalk that up to I was reading an advanced copy of the book and so formatting was off – I was looking at a more finalized proof of the book and everything looks stunning, so I am sure all of my issues were purely because of the format I had for the cookbook. Bonus of the book that I should have utilized more were the QR codes that lead to YouTube videos showing how to make certain parts of the recipes but I was stubborn. Don’t be like me!
Let’s talk about my successes though! I successfully made pilau rice, naan, the base spice mix, the base for curry, and vegetable samosas (kinda)! (see below pictures) Not only were they successful but they tasted good too – well, I didn’t taste the base sauce, but it smelled good! I ended up having cooking nights with a few different people (COVID-safe of course), so it was fun even with all of the complicated things and having to fudge ingredients. The naan was the easiest thing I cooked, it didn’t take too long from start to finish, and it tasted delicious. I can’t wait to make it again & try incorporating different flavors. There is nothing better than soft bread, and this definitely hit that spot.
Overall, I am so happy that I was able to get a chance to read this cookbook & have the opportunity to try out these recipes for the book tour. I have many more recipes I want to try, plus I now know some tips from my trials & errors from before. I give this cookbook a solid 4/5 – it is definitely not for the beginner cook, but if you are willing to challenge yourself for delicious Indian food, it is worth it for sure.
Below I am also going to put the recipe for Vegetable Samosas – thank you to the publisher and Richard Sayce for permission to reprint this recipe!, as well as some information about Richard. This book is now available, so check it out if you want to try some authentic BIR in your own home!
Vegetable Samosa Recipe
Media Blurb About Curry Compendium
Richard Sayce, the man behind Misty Ricardo’s Curry Kitchen, does it again. Following his award winning two previous curry volumes, Curry Compendium is a hardback masterpiece for all those wanting to reproduce that British Indian restaurant style of cooking.
Beautifully compiled with mouth-watering photography and additional images credited to many of the author’s social media devotees, this compendium is a book that will be revisited time and time again, not least for its top tips on scaling up recipes and innovative use of QR codes. Available for most recipes chefs in the making can simply scan the QR code with their smartphone and instantly watch the associated YouTube video.
For all those hesitant to cook a curry from scratch let Richard Sayce show you the way. You won’t be disappointed.
Curry Compendium is based on the two top selling paperback prequels Indian Restaurant Curry at Home Volumes 1 and 2 which have collectively sold over 50,000 copies in three years. Both books won Gourmand World Cookbook awards for the best UK self-published cookbooks.
Richard Sayce has combined all the content from both these books into a quality hardback format, added a splattering of new recipes, and updated many of the photographs and illustrations.
Inside the new book you’ll find an abundance of mouth-watering, delightfully easy to follow Indian restaurant recipes. These are all backed up with detailed and comprehensive informational chapters: everything you need to learn the art of curry cooking.
Curry Compendium contains all you need to create your own restaurant quality food at home in your kitchen. Start saving a fortune on takeaways!
ISBN: 978-1-9996608-3-3
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Sayce, the man behind Misty Ricardo’s Curry Kitchen, Curry Compendium and the cookbooks Indian Restaurant Curry at Home Volumes 1 & 2, has many years’ experience in the world of Indian food. A love of curry from an early age motivated him to master the art of BIR (British Indian Restaurant) cooking and to share his passion with others.
“I’ve been interested in cooking since an early age and have always loved Indian food. My passion led me to learn all about how curry is cooked in restaurants and takeaways here in the UK, which was my first experience of Indian food.
I endeavoured to finally master the art of creating excellent BIR style curry, and with time and a lot of experimentation, finally gained enough skill and knowledge to be happy with sharing my experiences.”
Richard lives in the North West of England and dedicates his ‘foodie’ time to cooking, recipes, social media, catering, and of course eating. A firm love of Indian food in both home and restaurant styles gives plenty of motivation to experiment and try out new recipes and ideas.
His two previous books, Indian Restaurant Curry at Home Volume 1 and 2, have each won the Gourmand World Cookbook award for best UK Self-Published Cookbook, 2019 and 2020 respectively, and have sold many thousands of copies in the UK and abroad. His long-standing YouTube channel has over 40,000 subscribers and over six million views.
Website: www.mistyricardo.com
Facebook: www.mistyricardo.com/mistyricardoscurrykitchen
YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/mistyricardo
Instagram: www.instagram.com/mistyricardo
Twitter: www.twitter.com/mistyricardo
Email: sales@mistyricardo.com