Cookbook Review: Made in India by Meera Sodha

I never had much experience with the abundance of Indian food growing up, the number of Indian restaurants I can recall in my area fit on one hand. Certainly there are more but it was not something my parents had familiarity with, and thus myself either. I’m fairly certain the first time I tried Indian food was in college with a friend who was about to spend six months abroad there. I eventually had vague notions of yellow and red curry, but not really what that word ‘curry’ meant (apparently nothing to Indians), or much beyond what my friend shared of his experience. Once I moved to the UK, however, I saw it absolutely everywhere, and I fell in love. My husband and I have been determined to learn more about Indian cooking, and because there are so many regions we will likely only ever scratch the surface. Though I had a hard time finding a good resource online for someone like. One that understood the dishes and translated them to a context where I might not have all the same equipment or ingredients and really understood what techniques and substitutions were best. Enter Made In India by Meera Sodha. This book has a focus on Gujarati cuisine, where her family originated, but has also been flavoured by their time in Uganda prior to coming to the UK. It is a truly lovely book to cook from, and we do so pretty much every week! My husband’s parents even bought a copy of their own after visiting us and loving the dishes we made from it. Definitely recommend having some favourite cookbooks in common with friends and family by the way- it is so fun to alert each other to “not to be missed” recipes and give little tips and tricks.

One of my favourite things about the book is Sodha’s care in composing the book. While I am seeing more and more books that detail special equipment and give glossaries for less common ingredients, Sodha went above and beyond in educating and helping the reader. From detailing what she means by a ‘large’ onion (roughly 200g by the way) to troubleshooting common problems with dishes and an extremely detailed ingredient glossary. And yet, despite all this groundwork her recipes never feel overwhelming. Her instructions are clear and concise with wonderful sensory cues highlighted to help you on your way. The majority of dishes are weeknight friendly, and most of the ingredients should be available at the supermarket, perhaps barring a few spices here and there.

Some standouts from the book for us include her chana masala or Worker’s Curry. We make this at least a couple times a month as it is a supremely easy and delicious weeknight dish, and we always have the ingredients on hand. That goes for the Daily Dal as well. The Coconut and Tamarind Chicken Curry is supremely comforting. The Garlic Chicken Chaat is also one not to miss, the chaat masala was something new to me and I am obsessed with it now. It has a delicious tangy-salty-spicy flavor going on. And we must not forget dessert! I absolutely adore the Coconut-Milk Fudge. Though there are a wealth of amazing looking ice creams, sorbets, and kulfis, I am sad to say I have not been able to try any as I am in a constant struggle with freezer space. In that I never have any. The book has a really fantastic range of dishes.

All in all a fabulous book, and particularly helpful if you want more vegetarian dishes in your rotation even though it is not a strictly veggie book. And I look forward to checking out some of her other cookbooks, some which are vegetarian, in the future.