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‘It’s your kitchen, nobody’s judging you.’ Feast Box talks to Mallika Basu
Mallika Basu is at the forefront of a new wave of mythbusting food writers on a mission to redefine Indian home cooking, putting the simplicity, freshness and diversity of the country’s eclectic food culture within reach of even the least confident British cooks. Feast Box was lucky enough to chat with her about shortcuts, snacking, and the secret to a satisfying dinner.
Thanks very much for taking the time to chat with us! As a busy cook, how do you shop efficiently and make full use of all the ingredients in your fridge?
I have lots of golden rules. I put what I’ve got in the cupboard to use before buying any new spice, because if you have too much, it all goes out of date and loses its potency before you know it. In the fridge, it’s easy to find odds and ends of vegetables and bags of things, so I have a ton of recipes where the veg is interchangeable, like a saag paneer where the saag is just 300g of any combination of leafy greens. I’ve done it with generic bags of spring greens from the supermarket, and the taste is always great because of the spicing. So just a bit of clever thinking around ingredients.
"There's a time and place to savour your food"
British people learn about Indian food mostly through restaurants, so we get certain fixed ideas about it. But it sounds like you exercise a lot of improvisation and creativity.
Absolutely. I think Indian food at its heart is all about your own instinct as a home cook, approximations, and if there’s a little more or less of something it’s never going to ruin the taste of the dish. In India when you speak to your mum, grandmum or friends and ask for recipes, they just say add a bit of this, add a bit of that, never knowing how much. Obviously I write cookbooks so I have to be more precise than that! But take comfort in the fact that you can’t do anything too terribly wrong.
When creating dishes, do you always have your Indian roots in mind or do you branch out?
I believe fusion is confusion, I’m not a big fan of pasta with thali sauces and stuff like that. I’m from Calcutta but my mum’s from Delhi and my dad’s from Bengal. I grew up in a cosmopolitan home. Wherever we travelled, we brought recipes back home to add to our repertoire. The Indian food I cook reflects that, it’s not about being rooted— I’ll cook a South Indian breakfast and then a Punjabi tandoori barbecue, maybe a Bengali dinner on a Sunday. And that Indian food sits beside food of other cultures. I might mash up the techniques, but I don’t mess with how a dish is meant to taste. So much of what I do is because I miss the taste of home, so I try and stay true to that.
What role does new technology and innovation play in your cooking?
I love it! I’m a massive fan of cheats and shortcuts. I’ve probably written the only Indian cookbook that blatantly recommends store-bought papads, pickle, rotis and parathas. For example, a really handy alternative to homemade cashew cream is actually cashew butter. As long as it doesn’t have added sugar, it does the job. We’re all so busy now, everyone is busy, no matter what they’re doing. So it would be a shame not to use all that fantastic innovation to get good food on the table quickly.
Once my food’s on the table, often I forget to savour it and just wolf it down. How do you avoid that?
You’re asking the wrong person, I’m afraid! I think there’s a time and place to savour your food, and then there’s getting something on the table quick so you can sit and watch your favourite telly show. In my book I’ve broken it up like that, with quick recipes that you can whisk up during the week after a long day’s hard graft, and some that take 3 days from prep to finish, with soaking, fermenting, marinating, and slow cooking. Wherever you are in life, you should eat without stress or shame. I’m a big fan of old crackers and pickle after a long day, then just going to bed.
You discovered cooking as a student. How did you approach it at first?
I started cooking as a masters student, just experimenting. I had Jamie’s The Naked Chef and a handful of recipes from my mum. I was a fussy eater as a child, followed by years of eating absolute nonsense as an undergrad. I came to university not knowing how to boil an egg. I slowly started missing Indian food and realised I had to teach myself or that would be it. Then I began blogging about food and the trials and tribulations of life in London, working in PR. I brought a fresh perspective because when I started I wasn’t even a cook, let alone an Indian cook. So from that to writing cookbooks has been a pretty chequered journey, to say the least!
What do you think budding cooks should take away from your writing?
Look, no matter how busy you are, if you enjoy home-cooked food you can always find time for it. Don’t be afraid of reaching for a shortcut or two. You have to be realistic about how much you can give. It’s your kitchen, nobody’s judging you. In India people are leading increasingly Western lifestyles. Sometimes people tell me, oh, I have a pestle and mortar and I make my own garam masala blend. But I don’t know anyone in India who does that! So don’t overcomplicate it, would be my big advice. Just go with the flow and enjoy it.
"So much of what I do is because I miss the taste of home"
We've not caught up with how Indians are reinventing their own home cooking?
Yes. There’s still this romantic notion about Indian food that you have to use so many spices and unusual techniques. I don’t think it helps that we call takeaway food ‘British Indian’ or ‘Indian takeaway’. That food has got nothing to do with India, it’s British curry. Chicken tikka masala is absolutely delicious, but it’s not Indian. It maybe has roots in traditional butter chicken but it’s evolved beyond recognition.
That’s Feast Box’s mission, trying to give people a taste of authentic Asian food. How do you encourage people who might be hesitant?
People are more open than ever to new tastes and flavours, so that’s a good starting point. And simplicity attracts people. With my cookbooks it’s all about, not simplified recipes, but simplified techniques and methods. If people really enjoy Feast Box and love the flavours, and see that it’s actually quite straightforward to put the ingredients together, hopefully that will open lots of doors and get them interested in exploring and buying spices for another dish. It’s about opening peoples’ eyes to how approachable and satisfying the whole experience is.
Once people have taken that first step into a brave new world of cooking, what’s next?
Not to toot my own horn, but I would always start with a decent cookbook. You just need to find one that speaks to you, where the recipes interest you and there’s a lot of knowledge. I really like Fuchsia Dunlop, because she breaks down authentic Chinese food so well and makes it accessible. Finding someone like that for a cuisine you love is so important. Then once you get more confident and capable, you can do more experimenting.
For a limited time we're offering 4 of Mallika's most enticing dishes as Feast Box recipes. There are 2 available each week, so act now to make sure you get your favourites!
