Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape: 100 of my favourite Indian recipes

Ghee – This is essentially clarified butter, which features heavily in northern Indian cooking. You can buy it ready-made in tins at Asian grocers, but I find these have a strong, overpowering aroma. To clarify butter, melt it gently, then pour off the oil through a muslin-lined sieve and discard the milky solids. For health reasons, many Indians now mainly cook with vegetable oil, but they will add a little unsalted butter or ghee to flavour and enrich a dish.

Gram flour – Also known as besan, this is made from finely ground chickpeas or channa dal. It is used in Indian cooking for a variety of purposes, such as soups and curries, and it is an integral part of the batter for bhajis and pakoras.

Grated coconut – Freshly grated coconut is often called for in Indian cooking. To extract the flesh from a coconut, crack it with the back of a strong cleaver or using a hammer. Drain off the coconut water (or save to drink later). You should have two halves of the coconut. Prise out the white flesh with a strong spoon then finely shred or grate using a food processor. Grated coconut can be frozen successfully for at least a month.

Jaggery – An unrefined natural sugar made from the concentrated sap of the date palm. It lends a distinctive sweet taste to both sweet and savoury dishes. Usually sold in solid blocks, jaggery is often grated before it is incorporated into dishes. The darker the colour of the jaggery, the stronger the flavour. You can substitute it with palm sugar or light brown soft sugar.

Kalonji – Also known as nigella seeds, these are black onion seeds with a teardrop shape. Kalonji is frequently used in pickles, chutneys and fish dishes as well as sprinkled on to Indian flat breads.

Karahi – A large, all-purpose rounded pan that is an essential piece of equipment in an Indian kitchen. It is particularly useful for deep-frying as it allows you to use less oil than you would when using a regular saucepan. If you do not already own a karahi, a wok makes a very good substitute.

Mustard oil – The oil extracted from mustard seeds, this has a pungent and slightly bitter taste when raw. Once heated, it develops a distinctive sweet flavour. An acquired taste, it is most commonly used in Bengali cooking for pickling and cooking fish and vegetables. If you can’t find it, substitute it with vegetable or groundnut oil.

Panch phoran – A Bengali spice blend made up of equal quantities of whole fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, black mustard seeds, cumin seeds and nigella or black onion seeds.

Paneer – This fresh, unsalted curd cheese is widely used in both sweet and savoury Indian dishes. Paneer is very easy to make, requiring only whole milk and either lemon juice or vinegar. The milk is heated almost to boiling point, then removed from the heat and a little lemon juice or vinegar is stirred in. The milk will curdle or separate, and at this point the liquid is strained and hung for a few hours to remove the watery whey, leaving behind the fresh curd. Paneer is best made on the day it is to be eaten.

Rosewater – Made from distilled rose petals, rosewater is produced as a by-product of the process used to make rose oil. The widespread use of rosewater in Indian cooking comes from Persian influence; it is commonly sprinkled over biryani or pilau rice to lend a perfumed aroma to the dish.

Tamarind – Used as a souring agent in Indian cooking, particularly in the south, tamarind pulp is usually sold in blocks. To get tamarind purée, soak the tamarind pulp in water (roughly double the volume of water to weight of pulp) for at least 30 minutes. You should break the tamarind block up with your hands to achieve maximum flavour before straining the purée through a sieve and discarding the husks. More convenient but less flavour-some ready-made tamarind paste is now widely sold in jars in major supermarkets.

Tuvar dal – Dark ochre-coloured split and skinned pigeon pea lentils with a mild nutty and earthy flavour. These versatile lentils are very popular in Indian cooking and are a good source of protein and fibre.

Urad dal – Black gram usually sold split and skinned to reveal the yellow lentils inside. Urad dal is ground with rice to make the classic southern Indian dosa. It is also often fried in small quantities to give a nutty crunch to vegetable or rice dishes.

Starters & snacks (#ulink_b1f592bb-d280-5d88-b546-0e83be3b76aa)

Malai chicken kebabs

Galouti kebabs

Paneer tikka kebabs

Spiced tomato and coconut soup

Spicy prawn pakoras

Prawn koftas

Maharashtrian white bean patties

Lamb, cumin and mint samosas

Mixed vegetable samosas

Aubergine bhajis

Bombay potato cakes

Cottage cheese and sweetcorn fritters

Spicy vegetable and paneer wraps

Aloo dahi puri

Malai chicken kebabs

SERVES 4–6

500g boneless and skinless chicken breasts

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

6-8 bamboo skewers

1 red pepper

1 yellow or orange pepper

2 tbsp ghee or melted unsalted butter

MARINADE

150ml double cream or soured cream

2 cardamom pods, split and seeds finely crushed

3cm ginger, peeled and finely grated

3 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely crushed

2 tbsp gram flour

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp dried mango powder

1 tsp ground cumin

/

tsp ground turmeric

2 mild green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

These Punjabi chicken kebabs come from the northwest of India and are traditionally cooked in a hot tandoor. The kebabs are fairly mild, which makes them suitable for serving to a young family. To turn them into a main meal, serve with fluffy basmati rice or soft flat breads such as puri or naan, a sweet and sour chutney and some side vegetable dishes.

Cut the chicken into 2.5-3cm cubes. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the marinade and season well with salt and pepper. Add the chicken pieces to the marinade and mix well to ensure that every piece is well coated. Cover the bowl with cling film and chill for a few hours, preferably overnight.