Great British Chefs recently asked me to review The Mighty Spice Cook Book, and being a bit of a spice fiend I was delighted.
John Gregory-Smith, the author of this wonderful book, sounds a lot like me. He grew up eating lots of different spices, he’s travelled all over the world meeting local people to learn about their cooking and he is generally pretty obsessed with food but spices in particular.
This book starts with a fascinating tour of his travels and the origins of some of the dishes in the book. He covers China, Mexico, South East Asia, Morocco, Turkey, The Lebanon and of course my India and Sri Lanka. All growers of some of the most fabulous spices.
I loved the Vanilla in this Lebanese Lemon and Vanilla Cake.
Lebanese Lemon and Vanilla Cake
The mix of ginger, turmeric, chilli, lemongrass and garlic in this Malay Yellow Mussel Curry.
Malay Yellow Mussel Curry
And couldn’t resist the cumin, coriander, garam masala, black pepper and chilli in this Chana Masala.
Delhi Style Chana Masala
Read the full review – you’ll be drooling. I was trying hard not to!