Cookbooks to the rescue

Every home has its go-to meals. In Nepali households, it’s mostly ‘daal, bhaat, tarkari’, the occasional ‘roti, tarkari’, ‘khichdi’, and/or different forms of curries. We rarely deviate from this supposedly set menu, unless we have guests over or are eating out. I find home cooked meals comforting. I guess everyone does. But it can become mundane. We could all do with a little variety every now and then. This is where cookbooks come in handy. I have, over the past couple of years, amassed quite a collection of cookbooks. These, mostly hardcover, books are kept separately in a small shelf in the dining area. Looking at them makes me feel I’m able to prepare delicious, nourishing meals whenever I want to.

‘The Curry Guy Chicken’ by Dan Toombs and ‘Masala Memsahib’ by Karen Anand are two of my favorite cookbooks that I constantly reach for. These are mostly Asian/Indian recipes and as someone who likes a good curry and rice, I feel I don’t need anything else. But my family loves Nepali food. They find it easier to digest and more winter-friendly than oily, spices-heavy Indian food. I have come to realize that if you follow the recipes to the letter, it always comes out great. You are never disappointed. Earlier, I used to go with the flow, and what often happened was that I was never able to recreate a dish.

For Nepali cooking, I have for a while now turned to ‘Timmur’ by Prashanta Khanal. I first chanced upon the book at a dietician’s clinic. While waiting for my turn, I flipped through the pages and the full-page photos, taken by Nabin Baral and Gagan Thapa, caught my attention. The recipes are divided into sections, with a separate ‘Achaar’ segment as well. I left the clinic determined to buy my own copy the same day. I didn’t manage to, for various reasons. But the book was always at the back of my mind. Having tried my hands at making Indian curries and naans (through cookbooks, of course), I wanted to learn proper Nepali cooking too as much of what I knew was limited to what I had seen growing up.

I finally got a copy and it’s been a good investment. I’ve tried making many dishes and they have come out really well, so much so that my mother, who is an expert cook, complimented my cooking. As someone who grew up eating Nepali food, I was familiar with many of the recipes in the book but every time I made, say ‘kwati’ or Bamboo Shoot curry, it would taste different—I could never master the recipe. Timmur has made that possible for me. It has recipes for many of my childhood dishes, like ‘gundruk’, ‘aalu cauli tarkari’, and ‘khasiko bhutuwa’ among others, as well as many that I always wished I could make, like ‘yomari’ and ‘mula ko achaar’.

The thing about cookbooks is that they are easy to follow, unlike YouTube tutorials where you might lose track every few minutes and have to pause or rewind. Cookbooks also make for great coffee table books and can double as décor. I love having the one I’m using displayed on the kitchen counter or the dining table. Cookbooks, I believe, have made me a better cook, taught me some great hacks that have significantly lessened my time in the kitchen, as well as made me understand and appreciate different cuisines.