Spice Box

Who’s the author? Sunil Ghai is an award-winning chef with a well-earned reputation for bold, contemporary cooking. Sunil grew up in Gwalior in northern India and trained at the prestigious five-star Oberoi hotel group before moving to Ireland in 2000. He opened his first restaurant, Pickle, in central Dublin in 2016 and has since opened two more: Tiffin, in the coastal town of Greystones, and Street in Dublin, all of which have helped revolutionise Indian cooking in Ireland.

What’s it about? In his debut cookbook, Ireland’s favourite Indian chef shares his approach to making delicious Indian food at home, using readily available ingredients. With over 100 easy-to-follow recipes, Spice Box shows how easy it is to create authentic Indian dishes with just a handful of spices that you can buy anywhere.

This book will show you that, far from being something to fear, cooking with spices is an amazing way to bring layers of flavour to your food. Its incredibly useful introduction includes tips on how best to stock your spice box and cupboards, how to get the most out of your ingredients, and the basic formula for making any curry. The recipes that follow cover comforting favourites and home-style curries using chicken, pork, lamb, and goat to fabulous fish and seafood, not to mention a dazzling array of vegetable dishes.

You will also find a superb selection of recipes for Indian breads, rice, chutneys, and raitas, as well as a chapter on desserts and drinks. Beautifully photographed and with steps and techniques clearly explained in every recipe, Spice Box will have you creating and falling in love with your own mouth-watering, home-cooked Indian food.

Recipes we love: Home-Style Chicken Curry, Pork Belly Ribs with Coconut, Mango and Star Anise, Fish Cakes with Masala Mayo, Chickpea Curry with Poori, and Turmeric Poached Pears.

Perfect for: Those new to cooking with spices, as well as fans of Indian food who want to start making their favourite dishes at home.