Indian Cooking eBook

A new year, a new cover for my book!

Indian cooking for beginners

If it's not too late to say so, happy new year my friends!

I hope you had a chance to practice your Indian cooking over the holidays and have dazzled everybody with your skills in the kitchen. Myself, I had my family visiting from the US so I had my grand kids running around the house to keep me occupied - lots of Ninjago and bracelet making!

With the new year, I wanted to address some feedback I had received from you all and have repackaged Olly's Kitchen with a new cover and tag line for the book: "Indian Cooking for Beginners". I have tried to bring some of the  photos  by our wonderful photographer (the uber talented Alex Mejia) onto the cover and hope this will help new audiences understand more quickly what this book is about.

The new versions are available on Amazon as of this week -  I would love to get your thoughts on the new cover, so please do shoot me a mail, I read every response and try to address any questions you may have regarding the recipes or Indian cooking in general.

Those of you who have been on the mailing list since our humble beginnings are no doubt ready for some new recipes - be rest assured this year we have some exciting developments to help you impress your friends and family with your cooking talent.

All the best,

Olly

Learn how to make Ghee in less than 60 seconds

Greased Lightning.

A number of you have written to me saying that you either had trouble locating the ingredient GHEE in your supermarkets or have found that it is incredibly expensive. GHEE is melted, clarified butter, where the natural sugars are caramelized to give a characteristic taste.

It is actually very easy to prepare at home and I wanted to share the recipe with you in the form of a 60 second recipe video to help you put even more flavour in your Indian dishes. If you have not yet subscribed to my Youtube channel, you can do so here.

You can see how to make Ghee in the video below, but here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 kg of unsalted butter (I use 4 slabs of 250 grams)

Preparation time: 2 minutes

Cooking time: 35-40 minutes

Instructions:

1. Take the slabs of unsalted butter and melt them in a pan over a very low heat. This takes 35 – 40 minutes, and it depends on the quality of butter and the water content.  When golden brown particles appear on the surface, the ghee is done. 

2. Allow the ghee to cool down naturally and while the liquid is still warm, filter it through muslin or any other clean cloth and a strainer into a strong container (preferably glass or stainless steel).

Ghee does not need to be stored in a refrigerator, but no problem if you wish to do so.

Enjoy the video!

Olly

Garam Masala - the magic ingredient

Today I will teach you how to make a secret ingredient that will make your curries mouth wateringly good with a 60 second video.

First of all, my apologies for the long delay since my last update, life as a "Pensiopreneur" comes with its challenges but I am now back in the kitchen but as promised, I wanted to share some more Indian cooking tips with you.

If you've been to an Indian restaurant and ever had a really great curry, chances are it contained a spice blend called Garam Masala. If you've downloaded your free starter pack, I included the recipe there but as I have now learned how to use my iPhone a little better, I've put together a video for you (below) to show you in less than 60 seconds how to make your own Garam Masala mix.

The word "GARM" means hot in Hindi and in Bengali (Garam). It is a misnomer as the spice mixture is not hot but aromatic.  Lot of Chefs would tell you that their mixture is a family secret and passed down generations. It is a mixture of aromatic spices and there are lots of spices which may be used to suit one's own palette.

The base of the mixture is

- Cardamom
- Cloves and
- Cinnamon

To this one may add

- Black peppercorn
- Black cardamom
- Nutmeg
- Cumin seeds
- Coriander seeds

 I usually do a batch with 20 grams each of Cloves, Green Cardamom and Cinnamon sticks.

To this I add

- One or two black Cardamom pods
- 1 medium sized Nutmeg seed and
- 20 grams of whole black peppercorns
 

I break down the cinnamon sticks into smaller pieces for ease of grinding later. I also crush the Nutmeg into small pieces.

The mixture is gently roasted until the aroma starts to come out (gentle smoke) .  The mixture is allowed to cool and ground in a spice grinder in batches. The whole blend is then sieved to remove any unground husks. It is then stored in a air tight container and it can be kept like this easily for months.

It is mostly used to add final touch to a curry and also in marinades for Kebabs.

Anyway, enjoy the video and always please do tag me on Facebook and/or Instagram using the hashtag #OllysKitchen with your latest Indian dishes, I am always happy to see how you are getting on with the recipes from the book.

Lastly, for our Spanish speaking friends, stay tuned for a very special announcement about our partnership with Amazon's Kindle in the month of October :)
  
All the best and enjoy the video!
 

Olly

Easy to follow Indian recipes

I can honestly say that writing the book with my son, Avik, was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Whilst he always enjoyed Indian food, he had never shown that much of an interest in cooking until we started the project. He tested every single recipe and prepared all of the dishes that appear in the photographs of the book. Here is a short video, where Avik explains how easy it was to follow the recipes and the delight he got from preparing great Indian food at home.

/AKR


Turmeric - the wonder spice

Turmeric is a root of the Curcuma longa plant and belongs to the same family as ginger. Although the fresh variety is used in cooking it is the dried variety which is mostly used in Indian cooking.  The spice has good antiseptic and antibiotic properties and for this reason raw fish and meat are mixed with it before cooking specially in hot countries to keep bacteria out.

It gives an intense yellow colour and has a characteristic taste, although too much can result in a bitter sensation. We have used the powdered variety throughout the book, which is readily available in supermarkets. The bengali name for Turmeric is "Haldi."

No Kindle? No Problem!

I am not the most tech savvy of people and at 74 years old, I have to admit, I got a little confused when trying to read my eBook on my iPad. I am a Kindle owner but also wanted to be able to read not only my eBook, but also my other Kindle purchases on my iPad. Enter the Kindle app!

The folks at Amazon have put together these superb video tutorials so that you can link together your purchases from your amazon account with your mobile devices such as your iPad or your iPhone using the Kindle app. That's right, you can enjoy the content from "Olly's Kitchen: Volume One" on your mobile devices, so no need for a Kindle! We have seen that this has been an issue for a few of you when trying to buy the book, so hopefully this tutorial is helpful

Paneer dishes

Chana, as it is called in Bengali, is commonly known as Paneer. It is a kind of cheese that is used in sweet and savoury dishes.

I wanted to show you some photos from the book to get you inspired. The reason we included the recipe for making Paneer in the free starter pack was that you can make some delicious dishes with it. Have a look at the photos and let us know how you get on!

How to make Paneer - VIDEO

In the free starter pack, we teach you a free tricks to make some key ingredients at home in case you don't have an Indian supermarket in your neighbourhood. 

My vision is to make Indian cooking accessible to people from all levels of society in all corners of the world and to share the secrets of the delicious cuisine from my native India. Staying true to that vision, I have sent my son Avik around the world to record videos of people from around the world cooking recipes from our eBook of Indian Recipes.

In the first video of the series, Avik traveled to Geneva, Switzerland where Tim from the US and Stefania from Italy made Paneer at home following my recipe! Paneer is the key ingredient in dishes like Matar Paneer, Chanar Dalna and Sandesh!

Enjoy the film!

/AKR


Why I wrote an Ebook with my 50 best Indian Recipes

A HUGE THANK YOU to all those of you that have bought my new eBook in these first few days of the launch! I never dreamed that I would be able to share my recipes with so many people around the world! Inspured by Simon Sinek's TED talk, here is a short video message as to WHY I wrote the ebook with my 50 Best Indian Recipes!

Happy Diwali - Download your free Olly's Kitchen starter pack!

Happy Diwali everyone! Today is the first day of Diwali (the festival of lights) and is associated with Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity!

As my Diwali gift to all those that have been kind enough to follow us and to get you going on your Indian cooking journey, I want to give you a FREE starter pack to show you how to prepare a few of the key ingredients we use in the book as well as a glossary of the spices. To get your free copy, complete the form below and hit submit!

Be sure to add ollyskitchen23@gmail.com to our safe list and check that the opt-in confirmation doesn't get blocked by your spam filters to ensure you get your free copy.

/AKR


Welcome to Olly's Kitchen!

Cooking has been a passion of mine my whole life and it is my great pleasure to share my 50 best Indian recipes with you through my new eBook, Olly's Kitchen: Volume One. The ebook is available in English (US and UK editions) and Spanish.

The eBook has been written by my son (Avik Ray) and I (Olly Ray) and contains our favourite Indian recipes in an easy to follow format. We have included a mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes for you to amaze your friends and family with at your next get together.

We will show you how easy it is to create the Indian restaurant experience at home as we begin to share our family secrets with you.

If you love Indian food, we promise you will love the book!

Happy cooking!

#SpiceUpYourLife

/AKR