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Indian food expert Madhur Jaffrey tells Lucy Corry why she's never too busy to cook.
The phrase "time poor" could have been invented for Madhur Jaffrey. As a celebrated actress, award-winning writer, culinary expert, public speaker, teacher and grandmother, the 77-year-old has a schedule that would tire someone half her age. But rather than retire or rest on her laurels, Jaffrey has been busy reinventing herself.
Her latest book, Curry Easy, is the culmination of more than a decade of research and recipe testing to find shortcuts to cooking the cuisines from the subcontinent without sacrificing flavour.
"People say they love Indian food and cook it on weekends but feel they can't do it on the spur of the moment," she says, on the phone from her home in New York.
"I know what that's like because I'm pressed for time too, and I don't like being rushed. So I thought I would look for simpler dishes - every country has complex dishes and simple ones - of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and develop techniques to cook them.
"For curry you usually have to brown the spices, then the ginger and garlic, then the meat, so it can be quite a complicated process. So I did a little experimenting.
"I rubbed all the spices nicely into the meat and let it marinate overnight in the fridge, then the next day I put it in a hot oven and let it get nice and brown on the top and on the bottom. Then I covered it and let it braise and the end result was a lovely curry. That technique works beautifully for many dishes.
"Stir fries can be done using the same process, of letting all the dry spices marinate the meat before you stir-fry it. Indians never used to have refrigerators or ovens, but they would have come across these techniques if they did."
Purists may be aghast at the thought of curry in a hurry, but Jaffrey has the pedigree to get away with it. After growing up in Delhi, Jaffrey learned to cook as a homesick drama student in London, using handwritten recipes her mother sent her in the post.
While her acting garnered good reviews, her talents in the kitchen were even more sought after. Jaffrey's first book, An Invitation to Indian Cooking was first published in 1973 and remains in print today. She's written almost 30 more cookbooks since then, as well as a volume of memoir and several books for children.
"There are three generations of people cooking from my books now," she laughs. "I think there are some people who learn from their parents but, for many people, cookbooks are the only way they learn to cook."
These days they also learn from watching TV - Jaffrey has presented several BBC cooking shows and is quick to see the good side. "Part of me detests the idea of food as a game show and I know that there are a lot of couch potatoes out there who don't ever cook, but you can see the good it is doing," she says.
As well as cooking - and writing - Jaffrey continues to have a busy acting career, with more than 20 films to her name. She's recently finished filming her latest project, A Late Quartet, in which she stars alongside Christopher Walken and Philip Seymour Hoffman. "Life is a real mixture of things, cooking, writing, acting, doing cooking demonstrations, speaking at film screenings, teaching."
She and her second husband, violinist Sanford Allen, eat at home most of the time because it's easier than dining out. "New York is a wonderful place for eating out but we are very busy and we don't have the time to spend three hours in a restaurant. Also, we prefer the food at home. There's nothing that a restaurant has that I can't make at home," she says.
"We eat everything at home, but it's very simple and easy."
- The Dominion Post
(source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/4987486/Meet-the-mistress-of-spices)
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