Book Review – Saffron Soul by Mira Manek

Anyone who knows me well will tell you there is one thing I can never cook without, and it is spice. My spice dabba—heavy, round and metallic—is my prized possession in the kitchen, coming before the vitamix or the kitchenaid stand mixer (although, I must admit it’s a pretty close call).

Mira Manek is a woman after my own heart. Her book, Saffron Soul, is a story of how she came to love and appreciate Indian cooking, healthy Indian cooking. It is a tale laced with sugar, with spice (oh the spices!), and with beautiful photos and recipes of all her inventive dishes. In fact, her story is not too different from my own. But instead of bringing fenugreek seeds back home after being charmed by its cholesterol-fighting properties, I brought back psyllium husk.

But, I digress, that is a story for another day!

The dishes in Saffron Soul have all sorts of personalities, from the feisty and seductive beetroot thoran, to the mild-mannered and comforting cleansing mung soup. The former is perfect fuel for a glamorous evening out, while the latter is the perfect dish to have when you’re back—nursing it from a large bowl after tucking yourself under layers (and layers!) of blankets.

What I love about Saffron Soul, other than Mira’s lyrical and colourful narration, is the creativity behind it all. The subtitle of Saffron Soul promises you healthy vegetarian heritage recipes from India. But in addition to that, you get all of Mira’s creative and innovative spins on her grandmother’s home cooking. From millet roti and brown rice kheer, to quinoa and coconut upma. Saffron Soul is quite unlike any Indian vegetarian cookbook before it.

For someone whose diet consists of various forms of dal and chutneys, I’ve never really owned an Indian cookbook before. I have read some, for sure, and borrowed some. But I have always thought that when it comes to Indian cooking, there is nothing that a book could teach me that my own grandmother could not. And, perhaps, a lot of this thinking was down to me being too proud to admit that there was so much more to the rich history of India’s cooking that I had yet to learn. Mira’s book has taught me so much, and Saffron Soul has armed me with a whole other set of tips and tricks for the next time I fry a roti, or a temper. Like how to mix my fenugreek and mustard seeds together in the dabba, how much time (and heartache!) I could save by just making a ginger, garlic and chili paste. And, of course, there that there is nothing that can’t be elevated with a generous sprinkle of Mira’s maple chillied seeds.

It was hard for me to choose what to cook first. Whenever I get a new cookbook, I go for the one with the longest list of spices. Because I trust that any dish with enough cumin and coriander will probably be my favourite recipe anyway. But with Saffron Soul, every page was marked with a little paper sticky tab. I want to make this, and this, and this. And this!

So, after much debate, and after promising myself I would get round to making it all eventually, I decided on three things to whip up first. The masala aubergine, which according to Mira is one of the most popular in the book, the masala chana chaat (a spicy chickpea salad/snack) and some thepla (mixed flour roti).

But! I got hungry. And I didn’t have any aubergine, or dill, or chickpease for that matter (what kind of vegan AM I?!?). So, I made dinner with a few recipes from the book before trying out the three I had chosen. Yes. I couldn’t wait! I whipped up Mira’s Gujarati dal and her cauliflower and pea curry.

Now, as I mentioned, I eat a lot of dal. But Mira’s dal is so different from anything I have had before. The Gujarati take on dal is much lighter, sweeter and not as thick as the dals I am used to. It was still 10/10 delicious, and I finished something that was meant to serve 4 all by myself. The cauliflower and pea curry was equally scrumptious, and it was perfectly paired (as per Mira’s suggestion) with the dal, as this curry was dry and fried in a whisper of hot oil and spices.

The next day, I popped over to Tesco to get the ingredients for my Saffron Soul FEAST. And what a feast! Of course, being a student means I didn’t have the luxury of having all the ingredients on hand. Perhaps this has less to do with me being a student and more to do with my inability to have tahini in the pantry without eating it all on a spoon. The same goes for cashews. So, with a little bit of adaptation (some tamarind in place of dried mangosteen, and some more buckwheat flour in place of the quinoa flour), we whipped up our dinner. I mention our substitutions as this is a testament to how much you can experiment with the recipes in Saffron Soul. Mira herself says that the recipes can be played around with, according to what you like, and what you have on hand.

I am partial to a good slice of burfi, and Mira’s coco fugde reminded me of just that. Albeit with less temple-aching sweetness and a lovely roasted note. While these little fudge squares were a gift Mira sent to me along with the book, there is a recipe for them in Saffron Soul. As soon as I get round to buying some medjool dates (which I never have on hand because I end up eating them all on the walk back from tesco).

All in all, this is a book that has no place on some bookshelf. There simply is no point popping it back on the shelf when all I want to do is flip through it daily, cook something delightfully spicy and beautifully aromatic… this book belongs on my kitchen counter.