Book Review: SUMMERS UNDER THE TAMARIND TREE

Title: Summers Under the Tamarind Tree  

Author: Sumayya Usmani

Publisher: White Lion Publishing

Pages: 223

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

 

 

 

Summers Under the Tamarind Tree is a book that you need to get yourself, particularly if you like what is popularly known as ‘desi’ or Indian cooking.

 

The first thing that caught my eye were the pictures in this book. They captured vignettes of life in Pakistan in glorious colour. They were a reminder of how similar our two nations are and of the common roots we share. They included generic images of life in Pakistan as also family pictures.

Beginning with a bit of family history, the author quickly shifts to talking about the methods of cooking that elevate a dish, and then to sharing the recipes of the dishes that graced her own table.

The author talks about traditional methods of cooking like bhunai, tadka, dum, dhuri (smoking). The latter is guaranteed to raise the flavour of a dish by many notches. Andaza as a way to navigate cooking is commonplace across the Indian subcontinent.

The book is directed at a Western audience and reminds them to learn to play with spice, something cooks and aficionados of the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent know instinctively. Such readers have much to learn from the chapters on spice blends.

The dishes include cholay ka salan (chickpea curry with tomatoes), aloo ki bhujia (spicy potatoes with nigella seeds and fenugreek), khagina (spicy scrambled egg with tomatoes and coriander—in India we call this dish bhurji), sweet semolina halva (with pistachio and rose water) and sabudana kheer (tapioca pearls with coconut and pistachio dust). As far as I was concerned, it read like the description of our staples and favourites.

Then there was bhutta (barbecued corn with chilli and lime), Hyderabadi-style samosas (filled with red onion mint and green chilli), spiced lentil bun kebabs—dishes whose flavours I can endorse from my experience this side of the fence.

There were other delicious dishes that one could have as treats. These included apple pakoras spiced with chaat masala, dahi vadas, shakarkandi (baked sweet potato with chaat masala).

But some things were new to me. The onomatopoeic sounding kat-a-kat (stir-fried and steamed chicken liver and kidneys) and sweet potato and squash parathas.

The bread staples included tandoori roti, naan, puris and makkai ki roti.

The rice recipes included khichdi and mutton pulao, attock chana rijai (minus the chana, this is the brown rice made by our Parsi community), Afghani lamb pulao, saffron rice, meatball and beef pulao.

The meat dishes included coal-smoked Bihari beef kababs, Railway mutton curry, coal smoked lamb keema, Peshawari namkeen gosht, Punjabi aloo gosht, attock chapli kabab, lamb karahi with fennel and coriander, mutton chops. Rose garam masala and Hunter beef were new to me.

The chicken delicacies included Baluchi-style chicken sajji, masaledar batair (spicy stir-friend quail), karahi ginger chicken, Karachi-style chicken tikka, Lahori chargha, chicken makhni handi (with coconut milk and fenugreek), Lahori murgh chholey (chickpea and chicken curry).

I can only imagine how fantastic the flavours of all these dishes would be,

My only grouse was that the book should have been proofread better. Not that you’d notice.

This was one book whose photos alone should make your mouth water. It deserves a place on your kitchen bookshelf.

 

 (I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.) 

Book Review: HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL IN 20 PIES

Title: How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies

Author: Amy Wallen

Illustrator: Emil Wilson

Publisher: Andrew McMeel Publishing

Pages: 240

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

The whole point of this part writing craft, part cookbook, and part memoir is to draw parallels between the process of writing a novel and that of baking a pie from scratch. On the surface, the concept of the book is so simple. You might think it won’t fit on the shelf of writing craft books. But its strength lies in its simplicity, in the warm and friendly vibe it gives out. The author’s style, so approachable, reassures us that novel writing is possible and, if we persevere, we could do it too.

I found this book adorable; even the dedications hark back to the theme. At regular intervals, the pages are peppered with helpful icons that tell us, Eat Pie Here.

The chapters have creative names such as Pie as Saving Grace, Pie Butt in Chair etc. Easy As Pie and Other Lies reminds us of the misconceptions that writing is easy.

None of the information that the author shares is new. She tells us we have to write a lot and often, that we must be loose with our ideas and not hang on to anything too tightly, that we must read like writers. She shares one important thing that other writing books don’t reinforce often enough, that we should save the bits we cut in a Trash file, in case we think we need them later. It is sound advice, but it feels diluted because of all the other fun stuff.

Along the way, she hands out writing advice particularly relating to the long, slow road to publishing, and offers recommendations on which books to read to know more about the craft. She also takes us along on her own journey towards publishing MoonPies and Movie Stars, her first book, and relates her experience of teaching the craft of writing to students. Above all, she reiterates that she learned how to write a novel by writing a novel.

 

The 20 recipes in the book include Basic Pie Crust, Chicken Pot Pie, Lemon Meringue Pie, Mushroom Hand Pies, No Guarantee Peach Pie etc, including a recipe for making Humble Pie, the only recipe for which I have all the ingredients. The author shares her pie making journey too, the successes and failures in the early days, and how she practised and got better.

The illustrations, mostly with a red colour palette, were delightful and inviting, and complemented the book well. Emil Wilson has done a great job. The characters drawn by him look like Teletubbies but wear black glares and pretend they are into cloak-and-dagger stuff. There are sweet drawings of a book and a pie dancing together, and of a pie offering therapy to a book writer.

There is a fun boardgame for the writing process and interesting illustrations about famous authors and the imagined ingredients of their pies. For instance, Hemingway’s pie is made of booze, fish, game, cigar and more booze. Agatha Christie’s pie – Who knows?

 

The author has even included a comic strip about this book and why the publisher might have agreed to publish it, hoping to get pie, of course. On an amusing side note, the publisher is called McMeel. 

If you’re looking for hard core writing advice, this book isn’t it. But as a pie cookbook-cum-writing craft book, it is a sweet, savoury and fun read. 

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)