Kavi Thakrar

Our bacon naan roll has something of a cult following; it must surely be our signature breakfast dish. The freshly cooked naan is graced with a little cream cheese, tomato-chilli jam and fresh coriander, and wrapped around a few rashers of smoked streaky bacon. Make sure you prepare all the ingredients for the filling before the naan hits the pan. Use good-quality flavoursome bacon — or sausages or eggs for the alternative fillings (see below). A combination of bacon or sausage with an egg makes a first-class filling.

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Mahesh Lunch Home serves an excellent version of this dish, although Trishna’s is more famous. Ours is somewhat lighter than the Bombay equivalent, and gets along very well with the fresh herbs and green chilli. It’s a simple recipe, but very indulgent – one for a special occasion. We invented it for Diwali one year. For ease, the recipe below uses shelled crab meat, but you can start with a whole crab, if you prefer: a 1–1.2kg crab is perfect for two (see note).

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Ruby Murray was a 1950s Irish pop singer, whose name became Cockney rhyming slang for curry. This is our take on butter chicken, which was invented at the famous Moti Mahal in Delhi. Apparently, the cook first made this dish for his staff using leftover tandoori chicken in a makhani sauce. The owner then put it on the menu, and it soon became their most popular dish.

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This is a sweet-sour-spicy syrup to add tang to your dishes. Drizzle it on anything that needs a bit of livening up. Or combine it with tamarind chutney to make a tamarind drizzle (see below). Take good care while preparing this drizzle, and do not stand over the pan, as the steam will sting your eyes. It will keep in the fridge for up to a couple of months, in a sterilised container.

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Hot, tangy, nutty, sweet. Fresh kale gives this salad plenty of bite and vigour, while the red chilli adds an addictive heat. Mint for freshness, juicy bursts of pomelo, the sweetness of dates and crunch of pistachios – all make it a little more interesting. We serve this two ways: as a salad or side dish to share (as below), or with cooled, pulled murgh malai (page 273). It makes an exceptional lunch on a hot day.

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We use garam masala in almost every savoury dish we make. We give two methods for this spice mix: a quick recipe using a pan, and a longer recipe using the oven. As with all masalas, freshly grinding your spices produces the best results. For an especially rich garam masala, add a large pinch each of saffron and grated nutmeg along with the poppy seeds and rose petals. The garam masala will keep an airtight container in a cool, dark cupboard for up to a month.

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Kachumber is the closest thing we Indians have to a salad. It's a messy to-do of tomato, cucumber, onion and coriander. The salt helps the vegetables to release all their delicious flavours into the mix, while the lime juice lifts the whole affair.

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In Bombay a puff is a tasty little pastry parcel, stuffed with minced lamb keema, spiced vegetables or another first-rate filling, not unlike a small pasty. Sassanian in Dhobi Talao serves the best ones with mutton, chicken and vegetable variations. These keema puffs will be very good with a little tamarind chutney (page 377) or even chilli chutney (page 378), but in Bombay you would eat them with good old tomato ketchup. Make sure the filling is completely cold before you assemble the puffs, otherwise the pastry will be difficult to handle.

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This lamb stock is a crucial part of the flavour and depth of our nihari (page 240) and awadhi lamb biryani (page 234). It sets to a very thick, opaque jelly once it has cooled. Ask your butcher for a combination of shank/leg and shoulder bones, cut to 5–7cm lengths. The exact weight of bones and quantity of water will depend on the capacity of your stockpot. The stove method is slightly quicker, whereas the oven or slow-cooker method calls for less attention (and milder cooking smells emanating through your house).

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This rich, creamy sauce is used for the chicken ruby, phaldari kofta, and paneer tikka chapati rolls.

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A spicy tea made with a blend of loose tea and fresh ginger, combined with spices and milk for a rich, flavorful experience.

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Star anise lends a beautiful smokiness to this easy marmalade, a pleasant surprise in amongst the familiar flavours of sweet orange and bitter rind. As it simmers, your home will be filled with the delicious aromas of star anise and citrus fruit — it’s worth making it just for that.

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This salad marries sweetness and bitterness to excellent effect. It works best with a firm, slightly green mango, and bitter leaves, such as chicory, bull’s blood and Treviso. Be generous when seasoning the paneer, since it can otherwise be bland. For a satisfying lunch, serve the salad with crispy sesame and onion seed naans. You can swap the mango for pomelo or pink grapefruit segments, and the paneer for juicy, garlicky grilled prawns if you like.

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This cooling yoghurt dish is a traditional accompaniment that goes well with almost any meal, but especially suits the biryanis and vegetarian curries.

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This is used as a dressing for vada pau (page 174), salads and chaats. To make it, simply mix 4 tsp chilli drizzle with 3 tsp tamarind chutney (page 377).

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In his book, Maximum City (an essential and spicy read about Bombay), Suketu Mehta talks about vada pau: “Whose city is Bombay? Bombay is the vada pav eaters’ city, Mama of the Rajan Company had said to me. It is the lunch of the chawl dwellers, the cart pullers, the street urchins; the clerks, the cops, and the gangsters.” Quite right. Bombayites have endless arguments about which vendor sells the best ones. In our view it is the Ashok Vada Pav stall near Kirti College in Dadar, almost an hour’s drive (in traffic) from south Bombay. They serve their vadas (potato patties) spicy and hot, straight from the fryer. The heat and the chilli combine to give you an addictive hit which burns your mouth, made even better with hot chai. There’s always a queue of people in the street, waiting for the next round. If you’re staying in south Bombay but can’t or won’t make a two-hour round trip for a small sandwich, the more convenient stall on the pavement outside the Central Telegraph Office at Flora Fountain does a reasonably good version. It’s a simple dish, a bit like a chip butty, but obviously much better. There are quite a few components to a vada pau, but once the prep is done, they are very quick to fry and serve. Perfect for brunch, lunch or a satisfying party snack, they are best eaten as soon after cooking as they won’t burn your mouth. Don’t let a cooked vada pau sit around… and, honestly, why would you? The potato mix can be prepared in advance and stored for up to 24 hours in the fridge. The patties are actually a little easier to batter if they’ve been allowed to firm up in the fridge a while. The batter mix can be prepared in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Illustrated overleaf

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Sharbat is a soft drink with Persian origins and will quench your thirst. There is sweetness and flavour from the fruit juice, a little salt and sugar for rehydration, all lengthened nicely with soda water. A first-class summer refresher.

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