Food writer Rukmini Iyer: I didn’t know what not having time was until I had a baby

The cook and author of the Roasting Tin series is back. She chats to
Lauren Taylor about Indian train journeys and cooking as a new mum.

When Rukmini Iyer wrote the hugely successful Roasting Tin series, she never imagined just how crucial her simple, one-tray recipes would actually be – until she became a mum.

“What I said about the Roasting Tin books, ‘Oh, it’s great if you don’t have much time’ – I didn’t know what not having much time was until I had a baby!” she says, laughing. “I really appreciate having written books where I can just put things in a tray.

Her daughter Alba is seven months old and at the “hilarious” weaning stage. “It’s mad when your life’s completely turned around,” says the 37-year-old, “So I’m very, very glad to be able to do minimal prep, hands-free cooking.”

ABOVE: (Left) Rukmini Iyer | David Loftus/PA Photos & (Right) India Express: Fresh and delicious recipes for every day | Square Peg/PA Photos

Recipes in her seventh book, Indian Express, have been a lifesaver too, with ‘one pan’ and ‘one tin’ chapters. “Those are the ones I’m relying on right now – and the more adventurous ones when I hand [Alba] over to her dad!”

Her latest offering focuses not just on Indian flavours, but specifically the food of a 1,000-mile train route from Tamil Nadu, South India (where her dad is from) to Kolkata, Bengal (where her mum is from) – and all the regions in between.

It’s a route her father would travel back and forth when he studied at the University of Kolkata Medical School, where he later met her mum – a journey that took 36 hours at the time. Four years ago, Iyer took the same journey with both of her parents to really discover the food of those regions – and everywhere in between.

She writes that her father’s face still lights up when he talks about the journey he first took with her mother, “Because, by then a new service had started, the Coromandel Express, a brand new train taking just 24 hours. It was also a rather unusual trip, given that it was unconventional for a couple in India to travel together unmarried in the 1970s.”

Iyer says she finds the story “romantic”, and when she recreated the journey, “We took the overnight train journey with a train picnic, listening to my parents’ stories about all the amazing food.”

So what characterises Bengali cuisine compared to South Indian?

“My mother had a really hilarious phrase, which is – ‘Tomatoes and potatoes, Bengalis put them in everything’. And they really like seafood because it’s a coastal area, you get really amazing prawns. I was in a hotel [there] with my mum and we ordered some delicious breaded prawns and what turned up was literally the size of a small lobster – so tasty and ginormous,” she says.

“Whereas in South India, where my family is vegetarian, the food is really light and healthy. [They] cook with mustard seeds, desiccated coconut, cook things in coconut milk – it’s about fresh, quick and easy stir-fries, whereas Bengal is a bit more fish-based. But both regions are really spectacular, [and] they are both rice-eating regions.”

Iyer wanted to showcase these distinct regions, while staying true to the ethos of all of her cookbooks. “What I wanted to do was think about what makes the Roasting Tin accessible and popular, and then bring a spin on it – which was the food that I grew up with, Indian-inspired foods, [and] still have something you could make on Wednesday night,” she says.

So you’ll find simple, one-tin dishes like crisp-topped marinated sea bass with green chilli, lime and coriander, from Bengal, and South Indian-inspired beetroot, curry leaf and ginger buns. The recipes are largely vegan and vegetarian, because that’s how most people of the regions eat, with some pescatarian meals thrown in – because seafood is a “state-wide obsession” in Bengal.

Crucially, what really makes a long journey in India is elaborate train snacks. “The really cool thing is you have snack vendors on the train, it’s much more exciting than a snack trolley [here]! You’re in your own compartment, like the old fashion train carriages, and you’ve got vendors going up and down the train,” Iyer says. “There’s hot samosas, potato cakes, hot chai… But as the regions change, you get local things. When you get to Bengal, you get offered something called mishti doi, a delicious, sweetened yoghurt served in little earthenware pots. In the south you get offered idlis, steamed fluffy rice cakes, which are really tasty. So it’s nice the food on the train reflects where you’re going through.”

Cooking and packing your own train snacks is very traditional too, and her recipes honour that – from sticky spiced popcorn with dates, caramel and sea salt, to cauliflower, onion and bread pakoras.

Iyer’s dad would always be well-equipped for his long train journeys, sent off with an array of snacks cooked by his mum. “The train snacks my grandma would have packed for my dad were really hardcore – she probably would have spent at least a day cooking,” Iyer says. Thankfully, her own recipes are generally much less time-intensive.

It wouldn’t have been unusual for her grandmother, who she called Thathi, to spend the majority of her day in the kitchen. “Culturally, it’s really different. If you were a stay-at-home mum back then and you’re raising a family, your job was basically cooking,” she explains.

“Now you want things that are obviously tasty, but unless I’ve made a conscious decision that today I feel like spending the afternoon cooking, I don’t want to be tied to the stove.

“So a lot of the book is how can I bring some of these lovely flavours into the food without making someone have to stay in the kitchen? Can they pack it in in 30 minutes? And the answer is yes, a lot of it you can.” Much like her other books, you won’t find spices you can’t easily pick up in a supermarket on your way home from work.

And we can’t talk about these regions of India without mentioning rice – which in true Iyer style is quick and easy. It may sound like sacrilege, but her family secret to cooking the perfect rice? “The microwave! Because it’s impossible to get it wrong” – all you need is 200 grams of good quality basmati rice in a heatproof bowl, cover with three-quarters of a pint of boiling water, put a plate on top, “Put it in the microwave on a medium setting, cook for 11 minutes and let it stand for 10.

“Then your rice is absolutely perfect.”

India Express: Fresh And Delicious Recipes For Every Day by Rukmini Iyer is published by Square Peg, priced £22. Photography by David Loftus. Available now.

Words by Lauren Taylor, PA

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David Loftus/PA Photos

Chilli, coconut and lime salmon

serves 2

INGREDIENTS

• 4tbsp desiccated coconut
• 1 fresh red chilli
• Handful mint leaves, plus extra to serve
• 2 cloves garlic
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 250g vine cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 sustainable salmon fillets
• 2tbsp neutral or olive oil
• 1tsp sea salt flakes

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas 6.
2. Tip the coconut, chilli, mint leaves, garlic, lime juice, one tablespoon of the oil and the sea salt into a spice grinder or high-speed blender/Nutribullet and blitz roughly until the chilli looks evenly incorporated through the coconut (you’ll have a reddish, greenish rubble).
3. Mix the sliced onion and cherry tomatoes in a medium roasting tin along with the remaining oil. Make space for the two salmon fillets, place them in the tin, skin side down, then pat a tablespoon of the coconut-chilli mixture evenly over each fillet. Scatter the remaining mixture over the onions and tomatoes.
4. Transfer to the oven to roast for 20–25 minutes until the salmon is cooked through. Scatter with mint leaves and serve hot, with rice alongside if you wish.

TIP: You can substitute the salmon for cod, haddock or another firm-fleshed white fish – it’ll take about the same time to cook.

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David Loftus/PA Photos

Beetroot, curry leaf and ginger brunch buns

Makes 8 buns

INGREDIENTS

• 15 fresh curry leaves
• 325g strong white bread flour
• 4g fast-action dried yeast
• 150g raw beetroot, grated
• 1tbsp lemon juice
• 1 inch ginger, grated
• 100ml water
• Beaten egg, for brushing
• 70ml neutral or olive oil
• 1tbsp mustard seeds
• 1tsp sugar
• 1tsp sea salt flakes

METHOD

1. Heat 30ml (two tablespoons) of the oil in a small frying pan over a medium heat; when hot, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Let them snap, crackle and pop for 30 seconds to a minute until aromatic, then turn off the heat and set aside.
2. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, grated beetroot, lemon juice and ginger together, then add all the remaining oil and the 100ml of water. Pour in the infused mustard seed and curry leaf oil, then stir together. Knead the dough by hand or in a stand mixer for 10 minutes, adding a tablespoon more water if the dough is looking dry.
3. Let the dough rise, covered, for one-and-a-half hours, or until doubled in size. Punch down the dough, divide into eight and then roll each portion into a ball, twisting the dough underneath so you have a smooth top. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper, twisted side down, and leave to rise for 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas 6. Brush the buns with the beaten egg, then transfer to the oven to bake for 25 minutes until well risen. Let them cool slightly on a wire rack before serving with plenty of salted butter.

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David Loftus/PA Photos

Shahi tukra bread and butter pudding

Serves 6-8

INGREDIENTS

• 50ml milk (whole or semi-skimmed)
• 3 medium free-range egg yolks
• 85g caster sugar
• 300ml single cream
• 400g sliced brioche, cut into quarters
• 150g blackberries
• Handful chopped pistachios
• Clotted cream, to serve
• Generous 1⁄2tsp good saffron threads
• 6 cardamom pods, seeds ground

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C fan/170°C/gas 3. Heat the milk in a small saucepan and add the saffron. Turn off the heat and let it infuse.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the caster sugar, single cream and ground cardamom seeds. Arrange the sliced brioche and blackberries in a buttered roasting tin or flan dish and pour over the eggy custard.
3. Use the back of a teaspoon to mash the saffron into the milk (this will release more colour), and then carefully drizzle this all over the pudding. Scatter with the pistachios and then transfer to the oven to bake for 25–30 minutes until golden brown and crisp on top. Serve immediately with clotted cream.

TIP: Do use the best saffron you can find. I find the Belazu brand consistently good and wonderfully aromatic, but other supermarket brands of saffron less so.