Mistress of spices Madhur Jaffrey on making curry

Madhur Jaffrey, an award-winning actress and authority on Indian food, has discovered an easy way to make curry "without all that stirring and browning of onions and spices".

"People think Indian food is so complicated to make," she said, speaking to Weekend Review from her home in New York City. "I have been cooking for 50 years now and have worked out this new technique," she said.

In her new book Curry Easy (British edition. It is sold as At Home with Madhur Jaffrey in the United States), she has simplified the art of cooking a curry.

"You marinate the meat with everything, all the spices and seasoning. None of the browning of onions, garlic, ginger, meat and all that," she said. "Once the meat is marinated overnight in the fridge, it is put in the oven to brown. Then you cover it to let it cook slowly and it becomes a wonderful curry. You don't need to do all that stirring."

Her new book also has recipes for a number of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan dishes.

The book has been named Cookery Book of the Year by The Times. The New York Times has also chosen it as one of the best cookbooks of the year.

Asked how she feels now that Scotland has deemed chicken tikka masala a "national dish", Jaffrey said: "Good for them. This is colonialism in reverse." The foodie said chicken tikka masala is not an Indian dish, it was invented in England. "It's great in any form."

Jaffrey will be in Dubai in March to take part in the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. Asked to comment on critics who say Indian food is not healthy because it is overcooked and spicy, she said she does not agree. "Spices have medicinal value," she said. "They have been found to be good for you … turmeric is an antiseptic, for example."

But she agreed that North Indians and Pakistanis tend to overcook their vegetables. "In the south, vegetables are cooked very lightly and the seasoning and a sauce put on top. The salads, raita, achar [pickles] are full of vitamins. The fresh chutneys and the green coriander mint are all packed with vitamins of various sorts."

TV always presents the "lowest common denominator", said Jaffrey, when asked what she feels about the "angry chefs" cookery programmes.

"Food is theatre, food is entertainment [today]," she said. "You have people who present the darker side, the funnier side, the younger side — anything that will hold the public. But people are not easily held, so if you create a scene of some kind, it is a sure way to keep the audience waiting to see what comes next." But she said she is not against such programmes. "Food has many sides to it," she said. Her grandchildren did not watch cartoons but rather, the food channels, these angry chefs. "They were drawn to them. They ended up learning about food and learning to cook," she said. Her grandson, who is 18, is a wonderful cook, she said. "That has come from the entertainment part of food on TV."

The svelte 78-year-old agreed that Americans do not know how to eat healthy. She said people work hard in America and cannot always eat together as a family but she had always insisted on good, home-cooked healthy food.

"I see my children doing that with their children," she said. "It begins with the parents. Teaching means doing it by example. If you send out for food, you can't control what's going in your daily meal."

The food writer said becoming a vegetarian was not the way to healthy eating. "Look at the source of the meat," she said. "I was talking to a doctor and he said half the cancer cases, such as prostate, are caused by hormones injected in various animals."

She said it was essential to make sure the meat is locally farmed, not contaminated. "If you eat out a lot, you are probably paying less than getting organic reared meat and cooking it at home but it's more expensive in the end."

Asked what she is working on at present, Jaffrey said: "There's always a film or a book on the horizon." Her new film is called Today's Special. She said it is a romantic comedy about a young man of Indian origin in America who wishes to become a French chef. The screenplay is by Aasif Mandvi and she plays the mother of the hero.

Jaffrey is said to have been responsible for introducing James Ivory and Esmail Merchant. She has acted in their earlier films, such as Shakespeare Wallah, for which she won the Silver Bear award for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Her other films are Heat and Dust, The Guru, The Perfect Murder, Cotton Mary and Saagar. She has also appeared with daughter Sakina Jaffrey in the film Chutney Popcorn.

The author said she takes three to five years to write a book. "The exciting part is the research and the travel."

The writer said it is "scary" that books, the printed word, are dying out. "I view it as a big danger because I make money selling books." She said her new book, Curry Easy is an e-book. "I still like to hold a newspaper in my hand. Not like the younger generation, which reads it online." 

Madhur Jaffrey will be appearing at the Emirates Literature Festival, held from March 8 to March 12, at the InterContinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City and the Cultural and Scientific Centre, Al Mamzar.