Cookbook review: Bold by Nisha Katona
Reviewed by Stephen Rötzsch Thomas
What’s the USP? ‘Big flavours, brave twists and surprising ingredient combinations’ - that’s the promise made by Bold. With Black Pudding Mole Meatballs and Chilli Crab Mac ‘n’ Cheese being amongst the least interesting ideas in the book, I can tell you now: it’s a promise that’s going to be delivered upon.
Who wrote it? Nisha Katona, who is perhaps best known as the founder and CEO of Mowgli Street Food, a chain of Indian restaurants that can be found across the UK. Katona has five other cookbooks to her name, most of which fall under the Mowgli umbrella.
Is it good bedtime reading? There isn’t a lot of surplus content to be getting on with in Bold. There’s an introduction, and a few pages featuring the ever-popular rundown of ingredients you may not be familiar with. I wonder how many cookbooks on my shelves feature a paragraph introducing readers to the concept of tamarind? More than strictly necessary at this point, that’s for sure.
But Bold isn’t about meaningful essays on the food industry, or treatises about peaches. Katona has rocked up to your kitchen counter with a big bunch of interesting recipe ideas, and she’s wasting no time sharing them with you.
How annoyingly vague are the recipes? Katona does enjoy the imprecise ‘heaped teaspoon’, which isn’t ideal for competitive individuals who see those words as a challenge. But precision is, broadly speaking, not necessary - a reason, perhaps, for the minor discrepancies between metric and imperial measurements on some recipes.
Oven settings are offered in quadruplicate, though that might only cause further confusion. Celsius temperatures are given for both conventional and fan ovens, but the single Fahrenheit temperature does not specify which it is intended for. Still, it’s nice to see a call out for Gas setting 3, giving a nostalgic hit for anyone who grew up watching Anthea Turner cooking on Blue Peter.
Will I have trouble finding the ingredients? Despite the ingredients sections at the beginning of the book, there’s very little in Bold that would flummox a sales assistant in the big Tesco. I spotted kecap manis in a Morrisons in rural Norfolk the other day, so I think we can safely assume that’s broken into the mainstream.
Your biggest sourcing challenges will come when hunting down pandan leaves (used to flavour the custard in the Floating Pacific Islands recipe, which is essentially a meringue dish), liquorice powder (only featured in the Liquorice and Almond Chicken Satay), and the aji amarillo paste (used in the Peruvian-inspired Halloumi Saltado)
What’s the faff factor? Books that go out of their way to deliver innovative and richly flavoured dishes are usually deeply faffy affairs. Ravinder Bhogal’s Jikoni offered some ludicrously impressive ideas, but the process behind them was so complex and overwrought that readers would be unlikely to cook from the book more than once or twice a year - and even then, only for people they really wanted to impress.
Katona’s recipes are much more forgiving and frequently make concessions that make dishes accessible to even the weeknight chef. Her Treacle and Fennel Tart and Plum and Tamarind Strudels are just two of the several recipes that call for ready-rolled pastry. There are some ideas in here that you’ll look at longingly and never actually make - Miso Parmesan Doughnuts spring to mind - but most of the book is both as accessible as it is exciting.
What will I love? The writer Laura Scherb recently delivered an excellent piece on the homogenous nature of current cookbook recipe lists. She calls out the explosion of middle-of-the-road cookbooks with recipes for pasta and clams, or seared scallops. An obligatory chocolate chip cookie recipe in every release. An inescapable glut of spatchcocked chickens.
None of that here. There isn’t a single recipe in this book that feels obvious or even particularly familiar. Katona throws Haggis Pakoras at us, and combines ingredients that have never previously met for a Bone Marrow and Biscoff Brioche or a Cauliflower and Dark Chocolate Risotto. Not everything works as well as you’d like - the Cassoulet de Full English tastes more or less exactly like a Full English but takes significantly longer and eradicates the potential to use your sausages as a breakwater. But it’s a small issue when so much of the book is an absolute winner.
What won’t I love? A minor quarrel with the physical design of the book: while the artwork is simple and effective, the cover is a strange and slightly puffy hardback that feels very satisfying (a gentle squidge, like a child’s bath book), but isn’t ideal for use in an actual kitchen.
Killer recipes: Chicken and Banana Korma, Anchovy and Cheesy Pineapple Croquetas, Wild Garlic and Nettle Spanakopita, Crunchy-Nut Chicken Burgers, Candied Bacon and Bourbon Ice Cream, Roasted Corn and Elderflower Iced Tea
Should I buy it? Bold is as well-suited to a casual evening meal as it is to a full-blown dinner party. And, given that there’s almost nothing like it on the market, it more than earns a place on your shelves.
Cuisine: Global
Suitable for: Confident home cooks
Cookbook Review Rating: Four stars
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Bold by Nisha Katona
£30, Nourish