Kitchen Press is a new, independent publisher specialising in food writing. It aims, through lovingly crafted bespoke cookbooks, to connect innovative chefs, expert food writers and independent restauranteurs with customers and others around the world who love food.
We believe that the whole experience of reading about food and cooking should be as pleasurable and inspiring as eating it, and we want to help promote the people and places doing that best.
Our News
Biting Biting – Onion And Tomato Curry (Shaak) Recipe
Recipe taken from from Biting Biting: Snacking Gujarati-style By Urvashi Roe
Urvashi Roe was brought up in a family who loved to snack. Any news of impending visitors would prompt a flurry of activity in the kitchen. Within 30 minutes her mother and aunties would have the ‘biting biting’ prepared – a spread of vegetarian and vegan snacks made with store cupboard ingredients and leftovers.
Biting Biting is a celebration of this delicious family custom, and of the food of the Gujarati diaspora in Africa and in the UK.
Extremely tasty, quick and easy to prepare these snacks will set your tastebuds buzzing. Next time you have guests for tea or you need a little something that’s not quite lunch or dinner, you can simply reach for some Biting Biting inspiration.
We are extremely happy to be publishing this wonderful Biting Biting cook book in September 2022. So we thought we would give you a taste of what delights you can expect by sharing this tasty Onion and Tomato Curry recipe taken from the book with you to try out and enjoy over the summer.
Enjoy your Biting Biting!
A Brief Introduction To Shaak
In Sanskrit saka means ‘vegetable but in Gujarti it is the word we use for ‘curry’. Depending on which part of Gujarat you are from, you might say shaak or saak. My family all say shaak except for my friend Kavita who says saak. Shaak can be dry or with sauce, and it can feature a stuffed vegetable, single vegetable or combination of vegetables. It is often associated with certain rituals or functions – for example, at weddings you will often see potato shaak, mixed vegetable and dumpling shaak and some form of lilotri or green vegetable shaak.
Usually on weekdays we have one shaak with rotli. On a weekend or at family functions we may have a few more. When I first got married my husband always got three of four shaak at dinner as he was the Jamai (son-in-law) in favour. Nowadays he gets one unless my mum needs a job doing around the house or garden.
Onion And Tomato Curry (Shaak) Recipe By Urvashi Roe
When you literally have a bare fridge and are not in the mood for a complex cook, this is your recipe. It is guaranteed to fill the kitchen with a wonderful aroma and bring warmth and comfort at the end of a long, tiring day. It’s fast to make and you can eat it unceremoniously with your fingers on cold leftover rice, crusty day-old parotha or even on toast or in a sandwich. We like it with torn baguette too. You can omit the ghee but I find it adds a velvety, buttery sheen, making this dish one you’ll want to lick off your plate. Green tomatoes or tomatillos work exceptionally well.
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp ghee
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 large onions, thinly sliced
2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp amchur
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, grated (optional)
4 large tomatoes, halved and cut into 2cm slices
Method
Heat the vegetable oil and ghee in a wok or large saucepan until the ghee has completely melted and started sizzling. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds and allow them to fizzle and pop for a few seconds. Quickly add the sliced onions and sauté them briefly so they are well coated. Add the chilli powder, turmeric, ground cumin, amchur and salt and then toss well so everything is thoroughly combined. Add a shot glass of water and the garlic if you are using it, cover and cook for five minutes on a medium heat until the onions are just starting to soften.
Take a moment here to inhale the aromas and commend yourself for making this epic dish.
Carefully fold in the tomatoes, then cover and cook for a further two minutes so the tomatoes are soft but still retain their shape. Eat immediately!
If for some crazy reason you have leftovers you can spoon the cold shaak over buttery toast and top with a fried or poached egg. Or this makes a great topping on hummus scattered over with toasted sunflower seeds and scooped up with pitta bread.
You can pre-order Biting Biting direct from us here
Kitchen Quiz Episode 8
Kitchen Quiz
With Nasim Mawji
Some of you will already have noticed that last year we gained a new editor and member of our team here at KP HQ. For those still not in the know, we decided to introduce this exciting new addition via a new episode of our delightful Kitchen Quiz series.
So KP people, please will you welcome Nasim Mawji!!!
Nas has worked in book publishing in London and New York for over two decades principally for the highly regarded DK Publishing. An experienced project editor for large format, illustrated lifestyle titles, she has all the hard earned skills needed to survive in the world of independent publishing.
Having relocated from NYC’s Big Apple to the Athens of the North that is Edinburgh, we soon connected with Nas and put her considerable skills to good use. In particular, she was responsible for pulling together the excellent Eat Bike Cook project in 2021 working alongside Kitty Pemberton-Platt & Fi Buchanan.
Hailing from an Indian, African and British background Nas has been influenced by many cultural food traditions which sits perfectly with KP’s international approach to food and cooking in general. Food has always been at the heart of her personal and family life.
We caught up with Nas recently on a cold, grey and wintry day and asked her a quiz or two to get to know her just a wee bit better.
Q: Hey Nas, welcome to the Kitchen Quiz. So was there a cookbook that really inspired you?
A: I would say the River Café Cookbook. When it came out it was so original. The design seemed daring because it had large type, coloured pages and beautiful food shots interspersed with lots of messy behind-the-scenes kitchen photography. The recipes are, on the whole, uncomplicated. I was eating a lot of pasta and risotto in 1995 when this book came out, so those pages are pretty well thumbed.
But I also really like the Leon cookbooks. I especially like the Ingredients and Recipes, which is the original one, I think. It’s good for family-friendly cooking and I love the scrap-book feel of it. My copy is food splattered and held together with tape!
Q: What is your favourite item in your kitchen that you simply couldn’t do without?
A: I have a garlic chopper I bought from Ikea years ago.
It looks a bit like a space capsule and is a rip-off of a Slap Chop (infamously advertised in an exhausting infomercial). When I need mass quantities of garlic, chopped quickly (which is fairly often, actually), this is the device for the job.
Q: Do you have a favourite song, type of music or podcast you like to cook to?
A: I always have the radio on. I listen to BBC Radio 6 for music. My tastes are all over the place and they normally play something I like. Over the past few days I’ve heard Spiritualized, DJ Shadow, Little Simz, John Grant, Pulp, Air and LCD Soundsystem – all great. I also have a soft spot for Steely Dan. Otherwise I’m a Radio 4 addict.
On the podcast front, there have been two favourites recently. First the Lazarus Heist, which is about North Korea and cyber crime (fascinating and full of unbelievable twists and turns).
Then there is Sweet Bobby, which is about a victim of a decade-long catfishing operation and is absolutely addictive listening.
Q: If you could cook anywhere in the world in any location then where would you choose?
A: Somewhere tropical, within easy reach of white sandy beaches and turquoise waters. Maybe Zanzibar.
I could swim there in the sea and then make little meat samosas with coconut and coriander chutney, followed by either coconut crab or coconut prawn curry with fresh mango for dessert. And a very chilled glass of white wine. I think the past couple of years, and now winter and lockdowns, is starting to get to me.
Q: If you had to give one single piece of advice about cooking to someone then what would that be?
A: Always read the recipe the whole way through before you start!
Thank you Nas! We are so excited to have you on board at KP and can’t wait to see what other amazing cookbooks you bring into the kitchen and onto the table.
You can buy Eat Bike Cook direct from us right here x
Kitchen Quiz Episode 7
Kitchen Quiz
With Fraser Reid (Seasonal Soups)
One of our favourite and most popular KP titles is Seasonal Soups by Fraser Reid. This beautiful wee book is now in its second edition and has brought joy to readers around the world with its straightforward, healthy approach to soups.
Author Fraser Reid is an absolutely lovely chap with a strong community ethic. Having experienced a sudden personal nirvana moment with vegetables, Fraser transformed both his career and the local community in the West End of Dundee by opening his wee green fruit and veg corner shop.
The focus has always been on quality, local and international produce all provided with a smiling face and cheery personality. A simple yet powerful and infectious approach. The shop has also become a supplier of other quality deli goods such as Spanish black pudding, fresh baked bread and craft beers.
Fraser’s trademark is his warm and affable style. He really is a business owner who’s personality and passion are at the heart of everything he does. No one just pops into Fraser’s Fruit And Veg without a nice chat or learning something new.
It’s quite interesting that one of our most successful cookbooks is not written by a chef at all, but by someone passionate about produce and who had the courage to try out lots of soup recipes. The purpose being to make the menu at home more interesting, varied and packed full of vegetables. This is a philosophy we are 100% behind here at KP. Cooking is for everyone.
So we caught up with Fraser recently (which is always a pleasure) to ask him a few questions for our Kitchen Quiz series.
We hope you enjoy!
Now over to you Fraser.
Q: Hey Fraser, hope you are good. So was there a cookbook that really inspired you?
A: The cookbook that really inspired me was Jamie at home. We started growing veg in the garden before opening the shop and using the recipes in this book after harvesting. The broad beans fritters in there are amazing.
Q: What is your favourite item in your kitchen that you simply couldn’t do without?
A: My favourite item in the kitchen would be the soup pot. We use it every week and its been the pot that’s tested all of the recipes in Seasonal Soups.
Q: Do you have a favourite song, type of music or podcast you like to cook to?
A: Music is always on in the kitchen. Depending on who’s in, that dictates the tunes.
If it’s my 4 year old then it’s I Like To Move It by will.i.am.
If it’s my 6 year old it’s Katy Perry.
If it’s me it’ll be BBC Six Music.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_6music
Q: If you could cook anywhere in the world in any location then where would you choose?
A: If I could cook anywhere in the world then it would be the simple beachside BBQ. The sound of the waves are mesmerising and feeling on the sun on your skin. I love cooking outdoors.
Q: If you had to give one single piece of advice about cooking to someone then what would that be?
A: My advice on cooking would be not to stick to a recipe but use it as a guide that you can tailor for personal tastes. It also makes you a better cook, just being able to adjust things as you go. Also don’t be afraid of seasoning.
Great advice from a lovely man. Thank you Fraser!
You can order a copy of his wonderful soup book here.