Karan Gokani, restaurateur and founder of Hoppers London, shares his top five spices and his family’s go-to easy weeknight meal from his new cookbook, Indian 101.
Personally, I’ve always assumed that chefs and restauranteurs must have a rich and varied diet of exotic and elaborate food.
What I learned from speaking to Karan Gokani, the founder of Hoppers London, is that in reality, they’re just like us. “The truth is, all of us eat the same way at home,” he says, sitting across from me at his flagship restaurant.
My meeting with Karan comes after the recent announcement of his newest book, Indian 101. His approach to cooking is accessible, and without pomp or judgement. He tells me that I won’t find a single picture of multiple curries paired together in an elaborate thali within the book because, the simple fact is, no one’s eating like that at home.
Karan said the book takes the hacks he’s learned from his experience as a restaurateur and shows readers how to make difficult and longer recipes easier and quicker.
With an ambition to feel familiar to how we all cook at home, Karan’s book is filled with tray bake ideas and meals that can be prepped ahead of time and frozen to be reheated and eaten on a rainy day.
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Karan’s cupboard staples
The basis to many Indian dishes starts with good ingredients, most of which are readily available in the UK. “When I moved to this country 21 years ago, I brought ingredients from India,” Karan tells me. These days, Karan gleefully says, he sometimes takes ingredients to India when visiting family, just to show them how good the produce is here in the UK.
“I think lentils are great to have. Good quality rice is really important, whether you use basmati or something else.” He explains that, like pasta, you can taste the difference in the quality of rice you buy. “Spend a little more on that rice, and treat it well, wash it well, soak it little bit and then cook it, and you get a fantastic result,” he adds.
Don’t be scared of frozen food
Bread, corn and peas are always found in Karan’s freezer. “People have this stigma against frozen food. I always say I’d much rather have good quality frozen food than ultra-processed or even bad-quality fresh food.”
He adds that if you can’t get fresh fish from a local fishmonger, either look for a whole fish, buy from your supermarket fresh fish counter or look for frozen fish instead.
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The spices you need in your cupboard (there’s only five)
Unless you’re consistently cooking Indian or other Asian and South Asian cuisines, it can feel overwhelming to be expected to invest in a cupboard full of spices. Karan says cumin, coriander powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder, turmeric and mustard seeds are the “crucial” spices to go for.
But there’s one more that some might not be familiar with: “I absolutely love asafoetida. It’s almost like a garlic or onion powder. It’s got this burst of umami, and even a pinch goes so far, particularly with vegetarian food,” he explains.
The storage of these spices is a controversial topic. Karan says his pet peeve is an Indian masala dabba — a tin or box that holds compartments for multiple spices.
“Unless you’re cooking with that every single day, and you’re getting through each [spice] in four days, there’s so much mixing of smells and powders — they’re just useless.”
Instead, he recommends keeping them all separate, whether in airtight containers or clipped up in packages — and if stored correctly, you won’t need to worry about the expiry date either.
“Some of [the] Indian brands tend to be a lot cheaper than the Western brands that are doing the same things in small, fancy jars. So, [buy in] bulk, because they’ll last longer. For dried things, you don’t need to read the date on the package, you just need to store them well,” he explained.
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What does a chef cook at home?
“My go-to weeknight meal? I love a sort of home-style chicken curry. But then the one thing we have all the time is rajma chawal.” Karan explains that this kidney bean stew is perfectly accompanied with rice and is great for batch cooking.
Otherwise, when his fridge is nearly empty, he goes to the larder for a classic hearty comfort meal. “Beans are great to have because they last a long time.” Baked beans might feel like a slightly strange dish for Karan to mention, but his masala beans and eggs on toast is a firm favourite with his friends and family, and one of his top 10 favourite recipes from his new book.
Feature image: Pexels, Mike Jones
