THE BOOKMAN'S CHOICE - COOKERY BOOK OF THE WEEK


RICHARD TILL MAKES IT EASY
Richard Till
Renaissance Publishing - $35

Those of us who were fortunate enough to see and hear Richard Till in a makeshift kitchen in the local War Memorial Hall at the recent Going West Festival were impressed by his extraordinary sense of humour and fun while up to his elbows in flour and by his passion for ordinary, everyday cooking in the home kitchen. He was just as engaging in that large and somewhat draughty hall early on a damp Sunday morning as he was in his highly popular TV series, Kiwi Kitchen.
Richard Till clearly is a man on a mission. He is determined to get both men and women back into the kitchen so they can experience for themselves the pleasure that comes from
making delicious meals that can be shared with family and friends. While many television chefs delight in creating complicated dishes that use 20 different ingredients sourced from 10 different speciality stores, Richard’s aim is to demystify the art of cooking and his ‘down home’ approach has struck a chord with people of all ages throughout the country.
He was described by one reviewer as ‘the thinking man’s Aunt Daisy’ and another as ‘the prince of mince’,


At time he appears something of a culinary clown but don’t be deceived for behind all that going off on tangents and having us in stitches I observe the man getting his message across. Have fun, make good hearty, healthy uncomplicated meals and enjoy them together, with your family and friends
He burst on to the publishing scene with his first book, Kiwi Kitchen, which was based on his popular television series of the same. The book was a runaway success, spending months on the bestsellers charts..
In this newbook, Richard Till Makes It Easy, he presents novice and reluctant cooks with
over 80 tried and true recipes, that will delight the taste buds without breaking the
bank. Each recipe is broken down into easy steps and with colour photographs illustrating
the various stages of the process as well showing the ingredients and equipment
required.
Here is part of Richard’s Introduction in whch he explains clearly what the book is about:

Introduction
The recipes in this book represent a collection of recipes that in various forms have stood me in good stead as a cook. Some of them for many years and some for only a few months, but they’re all dishes that have been part of ordinary everyday meals in our house.
It’s a huge relief to find pleasure in the mundane and ordinary, and the daily task of feeding a family is an easy place to start. The satisfaction from the nurturing is all very nice, but often neglected is the satisfaction that comes with a developing understanding of kitchen science. It comes through familiarity with technique and an understanding of how your own pans, casseroles, oven and pots cook certain ingredients. In other words being aware of how much heat is put out from a heat source and how well it’s transferred to the food through the vessel, how tightly fitting any lid might be, and how much thermal mass it has. There may well be a better dish, or oven, or pot available, but the point I’m making here is that it’s entirely a matter of understanding how yours work in order to get the best from them.
When I put together the recipes in this book I made an attempt to describe in the simplest terms what each step involves so you know what to watch out for, Many of these steps are transferable to other dishes, which means that once you’ve got the knack you can extend your skills. That’s not to say you need to become an expert in all methods. For most of us, me included, settle into a rut over time with a few favourite ways of doing things and as a result we just keep getting to know them better. For example, some folk know barbecue cookery to the exclusion of all else, and the magic that they can summon with bits of meat and a barbecue is quite remarkable.
The dishes are in the greatest part intended to be easy to make, with not too many ingredients. Most of the ingredients are commonplace items that all supermarkets – right down to holiday town mini-marts – stock on a regular basis. I mention holiday towns for good reason, because it’s often fun to pay more attention to cooking when you’re on holiday, and I can think of no better time than a holiday to cook your way through this book. With any luck you’ll find more than a few that work well enough for you to then include in your repertoire when you have to go back to the weekly grind.

Back to The Bookman:
As usual when I am reviewing a cook book I make one of the dishes. The pumpkin curry proved delicious and the author and publisher have kindly agreed to let me publish the recipe here so you may care to try making it at home.

Richard’s Pumpkin Curry
I make this dish a great deal because I love pumpkin and because it’s a good one for knocking up in a hurry. I even have two methods, the quick way and the even quicker way. This is the quick way. Sometimes I’ll add a tin of chickpeas to it, too. If you feel like you’d like to add some chickpeas, just open the can, drain the liquid off and tip.
I don’t know how hot you like your curry. Some members of my household don’t like anything too spicy hot, so I use a curry powder from our local Indian supermarket that is pretty mild. But this recipe works just as well with a really spicy curry powder.

Serves 4–6

1/2 large pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cubed
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 cm piece fresh ginger, chopped
1/2 green capsicum
1 Tbsp of your favourite curry powder
1 x 400 g can coconut cream
200 ml water
salt and freshly ground black pepper
fresh chopped coriander to serve (optional)
steamed rice to serve

Preheat oven to 200˚C. Toss pumpkin with the flour in a clean plastic bag.
Place floured pumpkin in a roasting dish with half the olive oil and bake for about 20 minutes, shaking every so often.
While pumpkin bakes, heat the other half of the oil in a large frying pan and add cumin seeds, onion, garlic, ginger and capsicum. Fry for about 2 minutes until soft, but not yet browned.
Add coconut cream and water and curry powder and simmer gently for about 10–15 minutes.
Tip pumpkin into sauce, cook for a further minute or so and serve with steamed rice. (I like to add some chopped coriander at the moment of serving.)

About the author:
grew up in the South Island. In 1988 he was the first to open a restaurant,
Espresso 124, on what was to become Christchurch’s “strip”, today lined with many
restaurants. He then went on to set up _e Worcester Street Dining Room.
In his years as a chef, Richard Till has cooked for major celebrities including Stevie Wonder, U2,
Miles Davis, Simply Red, Jimmy Barnes and New Order. He has performed his own comic cooking shows – ‘Just Dick It’ and ‘Dick Does Dinner’ at festivals around the country.
When he isn’t cooking, writing about food or making TV shows, Till is Technical Director and
Designer at the Department of _eatre and Film Studies at the University of Canterbury. He writes regular food columns for newspapers and can occasionally be heard on National Radio’s Nine to Noon’s ‘Sounds Delicious’.



Richard Till Makes it Easy is published this week.