Andaza by Sumayya Usmani

 Andaza by Sumayya Usmani

A memoir of food, flavour and

freedom in the Pakistani kitchen

Andaza by Sumayya Usmani is published on the 18th April 2023 by Murdoch Books. My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a copy to review and Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour.

Synopsis

Award-winning food writer Sumayya Usmani's stunning memoir conjures a story of what it was like growing up in Pakistan and how the women in her life inspired her to trust her instincts in the kitchen.

From a young age, food was Sumayya's portal to nurturing, love and self-expression. She spent the first eight years of her life at sea, with a father who captained merchant ships and a mother who preferred to cook for the family herself on a tiny electric stove in their cabin rather than eat in the officer's mess.

When the family moved to Karachi, Sumayya grew up torn between the social expectations of life as a young girl in Pakistan, and the inspiration she felt in the kitchen, watching her mother, and her Nani Mummy (maternal grandmother) and Dadi's (paternal grandmother) confidence, intuition and effortless ability to build complex, layered flavours in their cooking.

This evocative and moving food memoir - which includes the most meaningful recipes of Sumayya's childhood - tells the story of how Sumayya's self-belief grew throughout her young life, allowing her to trust her instincts and find her own path between the expectations of following in her father's footsteps as a lawyer and the pressures of a Pakistani woman's presumed place in the household. Gradually, through the warmth of her family life, the meaning of 'andaza' comes to her: that the flavour and meaning of a recipe is not a list of measured ingredients, but a feeling in your hands, as you let the elements of a meal come together through instinct and experience.

Recipes I cooked included:
*Nani Mummy's prawn karahi  - Absolutely delicious
*Potatoes with curry leaves and turmeric - Best curried potatoes ever !!!
*Aubergine borani - I could live on this !!!!
*Mummy's wedding-style chicken korma - Worth getting married for !!!!
*Pea and browned onion pullao - Doesn't need anything else other than yoghurt 
*Pink salt, saffron and Hunza apricot meetha - The most wonderful dessert ever !!

My Review

This was an absolute delightful book to review. Alongside the incredible memoir of Sumayya's life from the memories of cooking with her mother on the ship her father was Captain on through to shopping and cooking with Nani Mummy and the sad loss of loved ones as we progress through life, this is a book to be read, savoured, and enjoyed. 

The recipes that Sumayya has included within the book all hold important memories for her and link her to special times in her life and after tasting some of the wonderful combinations of ingredients that she , and her relatives, use it is easy to see why. 

I decided the best way of sampling the recipes was to invite wonderful friends around for a banquet and cook !!!!! Then wait for the responses.

Nani Mummy's Prawn Karahi

Nani Mummy's Prawn Karahi. The aroma of the spices in this dish was an absolute wonderful assault on the senses. Once I had cajoled my son into deveining the prawns this dish was a joy to make and eat especially teamed up with the Pea and Browned Onion Pullao  ( see below ). Both these dishes complement each other well , though the Pullao works well with a lot of dishes, as well as on it's own.

Pea and Browned Onion Pullao

Aubergine Borani

This is one of the most wonderful aubergine dishes I have ever had and it will be a staple at my table moving forward, either as part of a meal or on it's own as a  substantial vegetarian dish. The addition of the minted yoghurt to charred slices of aubergine and tomato turns this vegetable dish into a protein rich dish infused with a wonderful sense of freshness from the mint.

Potatoes with Curry Leaves and Turmeric

These lovely turmeric potatoes with curry leaves  added a lovely golden glow to the meal and were so straight forward to make. Again the combination of spices was subtle and took the potatoes to a new dimension as far as flavour is concerned. This recipe would sit equally well with any type of meat or vegetarian dish.

Mummy's Wedding - style Chicken Korma

The verdict from my guests, and myself, was that this was the best chicken korma they had ever tasted - and we have eaten many !!!!!! The freshness and blend of the spices within the sauce was incredible and you could taste each individual spice without any single one overpowering the others. This was absolutely sublime teamed up with the Potatoes with Curry Leaves and Turmeric and the Aubergine Borani as a side dish . The only extras I added to the feast were chapatis and a Moong Dal. 

Pink Salt, Saffron and Hunza Apricot Meetha

Apart from my addition of the heart shaped Shortbreads to add some texture to this decadent dessert I followed the recipe to the letter - and it was well worth searching the internet for Hunza Apricots. They are the most sublime toffee- tasting apricots and work incredibly well with the saffron and rose water cream. The delicate flavours in this dish work beautifully together and assail your taste buds with what to me tasted like a summer garden on a warm, sunny day should taste like. The hint of rose was just enough, without being overpowering, and the lusciousness of the apricots with a hint of saltiness and toffee was something I had never come across before. 

This is a definite 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Memoir and Recipe Book. Though if I am going to be totally honest I would like to have had more recipes to try out and I would like to think that Sumayya may produce a standalone recipe book in the very near future with many more of her delicious family recipes.

About the Author

Well-connected and beloved in the food world, Sumayya Usmani went from practising law for twelve years to pursuing food writing and teaching. Her first book, Summers Under the Tamarind Tree: Recipes and Memories from Pakistan (Frances Lincoln, 2016) was the first Pakistani cookbook in Britain. Her mentor and friend Madhur Jaffrey, who wrote the main blurb, calls the book 'a treasure'. It won the Best First Cookbook category in the Gourmand Cookbook Awards in 2016. It was also shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award. Her second cookbook, Mountain Berries and Desert Spice: Sweet Inspirations from the Hunza Valley to the Arabian Sea (Frances Lincoln, 2017) was shortlisted in the Best Cookbook of the Year category at the Food & Travel Magazine Awards. Sumayya won The Scottish Book Trust's Next Chapter Award in 2021 for Andaza as a work in progress.

Sumayya is an experienced cookery teacher having taught in many UK-based cookery schools, including Divertimenti and the School of Artisan Food and her style of teaching is based on inspiring people to trust their senses and intuition with flavours. She has been featured as a resident food writer for four weeks in the Guardian COOK supplement (now known as Feast), and has also featured in the Telegraph, New York Times, Independent, Saveur, Delicious, Olive, BBC Good Food and Food 52. She was called 'the go-to expert in Pakistani cuisine' by BBC Good Food Magazine.

Sumayya is a BBC broadcaster and has been a presenter on BBC Radio Scotland's Kitchen Cafe as well as being a regular panellist on Jay Rayner's The Kitchen Cabinet on BBC Radio 4. She has appeared on BBC Radio 4's Women's Hour. On television, she has appeared on Madhur Jaffrey's Curry Nation on Good Food Channel, and various times on STV and London Live. Sumayya mentors other writers online as well as hosting her podcast, A Savoured Life.