Mountain Berries and Desert Spice: Sweet Inspiration From the Hunza Valley to the Arabian Sea

by Sumayya Usmani, Joanna Yee (Photographer)

Overview

In this eagerly awaited follow up to Pakistani cookbook Summers Under the Tamarind Tree, food writer and cookery teacher Sumayya Usmani continues her journey of discovery through the exotic cuisine of her native Pakistan. Mountain Berries and Desert Spice introduces home cooks to Pakistani desserts and explores their unique significance in the country’s culture and traditions. The 70 authentic and family recipes travel from the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains in the north (where berries and fruits grow in abundance), via the fertile Punjab (with its rice- and grain-based desserts) to the Arabian sea in the south, where saffron- and cardamom-laced sweet recipes are a favourite. From the sweet snacks shared between friends over coffee to sumptuous desserts fit for lavish weddings, Sumayya tempts the reader with beautiful, easily achieved recipes that anyone can savour.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781781012123
Publisher:	Lincoln, Frances Limited
Publication date:	04/06/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	36 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

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 is an instinctual cook and storyteller. She also runs her own social enterprise cook school in Glasgow. 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 panelist 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.

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 is an instinctual cook and storyteller. She also runs her own social enterprise cook school in Glasgow. 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 panelist 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.

Table of Contents

Journey through a land of sweetness and spice 9

Childhood sweets in a new home 17

Key ingredients and techniques 21

Sour morning berries Rising to mouth-watering spice 29

Sugar almonds and buffalo milk The sweetness of diversity 51

Kites, kingdoms and cardamom samosas Flavours from Lahore and the Mughal Empire 73

Through mulberry valleys Summer fruits in harsh winters 95

A saffron blaze Following the spice caravans 117

Festive spice and roses Celebratory sweets 139

Chilli mangoes and ocean breeze The sweetness of homecoming 161

Acknowledgements 182

Index 186

Editorial Reviews

'Wonderfully evocative and ridiculously tempting.'  - Felicity Cloake


"paints a picture of Pakistani life via breakfast, lunch and dinner, with poetically-titled chapters that entice and delight."  - Elle Decoration


"intriguing exploration of Pakistani desserts. The author's passion for the flavours of her homeland will surely whet your appetite for more."  - Homes & Interiors Scotland


"The photographs are so evocative and the recipes so appealing you can practically smell their spicy aromas coming off the page."  - Delicious magazine


"If you enjoyed Summers Under the Tamarind Tree as much as we did, you'll want to grab a copy of follow up Mountain Berries & Dessert Spice"  - olive magazine

From the Publisher