Ammu from Asma Khan

Last Updated on March 1, 2026

Indian home cooking to nourish your soul

Asma Khan’s new cookbook, Ammu (Ebury), has been eagerly anticipated by her legions of fans. For Khan is not only the restaurateur and chef whose Darjeeling Express hosts legendary biryani supper clubs and sumptuous meals for which one must book months in advance. She is a powerful force behind the promotion of women in the hospitality industry and leads from the front with her all-female kitchen. In addition, her fame has spread through an inspiring Netflix documentary Chef’s Table (on which she was the first British chef to feature), which has promoted her message of female empowerment far and wide. As the title suggests, Ammu is dedicated to her mother and celebrates the relationships between mothers and daughters, especially the strength of the bond Asma Khan has with her own mother. She writes that they see one another in themselves.

It is interesting to read that Khan’s mother, Ammu, was herself a pioneer in challenging the patriarchal restrictions by which women continue to be constrained. She founded a food business in India and Khan is the heir to her recipes. Asma has furthered her mother’s legacy and, through food, has worked to develop how women are thought about whether in domestic or professional kitchens. The book itself contains a variety of recipes that Asma loved from her childhood and she evocatively describes her memories of each dish so as to underscore its importance in her personal development whether as a child in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Madras, or a student at Cambridge University. The recipes traverse a number of regions and bring to the table a variety of dishes with influences from Bengali, Afghan, Mughlai and Turkish cuisines.

Ammu is set out chronologically rather than in conventional chapters for starters, mains and desserts. This is but one of the ways in which Khan skilfully interweaves her personal recollections with over 100 recipes she presents. Even the cover of the book has a story in that it copies the pattern on the cover of the notebook she brought with her when she moved, as a young bride, to Cambridge. The notebook was covered with Nokshi Kantha embroidery, a technique that recycles fabric, which Asma describes as a form of rebirth and a celebration of resilience. Her dishes in Ammu follow her life stages with chapters from her childhood, her years in Cambridge when she was learning to cook, and a further chapter with recipes she made when her skills had improved. Then there is a chapter of recipes for celebrations, and finally, the recipes that she developed and used when she became a mother to two boys and needed simple and quick meals to put on the table.

Although I have cooked almost daily for many decades – from simple, family meals to more elaborate celebratory ones – I do not often prepare Indian food. This is partly because it is not my heritage, but also due to a lack of knowledge and a lack of confidence around the spicing. With Asma at my elbow, I felt ready to proceed and found that her recipes are very precise and therefore work well. Moreover, she taught me to really pay attention. In one recipe, she writes about the exact moment to add an ingredient to the pan – it is the second that the clove starts to swell in the hot oil. I have to admit that I had no idea that a clove could swell, and watched with rapt attention until I noticed how it does. This is exquisite recipe writing.

I was touched by Asma Khan’s description of her shock at how cold Cambridge was. As I was cooking for relatives who recently arrived from a hot climate, I knew that they would be homesick for family and would find the weather a challenge. I decided that if kaddu nariyal shorba (pumpkin coconut soup) had helped Khan cope with the UK conditions, then I would do the same for my guests. I substituted butternut for the pumpkin as it is a vegetable eaten with great relish in the country from which I originate.

From the same section of recipes from Khan’s childhood, I made a pan of til wale aloo (spicy sesame potatoes), which I took around to my son, who was ill with Covid. Potatoes are one of his favourite things to eat, and I knew that these would cheer him up. They are quick to prepare, spicy, nutty from the sesame and turn the most radiant yellow from the turmeric. I could not resist trying the saag ka raita – a spicy spinach and yoghurt dip which is so versatile and colourful. I served it with baked salmon.

Khan’s nostalgic description of the long nights of storytelling during the monsoon after eating khatteh ande (eggs in tamarind gravy) for dinner had me reaching for the eggs from my fridge. It might just have been English rain outside my window, but it felt appropriate. The dish was a revelation to me, as left to my own devices with eggs for dinner, I generally make poached eggs on avocado toast. This time, with Asma’s recipe at hand, I made a tamarind and onion sauce in which the boiled eggs simmered. Utterly delicious. Quick and easy too.

By this stage, I was delighted with Ammu and got into my stride in the chapter wherein Khan learnt to cook. I tried her machher mamlet, a fish omelette. It would never have occurred to me to fill an omelette with fish and now I stand corrected and have myself, learnt something new.  I decided to make a meal to take up to Cambridge for a group of students. I cooked all afternoon, packed up my Tupperwares and had the pleasure, that evening, of eating in a student sitting room perched on sofas and chairs with plates on our knees. It took me back 40 years. I explained to the students that these recipes had been used by Khan when she arrived in Cambridge as a young bride. The connection was appreciated and after dinner, I was asked whether a link was available to Khan’s recipes. I consider that to be a thumbs up.

I used a variety of recipes for this meal. Hariyali murgh is baked chicken thighs with herbs – lots of coriander, mint and green chilli. I thought it might be very spicy, but in fact, it was fragrant and herby. A great recipe to prepare ahead, as the overnight marinade makes the cooking quick on the day. I also picked a few recipes from the celebration section, which Khan describes as being prepared for weddings, birthdays and the like. Shahi gobi saalan – cauliflower in rich coconut gravy – went down a storm. I almost always roast cauliflower, and it was a welcome surprise to taste such a deeply comforting dish with cauliflower that had briefly boiled, albeit in a most aromatic spiced sauce. With the chicken and cauliflower dishes, I served sada pulao – cashew nut and raisin Bengali pulao, which is one of those rice dishes you cannot stop eating, even returning later to the fridge to pick at the leftovers. Make extra, you will want more. The roasted cashew nuts and raisins add texture and sweetness along with the caramelised onions. Following Asma’s careful instructions, I managed to make my rice fluffy – not something I always manage with white basmati. I usually use brown basmati as my rice of choice, but in this dish, the white variety is very good indeed. From the final chapter, Becoming Ammu, Asma Khan delivers on her promise of recipes that are quick to prepare. Adrak phulli – French beans with ginger – took more time to top and tail than to cook. It had a gentle gingery flavour and provided a green vegetable without which no meal is complete in my household.

Once I made a start on using this new cookbook, I could not put it down for days, and while I have now made a number of recipes from Ammu, there are many dishes I am itching to try. One of these I feel a bit intimidated by, but am going to attempt. This is Ammu’s Chicken Biryani, a dish I associate with Khan from her hugely popular supper clubs at Darjeeling Express. Asma has generously included this recipe in the book. However, I suspect that my rendition of it will only make me more determined than ever to secure a table at Darjeeling Express.

Asma Khan writes intimately and personally about her family history and includes many photographs of her life from childhood up to her marriage. She draws in the reader so well that I found myself pouring over the photographs as if they were of a family I already knew. The food images are compelling too, taken by photographer Laura Edwards.

What comes across on every page of Ammu is not only the love that Khan has for her mother, her family and India, but the way in which cooking for loved ones speaks volumes without having to say a word. When we take care to cook and to feed, whether a simple egg or a complex meal, we nurture not only the body but the soul, both of ourselves and those who eat at our table. Ammu provides the tools to do just that.

You can buy Ammu by Asma Khan online from Amazon and other bookshops or in most retail outlets.