Arjun Gill on his book Little India At Home

The secrets of Indian cooking revealed.

Arjun Gill's grandmother fanned the flame of interest in Indian food among Kiwis when she joined her daughter and started selling takeaways from the family dairy and fish and chip shop in Dunedin. Now, thanks to Premjit Kaur Gill, traditional Indian recipes are being cooked throughout New Zealand at the popular Little India restaurants.

Arjun is now the brand manager for Little India and his new book, Little India at Home, dispels any myth that Indian food is difficult to make. I asked Arjun about the chain of restaurants and for tips for cooking Indian at home.

WHAT IS THE BEST DISH FOR A BEGINNER TO COOK? One of the recipes from the entrees section in our book. Something like a chooza tikka or paneer aloo tikki. The cooking method of these is easier than a curry. You will also become familiar with some of the spices that we use. From there, transitioning into making a curry will be less daunting.

WHAT IS THE MOST POPULAR CURRY DISH IN YOUR KIWI RESTAURANTS? Butter chicken. We have regular customers who have been coming to us for over 20 years and who stick to their tried and tested. Our menu does have a great selection of dishes and over the years people have become more and more interested in trying the variety of dishes that we offer. We make all our recipes the way we get them back home.

HOW MANY LITTLE INDIA RESTAURANTS ARE THERE IN NEW ZEALAND?
We have 17 Little Indias across the country, from Auckland to Invercargill.

YOUR HEAD CHEFS HAVE SPECIAL TRAINING ... TELL US ABOUT THAT.
All of our head chefs are still trained by my grandmother, Premjit Kaur Gill. Before we bring a chef over from India my grandmother puts them through a few tests, not only of their cooking skill but also how they perform under pressure. They also dine at the restaurants that they work in, in India, to make sure they are up to our standards.

WHERE DID LITTLE INDIA BEGIN?
Little India began from my mum and dad's dairy that also had a fish and chip shop attached, located in Ravensbourne, Dunedin. When my grandmother came over they decided to try and sell a few curries from the fish and chip shop on a Friday and Saturday nights. My grandmother and mum would cook the curry on an electric stove top cooker from our house that was above the dairy and send the food down to dad. This got very popular very quickly! From there they decided to open up their own restaurant and the first Little India was opened in Dunedin on St Andrews St in 1991.

WHAT ARE THE BASE INGREDIENTS FOR MOST INDIAN DISHES?
Onions, garlic, ginger and tomatoes. From there you can add a variety of spices and other ingredients to make many different flavours and dishes.

WHERE CAN WE BUY THE NECESSARY HERBS AND SPICES FOR YOUR RECIPES?
Most of the spices needed for our cookbook are available at supermarkets. Some of the more specialised spices will be available at your local Indian supermarket or wholesaler.

DO I NEED SPECIALISED EQUIPMENT?
A pressure cooker is needed for a couple of the recipes but other than that most people will have all they need already to make the recipes in our book.

IF I HAVE MADE MY DISH TOO HOT IS THERE ANY WAY I CAN SAVE IT?
Don't add too much chilli until the dish is almost finished. Then you can add the chilli to taste. If you have added too much by mistake you can add some yoghurt and potatoes, which will absorb the chilli and other spices and help to reduce the spiciness.

WHAT IS THE SECRET TO COOKING RICE?
Adding the correct amount of water. The rice will absorb the water while cooking and when the rice is cooked there should be no water left over. If your rice is always too sticky and mushy then you are using too much water.

DO YOU SERVE THE SAME RICE WITH EVERY DISH OR DOES IT VARY?
We serve basmati rice with all our dishes. We also have our pulao rice dishes, the most popular being the kashmiri pulao, which is cooked with nuts, sultanas and coconut.

WHO TAUGHT YOU TO COOK?
I did not have a specific cooking teacher. Over the years I have picked up things from my grandmother and my parents. I have learned the most, though, from working in the restaurants with our chefs.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST DISH YOU COOKED?
Chicken tikka masala.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE DISH?
I have so many favourites. At the moment it would be our achaari lamb and palak paneer.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE KIWI DISH?
It is hard to go past good quality fish and chips. Made with fresh fish and beer batter with a home-made tartar sauce.

TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF THAT WILL SURPRISE.
I do not really cook at home. I am surrounded by so many good cooks. My wife, mum, dad and our chefs are all such good cooks I enjoy eating their food.