As fans of Iyer’s previous books know, her recipes can be relied on to get dinner on the table with the minimum of fuss and washing up. India Express grew from conversations Iyer had with her parents about the train journeys they used to take across India. So I’ve cut out the butterflying stage, on the basis that prawns here are the perfect size to crumb and fry as they are. Now, I just feel like my mum must have felt so isolated - my dad was at work, and she was doing her medical exams. Featuring many of her easy, signature Roasting Tin-style one-dish dinners, as well as more ambitious projects, these are 75 delicious Indian-inspired recipes, peppered with moving stories straight from her family,” said Tatepo.

Mum won't use the originals anymore because she's too worried about the airline paper, so she's pasted and photocopied,” Iyer explains.

Much as I love using the oven instead of the hob, you want the crispness from fried aubergines rather than baked for this dish – and it’s quicker to do in a frying pan. They] cook with mustard seeds, desiccated coconut, cook things in coconut milk – it’s about fresh, quick and easy stir-fries, whereas Bengal is a bit more fish-based. million copies to date ( The Roasting Tin, The Green Roasting Tin, The Quick Roasting Tin, The Roasting Tin Around The World, The Green Barbecue and The Sweet Roasting Tin). Inspired by a train journey between her parents' home towns of Kolkata and Chennai, India Expressis a collection of 75 south Indian and Bengali recipes, and Rukmini Iyer's seventh book.

This collection of speedy and fuss-free Indian recipes is designed with the modern home cook in mind; you’ll find plenty of Rukmini’s trademark traybakes, as well as stir-fries, snacks, weeknight curries, and simple desserts. I love this as it takes just minutes to put together – perfect served on a weeknight with buttery white rice alongside.

This was so easy to prepare that I was slightly concerned about how much curry flavour there would be. In her cookbook, published in the early 20th century, she wrote definitive versions of Bengali classics as well as Victorian recipes of the time, like mockturtle soup. The first thing I made from it was Chingri Macher Malai, spiced prawns in coconut milk, which took minutes to prep, simmered quietly for just under half an hour, and was perfect on buttered white rice.

I used cod which is what I had in the fridge and it sat for a couple of hours until I was ready to cook. It was also a rather unusual trip, given that it was unconventional for a couple in India to travel together unmarried in the 1970s. Creative and unusual ingredient combinations abound, and the book is infused with the classic Bengali and South Indian flavours of curry leaf, Nigella seed, coconut, lime, and cardamom. This was one of my mum’s favourite prawn curries before she became vegetarian – a lovely, lightly spiced dish of prawns cooked in coconut milk; my grandmother would always have it made for her on visits home.The book has two chapters on one-roasting tin or one-pan curries and also provides a challenge for more advanced cooks who may want to spend more time in the kitchen.

My recipe is a more everyday version – fluffy, lightly cheese-flecked parathas soft enough to fold and use to scoop up curries. Rukmini Iyer is the bestselling author of The Roasting Tin series selling over a million copies to date ( The Roasting Tin, The Green Roasting Tin, The Quick Roasting Tin, The Roasting Tin Around The World, The Green Barbecue and now The Sweet Roasting Tin). Iyer persuaded her mother, in the end – the letters came out of the plastic wrap they were encased in, and were photographed on the kitchen worktop. Having grown up in a time when travel was restricted to local holidays, she has spent her adult life fulfilling a desire to see the world.

From easy traybakes to speedy curries, discover 10 of our favourite recipes from Rukmini Iyer’s brand new cookbook India Express. Keeping with her ethos of 'minimum effort, maximum flavour', these dishes are vibrant, achievable and moreish. I was intrigued to discover what flavours would develop with a quick turnaround of ingredients into a meal. India Express, Iyer’s new book, is a loving snapshot of the heritage that made her, a brightly covered tome packed with flavour, new takes on cooking Indian food, and family stories.