Darjeeling Express owner Asma to publish debut cookbook

Award-winning restaurateur Asma Khan has signed with an independent London-based publisher for her upcoming debut cookbook.

Pavilion Books announced that their commissioning Editor Stephanie Milner has acquired world rights to said book that is scheduled for publication in autumn of next year.

Asma’s new book, Darjeeling Express: Indian Home Cooking to Nourish the Soul, will “pay homage to her royal Mughal ancestry and the busy streets of Calcutta, where she grew up”.

With recipes that “celebrate the joy of cooking, serving food at home, and feasting with family and friends”, Asma was quoted by Pavilion Books as saying: “I was taught to cook by my mother and aunts with affection, humour, stories and most importantly love. In my first meeting with Pavilion they totally got what I wanted – to write a cookbook that would be written in the same way, as a conversation between me and the person using the book. I am absolutely delighted to finally put in writing the recipes that have stayed unwritten in my family for generations.”

As a society, we can never progress unless we treat women as equals.

Last week, Asma’s Darjeeling Express was recognised as Restaurant of the Year at the UK Bangladesh Catalysts of Commerce & Industry (UKBCCI) Business & Entrepreneur Excellence Awards.

During her acceptance speech, Asma, who champions the rights of women in the culinary world and beyond, said: “Please open your doors and hearts and let women into your kitchen because it’s really, really important. As a society, we can never progress unless we treat women as equals.”

Speaking on the success of her restaurant she added: “I have a very successful restaurant running now for three months. I have 10 women – the youngest is 42 and the oldest is 60 (she won’t tell me how much), [and] I have a grandmother. We have strengths; we have qualities; we can multitask. I am a living example of the fact that I’m an owner of a restaurant wherein all women are working, and it works. Don’t be afraid [to hire women].”

Starting as a successful supper club, Darjeeling Express opened as a restaurant in Kingly Court, Soho, in June this year before immediately gaining popularity and critical acclaim for its all-woman kitchen and Asma’s efforts as founder of the Second Daughters charity.

Darjeeling Express: Indian Home Cooking to Nourish the Soul will be published in October 2018 in hardback, RRP £18.99.