Like so many cooks I have a small portfolio of Indian dishes that I prepare confidently. I learnt most of what I know about cooking Indian food from Madhur Jaffrey whose television programmes in the 1980's were as straightforward as Delia, as precise as Heston and as exotic as a Michael Palin travelogue. Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery - published by the Beeb in 1982 to accompany the series - is still my bible for the basics and dishes like her aloo gosht (lamb and potatoes cooked Delhi style) never fail to please.

So when the media started to crank up the hype for Anjum Anand's television series "Indian Food Made Easy"; and when she was described as a "hot new celebrity chef"; my heart sank. We learnt that Anand was born in Britain, lived in Switzerland and had worked in various classy American Indian restaurants (Café Spice in New York and Tommy Tang in L.A….is this a recommendation?). Plus something even more worrying, Anand "applies the principles of low-fat eating to traditional recipes." So it was well after the series had got into its stride that I finally got around to watching her show. I ended up changing my view. The dishes look good and the recipes are simple and easy to follow. There is a refreshing helping of unstuffy pragmatism to Anjum Anand and I particularly enjoyed the programme that showed her "assisting" a West Midlands couple who had set up the Cornish Curry Company. The fish curry she suggested as a way to reinvigorate their range was well balanced and practical. Fast forward a few decades and this episode may well be cited by sociologists as evidence of Britain's culinary open-mindedness and multiculturalism.

Anand's programmes also put a sensible emphasis on fresh ingredients and showcase the skills of some of our best Indian chefs. It's good to see chefs valued for their skills rather than wanting them to be instant celebrities.

The book of the series is a good one, I particularly like the coconut mackerel curry; and the simple dishes like the stir-fried nigella cabbage or the herby lamb chops. This paperback is well-worth a place on my shelf alongside Madhur's bible.

Charles Campion

Indian Food Made Easy by Anjum Anand is published by Quadrille in paperback £14.99.