The majority of chefs and cookery writers, who churn out recipe books, are often coming up with material that in one form or another has been done before.

However, with chef Anirudh Arora, who heads one of the finest Indian restaurants in London, Moti Mahal, it was a double-edged sword - familiar yet quite unique.

The idea being that you take recipes from either side of the major subcontinental route, the Grand Trunk Road, which runs from Bengal, across north India into Pakistan and up to Afghanistan.

'Food of the Grand Trunk Road', co-written by Hardeep Singh Kohli, the book offers more than just what's in the Grand Trunk Road menu at Moti Mahal: from shami kebab to lauki key koftey, gurdey= amdet ka achar to ajwaini bhindi.

"It was important for me in the book," says Arora, "that I include a good geographical spread of the recipes. Also, the advantage of a recipe book is that you don't have to worry about practicalities that come into play when you have them as dishes in a restaurant menu. So there's much more freedom.

Food of the Grand Trunk Road is published by New Holland £19.99