It is a truth universally acknowledged . . .

... that a woman in possession of a bag of gram flour, must be in want of a decent recipe for a chickpea paratha.

Well, it's true for me. Last night's attempt at using the Cinnamon Club Cookbook recipe fell somewhat flat; despite following the recipe to the letter, the results were disappointing. They looked good and the flavor was fine, but the texture was akin to eating through plasterboard (I imagine). I was looking for the pillowy fluffiness of restaurant naan. I think I can identify what went wrong: the dough was incredibly sticky, even with an additional cup of flour, which meant it was near-impossible to roll out thinly, so it's possible they were simply too thick. But there was still no "rise," no "fluff." I've had the same problem with the standard naan recipe - I'd be delighted if readers could point me somewhere more successful.

Perhaps restaurant chefs shouldn't attempt cookbooks for the home, though -- or rather readers shouldn't expect to do more than read them and coo over the food porn. Food blogs are proving to be much more helpful in providing top recipes. An example: The other key component of the dinner was a great recipe for spiced tomatoes and prawns from food blog Well Fed. This was fantastic: simple, super-quick (10 minutes start to finish), and full of an unexpected sweetness (from the cherry tomatoes, I guess). A hit, a veritable hit!