Buy the book: The Hairy Bikers' Great Curries

Since the beloved Two Fat Ladies, who rode around the UK on a motorcycle and sidecar, were reduced by half, the title of Britain's favourite rough-and-ready TV cooking duo has been held by Si King and Dave Myers, aka the Hairy Bikers.

They started off as blokes on bikes who scared sheep and annoyed farmers by roaring through rural areas in search of the UK's best regional foods. Their popularity grew to the point where people recognised them even without their two-wheeled props. So they lost the bikes and, these days, they no longer have to wipe grease off their hands before stripping an eel.

Judging by their latest cookbook, the still-hairy former bikers have also lost their focus on strictly British cuisine and are now bringing elements of Asia and the Middle East into their helmet-free kitchens.

One thing they have not lost is their exuberant appeal. Now that they've scrubbed up, the sound food knowledge that always lurked beneath their scruffy jackets is clear for all to see.

The Hairy Bikers' Great Curries (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, R335) is subtitled "The one-stop cookbook for the best curries, rice, breads and chutneys you've ever tasted", and this may not be mere biker braggadocio, judging by the pretty pictures.

My copy fell open at Afghan aubergines with yoghurt (and onions, tomatoes, garlic, chilli, cumin, turmeric, coriander, mint .), which caused instant craving. By the time I'd looked at Keralan king prawn curry, vegetable coconut curry, creamy Kashmiri chicken curry, extra-special beef biryani, sticky chilli ginger sponge and toffee bananas, I had to make an emergency trip to the shop across the road for a packet of samoosas.

The bikers are good at explaining things, perhaps because of their mechanical past, and the section on breads is particularly good, with illustrated instructions for making chapattis, naan, and a delicious-looking thing called a vegetable-stuffed paratha.

There is a chapter devoted to the art of perfect basmati rice and how to make it with all sorts of additives, such as mushrooms, coconut, peas, lemon and cashews, plus a recipe for fragrant, spice-laden pilau rice.

The "basics" section includes comprehensive information on all the spices you need for a good curry and how to put them together, and if you made all the chutneys and pickles in this book and sold them, you'd be able to put a roof on more than one church.

WIN THE BOOK

Jonathan Ball is giving away one copy of 'The Hairy Bikers' Great Curries', by Si King and Dave Myers. To enter, tell us which country was the birthplace of biryani. E-mail your answer, name, phone number and delivery address (not PO Box) to food@sundaytimes.co.za with HAIRY BIKERS as the subject. Entries close at noon on Tuesday June 11.

• WINNERS OF 'NO TIME TO COOK' (answer: Donna Hay lives in Australia): Carly Prinsloo, Arcadia; Aradhna Arbee, Desainagar; Eunice Ramothibe, Evaton West.