I'm looking for a good indian food cook book. I love food at indian
restaurants with the strong spices and interesting spice combinations.

I'd like to find a cook book that would teach me real indian cooking,
like how to prepare my own spices and blends, drinks, sauces, breads,
etc. I've looked at a few books at the library and book store and the
recipes didn't seem like they'd turn out being anything great. They
seemed more for people who want some easy recipes instead of really
teaching you how to cook great indian food.

Anyone out there know what I'm talking about? What are some good books
that fit what I'm saying here?

In article >,
bluebeamsky > wrote:

> I'm looking for a good indian food cook book. I love food at indian
> restaurants with the strong spices and interesting spice combinations.
>
> I'd like to find a cook book that would teach me real indian cooking,
> like how to prepare my own spices and blends, drinks, sauces, breads,
> etc. I've looked at a few books at the library and book store and the
> recipes didn't seem like they'd turn out being anything great. They
> seemed more for people who want some easy recipes instead of really
> teaching you how to cook great indian food.
>
> Anyone out there know what I'm talking about? What are some good books
> that fit what I'm saying here?

Two authors you should look for: Julie Sahni and Madhur Jaffrey. Julie
Sahni is the author of "Classic Indian Cooking." Madhur Jaffrey has
written several Indian and Asian cookbooks. You can't go wrong with
either author.

Cindy

--
C.J. Fuller

Delete the obvious to email me

"Cindy Fuller" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> bluebeamsky > wrote:
>
> > I'm looking for a good indian food cook book. I love food at indian
> > restaurants with the strong spices and interesting spice combinations.
> >
> > I'd like to find a cook book that would teach me real indian cooking,
> > like how to prepare my own spices and blends, drinks, sauces, breads,
> > etc. I've looked at a few books at the library and book store and the
> > recipes didn't seem like they'd turn out being anything great. They
> > seemed more for people who want some easy recipes instead of really
> > teaching you how to cook great indian food.
> >
> > Anyone out there know what I'm talking about? What are some good books
> > that fit what I'm saying here?
>
> Two authors you should look for: Julie Sahni and Madhur Jaffrey. Julie
> Sahni is the author of "Classic Indian Cooking." Madhur Jaffrey has
> written several Indian and Asian cookbooks. You can't go wrong with
> either author.
>
Two favorites of mine are Williams_Sonoma Savoring India - Julie Sahni; and
the late Ismail Merchant's Passionate Meals.

Anita

In article >,
bluebeamsky > wrote:
>I'm looking for a good indian food cook book. I love food at indian
>restaurants with the strong spices and interesting spice combinations.
>
>I'd like to find a cook book that would teach me real indian cooking,
>like how to prepare my own spices and blends, drinks, sauces, breads,
>etc. I've looked at a few books at the library and book store and the
>recipes didn't seem like they'd turn out being anything great. They
>seemed more for people who want some easy recipes instead of really
>teaching you how to cook great indian food.

At the heart of all Indian cuisines is the deft use of spices to produce
interesting, often layered flavors. Indian food has a reputation for being
hot, and many Indians certainly enjoy this in their own cooking. But it's
the painterly way in which they combine spices that makes the cooking
unique.

What began my passion for Indian cooking in the winter of 1997-98 was
_Madhur Jaffrey's Spice Kitchen_. Sadly, it now appears to be out of
print, but you can probably get it used. In it, Ms. Jaffrey has 50
recipes that illustrate many of the techniques used with spices that
predominate Indian cooking. While she is north Indian and has clear
leanings toward northern cooking in her recipes, this may be exactly
what you need: most Indian restaurants in the US serve Punjabi cooking.
The recipes themselves, however, are for things you will not find in
most restaurants. There are instructions on how to make some of your
own spice mixtures at home. While some of these things can be bought
pre-mixed at your local South Asian grocery (such as the ubiquitous
garam masala), you will quickly find that there is NOTHING as fresh and
aromatic as homemade spice mixes.

Once you learn the basics, most of Madhur Jaffrey's other (numerous)
cookbooks will give you lots more material to work with. Besides being
an actress, Jaffrey is probably the best known English language author
of Indian cookbooks.

Finally, you might want to consider _Indian Home Cooking_, by Suvir Saran
and Stephanie Lyness. This book came out just a year ago, and has a very
approachable style. More than Jaffrey's cookbooks, it style has more
anecdotal stories connected with each recipe. Saran himself is from New
Delhi, but he spent three years in Nagpur and spent time in Mumbai
(Bombay). He's lived in the US for over a decade now, and knows how to
improvise his recipes with things that are more likely to be found in
American supermarkets. Saran and Lyness also point you to southern India,
which has some different cooking techniques and ingredients than one finds
in the north. This book reminds you that Indian cuisine is evolving, just
as most cuisines do. This counters the effect of most restaurants, which
would have you believe that chicken tikka masala has been made in India for
hundreds of years, and that all non-vegetarians actually eat it there.

--
Gregory Pratt
East Rutherford, NJ, USA http://www.panix.com/~gp/
"The only good spammer is a dead spammer."
PGP Key Fingerprint: DC60 FCDE 91E2 3D41 91A3 45DB B474 3D3A 3621 AAFE

wrote:
>Two authors you should look for: Julie Sahni and Madhur Jaffrey. Julie
>Sahni is the author of "Classic Indian Cooking." Madhur Jaffrey has
>written several Indian and Asian cookbooks. You can't go wrong with
>either author.

I find that, at least in some of her early cookbooks, Madhar-ji assumes
people can't get certain ingredients and provides poor substitutes. She
also doesn't provide recipes for masalas, probably thinking people
wouldn't have time to blend them from scratch.

Orlando