Suggestions for cookbooks for a beginner at Indian cooking?

[HappyGrace]

I'd like to explore Indian cooking, but would like a cookbook that makes it EASY to learn to cook, w/out a ton of ingredients, and fairly family friendly (not too spicy.) I'd like to also learn what condiments go with what, that type of thing.

Something REALLY, really basic. Indian Cooking for Dummies, or something-lol!

 

Is there anything like this out there?

[elizabeth]

 

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&rlz=1I7GZAZ_en&tbs=bks:1&tbo=u&q=inauthor:Madhur+inauthor:Jaffrey&ei=MbyyS6HiIMP98Ab6vqGDAg&sa=X&oi=book_group&ct=title&cad=author-navigational&resnum=10&ved=0CC0QsAMwCQ A wonderful resource I love the Quick and Easy book but they are all lovely

[Amira]

I really like Mangoes and Curry Leaves by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. It samples food from all over India (and some from Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Bangladesh). It's easy to tone down the spiciness if you're making your own food and spice blends. Certainly there are some ingredients called for that you might not be used to cooking with very often, but most of those ingredients are spices or foods that can be frozen and not too difficult to keep around (as opposed to fresh produce that has to be restocked often).

 

Like I said, this book covers a large area. I've discovered that north Indian food isn't always to my taste, and since a lot of Indian cookbooks (and Indian restaurants) produced for American audiences focus on the north, I was happy to discover that I like food from other regions of India better.

 

Alford and Duguid have two children with whom they've travelled extensively and often have suggestions for kid-friendly food. They also have wonderful photos in their books and they're just fun to read (but all those photos make the books pricey, so hopefully the library has a copy if you want to try it).

[kalanamak]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&rlz=1I7GZAZ_en&tbs=bks:1&tbo=u&q=inauthor:Madhur+inauthor:Jaffrey&ei=MbyyS6HiIMP98Ab6vqGDAg&sa=X&oi=book_group&ct=title&cad=author-navigational&resnum=10&ved=0CC0QsAMwCQ A wonderful resource I love the Quick and Easy book but they are all lovely

 

Her "Spice Kitchen" is an excellent introduction. Julie Sahni's Classical Indian cooking pair (veg and non-veg) are close second. These are all Northern Indian recipes. If you South Indian, I used this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Dakshin-Vegetarian-Cuisine-South-India/dp/9625935274

 

BUT...both cuisines are subtle and take practice. It took me 5 years to make matar paneer as good as Mummyji's.

[hornblower]

BUT...both cuisines are subtle and take practice. It took me 5 years to make matar paneer as good as Mummyji's.

 

Do you by any chance have a recipe for palak paneer that you can share?

[Rosie_0801]

Don't get freaked out by long recipe lists. So many Indian recipes have a long list of spices that all add up to a few teaspoons of a home made curry powder. There's no need to be intimidated by two teaspoons of anything! So many recipes all have a great long list of veggies, but they are only veggies. There's not much difference (alright, nutritionally there is) by two cups of a vegetable and two cups of assorted vegetables.

 

Yum, yum :)

 

Rosie

[scrapbookbuzz]

Are you talking American Indian or Eastern Indian? If you're talking Eastern Indian, I second the author Madhur Jaffrey. I have her book Spice Kitchen. I had never, to my knowledge, cooked Indian food before I had her book. The directions were crystal clear, the dish I made (Chicken with Dried Fruit) was very good, and not at all spicy. Not all Eastern Indian food is spicy. According to Madhur, it's the Thai folk who get carried away with the spicy curry! :^)

[Needleroozer]

I agree with the Madhur Jaffrey suggestions. I think the one I like the best is called A Taste of India. THe book is divided into sections with recipes from the different regions. I have been cooking out of this one for 18 years now, and have cooked almost every single recipe in the book. I cook Indian meals 4 to 5 days a week. Love, love, love.

 

We started out making two batches of each dish- one spicy for us, and one not spicy for the kids, and then as they grew older, we would bump up the spice level. As teens, they now can handle almost as much spice as me, and I like it hot.

[kalanamak]

Do you by any chance have a recipe for palak paneer that you can share?

 

Can you already make the paneer? That is the tough part.

 

If so, here is a cut and paste from an old post of mine. I learned this from my ex MIL, who called it Saag Paneer. Palak Paneer can mean Saag Paneer made only from spinach (a weak sister, IMO) OR it can mean a dish waterier than Saag Paneer.

 

Ajmer's Saag Paneer

In a pan, lightly brown one medium onion chopped finely in 2 T ghee or

oil. Add one inch of peeled ginger (minced, not grated, or the strings

will catch in your teeth). Cook gently until very soft and add one

medium tomato and one minced serrano chili and again continue to saute

until very soft.

In a bigger pot start with one big stalk brocc or 2 heads baby bok choy

(the little all green ones) either minced finely

2 bunches of spinach with stems chopped medium-fine

5 cloves garlic, chopped

salt to taste and one inch of water.

Cook covered until **very** soft, remove lid, turn up heat and boil off

excess water. Add scant 1/2 cup of cornmeal, stir and cook for five more

minutes. Add the above masala (onion, ginger mix), and use an old

fashioned potato masher to cream the heck out of it. Add paneer.

 

One of the few sabjis without garam masala, cumin, etc.

Again, this is the real thing, and may take a little few times to get

just right.

A version can be made with mustard greens, served without paneer and

eaten with cornmeal chapatis cooked with lots of oil.

Edited March 31, 2010 by kalanamak

[Spy Car]

I'd like to explore Indian cooking, but would like a cookbook that makes it EASY to learn to cook, w/out a ton of ingredients, and fairly family friendly (not too spicy.) I'd like to also learn what condiments go with what, that type of thing.

Something REALLY, really basic. Indian Cooking for Dummies, or something-lol!

 

Is there anything like this out there?

 

While it is not a "basic Indian food for Dummies" type cookbook, Yamuna Devi's "Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking" will give you an education in how to cook. And not just how to cook Indian food, but how to cook.

 

Madhur Jaffrey's and Julie Sahni's books are fine if you just want some "recipes". But they won't give you the kind of deep culinary education that Yamuna Devi's book does.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Krishnas-Cuisine-Vegetarian-Cooking/dp/0525245642

 

Bill

[Spy Car]

If you South Indian, I used this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Dakshin-Vegetarian-Cuisine-South-India/dp/9625935274

 

BUT...both cuisines are subtle and take practice. It took me 5 years to make matar paneer as good as Mummyji's.

 

Dakshin is a great cookbook! :001_smile:

 

Very different than the "North Indian" style that most Americans are used to (from eating at indian restaurants) but delicious food.

 

Bill

[kalanamak]

 

Madhur Jaffrey's and Julie Sahni's books are fine if you just want some "recipes". But they won't give you the kind of deep culinary education that Yamuna Devi's book does.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Krishnas-Cuisine-Vegetarian-Cooking/dp/0525245642

 

 

FYI, I've heard several actual East Indians pooh-pooh this book as very idiosyncratic of one person's tastes, and that everything tastes the same. I can't remember the ingredients she uses that are in everything, but some cooks I really respect (look on USENET for the beloved Shankar Bhattacharyya) do not like this book at all.

 

Plus, once you get the ingredients down, it is the technique that is SOOOO hard to simply read in a book. When you lower the heat, when do you add the second battery of onion in Do Piazz, when have you reached "the return of the oil" and it is time to add the ta-mah-tar, how finely do you chop the ginger, is that a teaspoon or a heaping teaspoon of mustard seed, is the fenugreek seed browned enough. The best descriptions of technique I've read are Jaffrey and Sahni.

[Spy Car]

FYI, I've heard several actual East Indians pooh-pooh this book as very idiosyncratic of one person's tastes, and that everything tastes the same. I can't remember the ingredients she uses that are in everything, but some cooks I really respect (look on USENET for the beloved Shankar Bhattacharyya) do not like this book at all.

 

Plus, once you get the ingredients down, it is the technique that is SOOOO hard to simply read in a book. When you lower the heat, when do you add the second battery of onion in Do Piazz, when have you reached "the return of the oil" and it is time to add the ta-mah-tar, how finely do you chop the ginger, is that a teaspoon or a heaping teaspoon of mustard seed, is the fenugreek seed browned enough. The best descriptions of technique I've read are Jaffrey and Sahni.

 

Her cuisine is Vedic, so there is no garlic or onions. And she does use a lot of Hing (Asafoetida) to compensate. One might quibble with the "recipes", but as you say it is in the "techniques" that one finds the magic in Indian cuisine. And most cookbooks simply offer a recipe without a through education in techniques. IMO, you don't get very far that way--especially with Indian cuisine.

 

So you learn to roast spices, and how to make paneer in great detail. And the differences in textures different cooking techniques yield.

 

And I've found this book far more informative in the area of "technique" than those of Jaffrey and Sahni, whose books I like a great deal.

 

Bill

[kalanamak]

 

And I've found this book far more informative in the area of "technique" than those of Jaffrey and Sahni, whose books I like a great deal.

 

Bill

 

But the technique was a far cry from what my ex MIL, FIL and aunti in law did, but they were those smelly onion and garlic users. :)

[Spy Car]

But the technique was a far cry from what my ex MIL, FIL and aunti in law did, but they were those smelly onion and garlic users. :)

 

I'm a smelly onion and garlic user too ;)

 

But she takes one though how to make cheese. How to make youghurt. How to make breads. All about different dals (beans). How different ways off cooking affect the texture of food. Why to roast spices. Guides to ingredients, and their uses. What kind of cook-ware one might use. On and on. It's a long book!

 

I feel that I'm a pretty good (and instinctive) cook. But for a long time really nailing Indian cuisine was a challenge for me. I mean getting to the point where I could go beyond simply making a great dish, and feeling like I was "at home" with the techniques and the cuisine. And I feel like this book helped me a great deal to get "over the hump" when I first read it back in the late 80s.

 

Bill (who also has a tin of smelly Hing in the pantry :tongue_smilie:)

[hornblower]

Ajmer's Saag Paneer

 

Yay & YUM! Thank you so much. :w00t:

[hornblower]

the "North Indian" style that most Americans are used to

 

THAT's what I want.

 

Actually what I want is a Naniji to just come live here & cook for me but alas....

 

I've got to figure it out myself because I fork over way too much $ to the local take out :)

[Spy Car]

THAT's what I want.

 

Actually what I want is a Naniji to just come live here & cook for me but alas....

 

I've got to figure it out myself because I fork over way too much $ to the local take out :)

 

You know, if you visit an Indian market, there are now Indian dishes available in aseptic foil packaging (we call them "boil in bag" Indian) that are shockingly good. They are inexpensive too. Maybe $1.50 -2.00 each.

 

And most of them are as good as what you'd find at an average Indian restaurant.

 

Not a bad compromise when you need a quick healthful meal.

 

Bill

[stripe]

I just have to say, that Devi's cookbook is massive and might be overwhelming. Some people want to read a long book about everything; other people might not. So you have to decide what you want.

 

I like some internet videos of people cooking; it can be nice to see what's going on, as one would do if someone were teaching them in person. I find Manjula to be cute, somehow, but she is a Jain and doesn't use onions/garlic either, so keep that in mind.

[HappyGrace]

Wow-I never knew there was so much to it! I'm looking forward to trying everything mentioned-thank you so much!

[Guest Cindie2dds]

I'd like to explore Indian cooking, but would like a cookbook that makes it EASY to learn to cook, w/out a ton of ingredients, and fairly family friendly (not too spicy.) I'd like to also learn what condiments go with what, that type of thing.

Something REALLY, really basic. Indian Cooking for Dummies, or something-lol!

 

Is there anything like this out there?

I just did a review of: The Indian Vegan Kitchen by Madhu Gadia on my blog. I was looking for good vegan cookbooks but was very nervous about Indian cooking. I found it quite easy although there are a lot of spices, which makes it yummy!

[stripe]

I just did a review of: The Indian Vegan Kitchen by Madhu Gadia on my blog.

And she (the author) is a nutritionist, so she does keep good health guidelines in mind (so not an excess of oil, for example); she is moderate in her approach, not harsh.