Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking [Hardcover]

Betty Crocker Editors (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2001

This unique cookbook takes you on a culinary journey of India -- the land of fragrant spices and savory dishes. Working in collaboration with Raghavan Iyer, a noted Indian culinary expert, Betty Crocker takes the mystery out of Indian cooking while keeping every dish authentic and truly satisfying.

The book includes delicious regional recipes from every area of India -- from hearty breads to spicy sauces, succulent main courses to sumptuous desserts -- all served up in Betty Crocker's signature style. It clearly explains the staples of the Indian kitchen, and offers buying tips as well as substitutions for hard-to-find ingredients.

But this is more than just a cookbook. Fascinating photos and information about Indian traditions, as well as Chef Iyer's own memories of life in India, immerse you in the richness of India's land and culture -- and make this a book to savor.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking Namaste! Vannakam! With this welcome in two of India's many languages, Betty Crocker and culinary expert Raghavan Iyer invite you to join them in exploring the wonders of Indian food. If you enjoy a good food adventure, you'll love Indian cooking! With Betty and Raghavan as your guides, you'll savor the seductive aromas and flavors of Indian food in your own kitchen. Your tour of India's foods begins with a "pantry" guide to the ingredients that can get you started with a quick visit to the supermarket. The "magic" of Indian cooking is awakening your senses to all the wonderful spices that transform everyday ingredients into the truly exceptional. You can experience all the exotic flavors of India with eleven basic spices and a few choice lentils and beans that are widely available. You'll find that many staples of the Indian kitchen—spinach, potatoes, shrimp, yogurt and rice—are your favorites too. Turn to complete glossaries on spices and seasonings; fresh produce; and lentils and grains for in-depth explanations and photographs. Raghavan's lyrical memories, amusing stories and insightful descriptions of India, which accompany the recipes, give each one a context in the culture of this vast land. Now you're ready to cook! With over 180 recipes to choose from, there are dishes for every occasion—from an easy side to add pizzazz to weeknight dinners, like Spicy Potato Fry, to a great center-piece for a party, like Seafood Pilaf with Saffron. Find classic favorites that you've probably enjoyed at Indian restaurants, like crispy potato samosas, grilled chicken tandoori and home-baked naan breads. Always wanted to make Chai, the spiced tea that's so popular in coffee bars? The authentic and easy recipe that everyone drinks in India is here. Whatever you're in the mood for, you'll find it here. If you like to cook meatless meals once in awhile, you'll get lots of ideas and inspiration. Turn to the chapter on lentils for warming options like North Indian Chili. Crazy for breads? Serve Spiced Puffed Breads or Onion-filled Tandoori Breads to make any meal extra-special. Check out the desserts chapter for irresistible sweets like Banana-Coffee Ice Cream and Fresh Fruit with Cooling Spices. Or when you want an unforgettable dinner party or a fun picnic, just glance at the Indian menus section for great suggestions. Filled with beautiful food photography as well as gorgeous photographs of the people of India, her monuments and places of natural beauty, this book will transport you to a far-off land of enticing flavors. Visit Hungry Minds on-line at www.hungryminds.com

From the Back Cover

Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking Betty Crocker and Ragahavan Iyer unlock the magic of Indian food with more than 180 authentic recipes. The Flavors of Indian Food are so alluring—fragrant and fluffy rice, tender morsels of meat and chicken, creamy and aromatic sauces, hot baked breads studded with spices, mouth-tingling chutneys and pickles. These authentic flavors are yours to be discovered and enjoyed. Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking takes you on a tour of India's food and landscape with captivating photos. And the savory recipes allow you to capture the aromas of India in your own kitchen. Traditional Indian Favorites: Pastry Shells with Spiced Potatoes Punjabi Samosas • Almond-Lamb Curry Roghan Josh Marinated Grilled Chicken Tandoori Murghi • Darjeeling Tea with Cardamom Chai Authentic Regional Specialties: Grilled Fish with Garlic and Cream Malai Maach • Pork in Cashew-Pepper Curry Sorpotel Mixed Vegetable Stew with Coconut Avial • Rice-Lentil Pancakes Uttapam Versatile Vegetarian Options: Homemade Cheese with Spinach Saag Paneer • Grilled Eggplant Pâté Baingan Bhurta North Indian Chili Rajmah • Layered Rice-Potato Pilaf Aloo Biryani For more great ideas visit www.bettycrocker.com and Hungry Minds on-line at www.hungryminds.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Betty Crocker; 1 edition (April 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764563157
• ISBN-13: 978-0764563157
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #76 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > Asian > Indian

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most authentic and easy to use book on Indian cookery EVER!!, April 29, 2001

By 

indiestar "indiestar" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking (Hardcover)

I was born in India and have a plethora of cookbooks dedicated to Indian cookery - my favourites are ones by Madhur Jaffrey. But this book by Raghavan Iyer is really very good. The photos are beautiful and make everything look just like it did on the table when I was growing up. Iyer's comments are interesting and helpful and the recipes are written with ingredients readily available in the U.S. I highly recommend this book to both people that are fmailiar with Indian cooking and to those that are experimenting.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Betty Crocker?!?!!, September 17, 2001

By 

J Fleming (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking (Hardcover)

We've been looking for an Indian cookbook off and on for months (something to reproduce some of the entrees at the great Indian buffets here in Seattle). Many cookbooks are too obscure, using ingredients that are impossible to find or impossible to even determine what they are. Others are so basic that they seem modified to meet western ideas about what tastes good.

When I saw this book with Betty Crocker in the title, I thought, "Yeah, right. I'm sure Betty knows all about aloo gobi and masala dosa..." But it turns out she does!

This is a remarkable cookbook with many of the traditional dishes in easy-to-use (yet authentic) recipes. Spices are recognizable and when ground fresh with a mortar and pestle they are very aromatic and delicious.

We were very favorably surprised. Way to go Betty!

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Delicious!, April 19, 2004

By 

Aarti Sanan (New York City, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking (Hardcover)

As an Indian who grew up in India and migrated to the U.S a little over two years ago, my knowledge of cooking was limited to instant noodles. Being a passionate foodie on a student budget and a new wife (double whammy, my husband was also a student at the time), I taught myself to cook by watching food TV. but my husband , a vegetarian (I've now taken care of that, whew!) missed his simple dal chawal subji (rice, lentils and usually dry vegetable--a regular everyday meal in every Indian household), and food TV wasn't much help! I started surfing the internet for recipes until a friend gifted me this book. What a lifesaver! I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning the fundamentals of Indian cooking (since then I've bought and sampled several cookbooks from renowned Indian chefs and nothing stands up to this in-depth and enriching culinary must-have)The introduction and explantion about each spice and its use was an eye-opener, and the recipes are not limited to one region of India. You won't find any use of generic curry powder-- all the ingredients are exactly what an Indian housewife in India would use, and the proof is in the eating. Forget the heavy cream sauces of mughlai food and the sad massacre of South Indian Sambhar and dosas that that have come to represent Indian cooking in the U.S-- this is as close to the real thing as you can get. Even now I turn at least twice a week to pick out a recipe for something as simple as making paneer or as complex as a biriyani. The text is simple, the pictures are wonderful and the English names of Indian ingredients make it easy for someone shopping in an ethinic section of say a New York gorcery store. Moreover Raghavan is helpful with tips and substitutions and I love the little nuggets of culinary history and information (I'm a culture buff and food is the best representation of any culture!), about the origination of a particular dish. I would gift this truly delightful Indian Cooking experience to any new cook in a jiffy!