Customer Reviews

Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My wife and I received this book a month ago, for Christmas 2002, and have been cooking our way through it ever since. We are both vegetarians and, while not Indian, have had authentic Indian cooked food.

The recipes are fairly well done, easy to follow, and obviously well tested. Unlike some cook books, the times are correct, the food tastes "right," and the descriptions are accurate. It is well worth having this book as a good introduction to Indian style cooking. Try the Eggplant and Potato side dish (as a main course) over rice, it's wonderful!

There are a few minor annoyances that cause me to only give four stars rather than five. First, the index is horrible. Looking up dishes by the Indian names is tedious as the book has been almost over Americanized. Second, with a title with the word "classic," I am disappointed in the number of items that tell me to "buy this at the store/nobody makes these from scratch anymore/this is too complex, here is a simplified version" in this book. I appreciate the information, but I don't want the variation, at least not without the true recipe too. Third, even most of the side dishes will feed an army. Not being Indian, I would like even more information on meal planning than is given. If I made all the things suggested, we would be eating the same meal for a week straight!
Finally, the book doesn't go into much detail about the different regions and I would prefer to have things divided into regions as well. Again, these are minor, and I recommend this book as a good first book, but the recipes are good, so give it a shot! Oh, there are some typos in the book too, and considering how long it has been in print, they should have been fixed long ago!

I can imagine becoming a vegetarian for reasons of social conscience, but it hasn't happened yet. I do, however, have vegetarian friends who tolerate my lack of enlightenment, and I do sometimes cook for them. On such occasions, if I feel like challenging myself, this is the cookbook to which I turn for inspiration.

Julie Sahni offers clear enough descriptions of the tasks involved in classic Indian cooking so that anyone who's a halfway good cook in any other style can easily produce something delicious from her recipes. I never follow recipes exactly except when I use this book; I've learned from trial and error that whatever Julie says is right. The lessons she offers in nutrition - balancing grains with lentils and other pulses; using spices to AID digestion; conserving nutrients in the cooking process - are invariably worth learning.

The cookbook begins with eighty pages of descriptions of the basic ingredients of Indian vegetarian cooking, especially the spices and spice blends. Julie tells us which spices can be ground or purchased ground in advance without sacrificing flavor, and which cannot. Lots of recipes in the newspapers, for instance, call for "garam masala" as if there were only one blend of spices under that name. Julie offers five quite different blends of aromatic and piquant spices, all regional garam masalas, and tells us when each is appropriate.

Some of the best recipes in the book are for pilafs and hearty stews. Then there are clear instrutions for making two dozen sorts of Indian breads and dumplings. Home-made chutneys, I can tell you, are way tastier than gunk from jars. Cauliflower stuffed with nuts and greens is one of my favorite showy dishes for company. How about 'tiny new potatoes smothered in fenugreek leaves?' She includes instructions for growing a pot of fenugreek from seeds. Cardamom ice cream and rose petal rice pudding are always show-stopper desserts. There are also ideas for whole menus - combinations of dishes both for aesthetic and nutritioal balance.

I have half a dozen Indian cookbooks - gifts from friends mostly - but Julie Sahni's is the only one that's speckled with food stains and oil smudges. Honorable decorations for a cookbook, indicating frequent use.

This book has been in print since 1985 - proof enough that it's not just another vegetarian book or indian cookbook, but a particularly good one. The recipes are excellent - some of them intriguing; the introduction is thorough; the index is good; recipes sometimes include ingredients that can't be found outside India, for authenticity's sake, but alternatives are also suggested in most cases; and the writing style is clear.

But I won't give it 5 stars. To me, a book is the responsibility not only of the author, but also the publisher. It's just not acceptable to leave errors in a 20-year-old book, such as the dish from Mysore that turns out to be from Bangalore, or a reference to Tanjore as the site of the Meenakshi temple (that left me wondering - did they get the temple wrong, or is the recipe from Madurai?). Also, if I'm going to pay for a hardcover edition, I expect it to be durable, not start falling apart at the (glued-together) seams the minute I start using it.

Also, I agree with another reviewer that this book should have had a lot more on other grains, especially millet and sorghum which are very popular in India but almost never available in restaurants.

And I might as well mention my pet peeve with both Sahni's books: why the distinction between side dishes and main dishes? I find it meaningless - it would have made more sense to put veg with veg, dal with dal, etc.

Still, if you like Indian cooking and don't want to limit yourself to what your corner curry house can offer, and if you want to learn about a vegetarian tradition which is far and away the richest in the world, you will find this book very enjoyable.

This book is a MUST if you are interested in cooking authentic Indian vegetarian-one to one. I am not an Indian but an Indo-vegetarian, meaning I cook mostly Indian vegetarian food because I believe it is the best in the world. Almost everything I've made from this book has been AWESOME, from vegetable lentil curries of south India to paneer cheese dishes of north. This is the first book that taught me, correctly, the art of making dosa-the silky rice crepes of Madras and dokla, the feathery, lentil chiffon cakes of Gujrat. My Indian friends, who love my cooking, think I am some kind of a reincarnated Indian soul. All I do really is follow Julie Sahni's recipes. I own many Indian vegetarian cookbooks but hardly use them because none produce such great results, time after time. I think it is Julie Sahni's amazing knowledge of combining spices that make the dishes taste so extraordinary. I highly recommend this book. It is THE BEST.

I must agree with the raves about the various dishes that the other reviewers have mentioned. I own several other Indian vegetarian cookbooks and I have found that this one is the best in its description of the spices and other ingredients that may be new to some people. I have no problem with the excellent quality of the recipes but beginners in Indian cuisine should not mistake this book as easy to master. Most of the recipes in this book are complex and mastering Indian cuisine requires a lot of experimentation with amounts of spices. There are few illustrations and no pictures of prepared food to help newer cooks. So the only downside to this great book is its lack of more complete instructions for beginners

I'll preface by saying that my personal experience with Indian cuisine is limited to the great restaurants around the U.S. that I've dined in. I haven't had the pleasure of going to India, or of enjoying home-cooked Indian food here.

On the other hand, I am an avid cook and have cooked professionally. One thing that all of my favorite cookbooks have in common is that they emphasize technique; another is that they link a cuisine to its culture. Using these books broadens my understanding of the technique of certain cuisines. Getting a feel for different cuisines' techniques and methods helps my overall ability to cook without recipes, and with confidence.

Ms. Sahni's book here has been an excellent primer for me on Indian cooking techniques. The patterns of the recipes emerge. The bases, braises, masalas, and finishing perfumed butters and oils. Just as Italian cuisine has its 'hand' and approach, but also its regional variations, so does Julie Sahni introduce us to the same in Indian cuisine with this book.

My only critique is that the book completely lacks photos, and drawings are nearly non-existent. While the recipes are thorough, sometimes desired texture is hard to gauge without some photos, especially with dishes that are unfamiliar from personal experience.

Otherwise, it is one of my 'primer' cookbooks, and an educational and entertaining glimpse into regional Indian cultures -- through food.

My first reaction to many of these recipes has been "My god! Can you DO that with lentils/milk/yoghurt/vegetables?". But the answer is an unequivocal and delicious "YES!" There aren't tons of glossy colourful pictures smiling out at you (and pushing the price up), and this is a cookbook that has more recipes than you can shake a stick at, so it might be intimidating for some. But fear not. The recipes are well tested, the ingredients readily available, and the descriptions are well written and meaningful. This book has transformed my cooking and my kitchen, with recipes that are tasty, economical, and varied. If you are the least bit adventurous, try this book, I implore you.

This cookbook absolutely rocks. It is a 500 page tome of fantastic recipes. Its starts with a good explanation of ingredients, spice blends and builds a solid foundation of knowledge about Indian cooking. While some of the dinner recipes are complex, I could easily live off of the side dishes. Before this book, my experimentation with Indian food was hit or miss. Now I am always happy with the results.

A must-have for vegetarians.

Clear explanations of ingredients, techniques, and menus, in addition to a great variety of recipes give this volume distinction in its class. My first batch of idli (steamed lentil and rice dumplings) came out great. Not a book for beginners. If you're looking for glossy pages with color photos, don't look here. Also, if you're already familiar with the Indian names for some dishes, a dearth of cross-referencing in the index can make it difficult to find a particular recipe. On the other hand, if you want ideas from which to springboard into new areas of gastronomy, get this volume.

This is a super reference. From the fascinating description of her sister's wedding that another reviewer mentioned, Sahni goes on for 120 pages giving the basics of Indian vegetarian cooking...then on to the extensive recipes. My favorite so far has been gobhi masallam (stuffed cauliflower with tart tomato-coriander sauce). Even my husband who is dubious about cauliflower loved it! A sign for me that I must purchase a book is contining to check it out of the library for long periods of time...which I have and must get my own copy soon.
This book plus her earlier volume "Classic Indian Cooking" make an excellent pair. Both have plenty of information but do not repeat each other much.