Customer Reviews

From Curries to Kebabs: Recipes from the Indian Spice Trail

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Curry certainly has become an international food, very historic and now spreading from its roots in India and the East all over, with its British, Asian and Polynisian influences and accents.

Madhur easily is recognized as an expert of this cuisine and in her travels around the world has sampled and here collected and modified some of the best curries and accompanying foods for us to cook and enjoy.

This is international in scope and wide in choice of ingredients, so their is something here for all of us. With is spiciness and heat there is wonderful cooling, smoothness of yogurts and coconut milk and fruits. There is wide techniques here represented as well, braising and bbq kabobs and baking, etc.

What I find especially intriguing and so informative is the 26 page introductions which gives a delightful introductive history with illustrations. This informative touch in continued throughout the book, and not just the occasional sidebar, but page intros on topics or techniques or how she cam to find and adapt a recipe. The Special Ingredients and Techniques is vital to any of us new to this cuisine, giving excellent pointers and advice in purchase and use. Only wish was that she included internet sources which is so easy to use and find the really good ones in this way.

I've developed a taste for the likes of: "Lamb Shanks Braised in a Yogurt Sauce"; "Japanese Style Curry Beef"; "Fish Curry with a Half-Ripe Mango"; "Baked Lamb Kabobs(Lagania Sheek) This is outrageously good!); and "Malaysian Shrimp Curry Soup with Noodles." The Basmati Rice with Cinnamon and Saffron is wonderful accompanyment for so many menus.

This is one to explore and venture out into new worlds of taste.

This in an excellent cookbook that traces Indian influences around the world. It has loads of interesting and exotic recipes and also has many of the much loved standard dishes found Indian influenced areas around the world, including surprising places such as Kenya. The initial history of the Indian influences is fascinating. There are even recipes for creating 19th century "British" style curries and different curry powder recipes. It's a great cookbook for both someone getting into cooking this style of food or for someone already with lots of different cookbooks seeking something new and interesting.

I love Madjur J's cookbooks. Indian food made using ingredients you can find, and not spending all day in the kitchen, with consistently excellent results. There's not a bad recipe in any of her cookbooks. This very well-written history of curry is fascinating. Recipes come from Africa, Asia, and everywhere the Spice Trail was. She has a way of getting the best recipes wrangled from top chefs and even politiacal dignitaries. I highly recommend it for readers as well as cooks.

I borrowed this book from a public library before purchasing it. What I liked about the book was the art work included, the narration style, the stories about the source of the recipes, the diversity of the recipes. I have tried a few of the recipes from this book, I liked some of them but would not care to make the others a second time. I also liked that the author suggested locally available ingredients as substitutions. All in all, I did like the book enough to buy it after I had looked through it.

I think this is one of her best books. Definately not for a beginner though. If you know your way around the kitchen the recipes are fun to make and delicious to eat

Though I own many Indian cookbooks, and have enjoyed cooking Indian food for forty years, I have rarely found a book that so well combines beauty, imagination, an almost anthropological (or at least ethnogastronomical) attention to detail, and wonderful tastes. Madhur Jaffrey is the doyenne of Indian and indeed Asian and vegetarian cook book authors. Her recipes work well in an American kitchen, offer inspiration to the adventuresome cook, and are truly useful. Whether you love to grill outdoors, or never want to go near charcoal, the kebabs are unctuous and make your tongue want to scream in delight. Buy this book immediately, and enjoy an exquisite rainbow of Indian inspired recipes from throughtout the world.

I have made several dishes out of this book and so far every one came out phenomenal. Some recipes are a little more labor intensive, some require some exotic ingredients, but so far none required "professional chef" skills to make. I have travelled world wide and although I am not an expert on Asian/African/Indian cuisine, I am a pretty accomplished amateur. The dishes I made tasted very authentic.

Also, hats off to Madhur Jaffrey for providing recipes for some of the perennial "pantry" ingredients such as the curry pastes and spice mixes. Many books all too often rely on your going to a store and buying the "green/red curry paste" or this or that spice mix. I find that to be a lazy way out (for the author) and pretty irritating (for the cook) particularly if you live in an area without the necessary ethnic stores to find these ingredients.

This book has a great variety of specialties and we love Madhur Jaffrey.
If you are looking for authentic Indian recipes that will please
a crowd, look no further.
The pictures are great, too.

I can't count the number of times people have asked, "where did you get the recipe or thought to put those ingredients together?" And my little secret that I always share is this book. It is absolutely amazing what a stock set of the same spices can create for you and that you can tell someone that the eggplant and fish is actually a Kenyan recipe from this book that follows the spice trail from east Asia to the African continent! I couldn't ask for more in a cookbook!

I own a copy of the British edition of this book (titled "Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible") and it provides an assorting variety of interesting curry recipes ranging from classical Indian dishes (which, as Ms Jaffrey illustates, is never called "curry" among Indians themselves: each has its own distinctive name), to curry dishes in Southeast Asia, Africa, and West Indies, to derived curry dishes in Britain, the USA, Japan and East Asia. Even chicken tikka masala is featured in this book.

But having said this, this book leans very heavily on the more Indian-heritage type of curry dishes. Many interesting and common non-Indian curry recipes are left out. For instance, a generic "Western" type of curry chicken/prawn (commonly seen at many middle-ranged Western-style restraurants) would be a welcome addition to the recipe (to show what Western restaurants serve for a curry dish), but it is not to be found (although to be fair to Ms Jaffrey, she does hint how contemporary Western curry is prepared). Similarly Nonya/Chinese style curry beef brisket (popular among ethnic Chinese in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia) doesn't feature on the book even though it represents a fusion of Indian, Malay, and Chinese cooking. And beef rendang is also missing.

Moreover, some minor proofreadings seem to be needed for portions of this book. I have noticed some variations of terms like "Englishmen" and "English", "salesmen" and "sales people". But still, this book gives many good curry recipes and many of them are not (yet) featured in other curry cookbooks. A great addition to your cookbook library if you purchase it.