Customer Reviews

Easy Indian Cooking

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

 

 

I love the way the book is laid out, it is designed to make following the recipes fast and easy. There are three columns for each recipe, the left column has the measures listed in English units, the center column lists the ingredients, and the right column has the measures listed in metric units. The cooking instructions are excellent. The headnotes consist of information on the dish and tips for the dish. This is a cookbook by a teacher who knows how to put a recipe together.

Here's the beauty of the book, by way of example. How many times have you seen a cookbook recipe that calls for, say, "1 onion chopped"? What size onion would that be, exactly? Here in Texas an onion can be pretty big. In Europe, they aren't as big. What Suneeta has done is demystify the list of ingredients by using measures of cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons, or, metric weights. This is awesome! It makes the recipes foolproof. And it gives you a baseline for later changing the recipe up to suit personal tastes.

I own 5 Indian cookbooks, and I have read quite a few more. But this is the one that I default to.

I would recommend starting with the following:

Chicken in Cashew Saffron Gravy
North Indian Lamb Curry on Bread
Whole Baked Masala Cauliflower
Bell Peppers with Roasted Chickpea Flour
Dhokla (a fast and easy recipe using cream of wheat that produces beautiful results)
Split Yellow Peas with Tamarind Chutney
Gena's Kababs (flavored with green onions, ginger, cilantro, crisp fried onions)

I read an article in my local newspaper reviewing this cookbook with recipes. So I tried one of the recipes in the newspaper article..Chicken with Aromatic Spinach. My family loved it and they aren't Indian foodies. So, I bought this cookbook, my first Indian cookbook. It is a gem!

The recipes are easy to follow and recommend ingredients that are easily obtained at a "normal" American grocery store. The city where I live does not have a proliferation of "ethnic" grocery stores, so I especially appreciated this.

The recipes trend more heavily towards vegetables. There are short sections for chicken, seafood, pork and lamb. Though I am not good with breads and yeast, the bread recipes looked easy enough that I may venture an attempt at one or two of them.

I would have liked to see more chicken recipes. Perhaps the author is saving them for a second cookbook which I will definitely buy.

I heartily recommend this cookbook!

This cookbook has many of the traditional flavors I was looking for. Having never cooked Indian before, I appreciated the clear directions, and listing of spices, foods, and terms used in indian cooking. I use this book the most out of my four Indian cookbooks.

My fiance and I are capable in the kitchen. We've tried two recipes out of this book. Here are our thoughts.

First, finding a recipe is not so easy in this book. There are not many pictures, so when we're sitting around with tummies grumbling, we have a hard time choosing. There are no high-level descriptions either.

The first time we picked a recipe, it was a curry chicken. We had to drive around to different stores to find all the spices we needed. We live in San Jose, CA, and we have access to Indian grocery stores. So, we're probably in better position to get these than most would be. Also, many of these spices are pricy.

After we tracked down all the ingredients, we faithfully followed the recipe. The result: bland and dry chicken. The chicken did not pick up much flavor at all! The curry was OK, but the chicken ruined the meal.

Our second attempt was another chicken dish. This one called for thighs, so we were hopeful that they would be juicier and absorb more flavor. They did. The dish was pretty good, but not as flavorful as we would expect from an Indian meal. Maybe we just need to double up on the amount of spice. We held back on some of the water since it seemed like it might be too watery. Despite that effort, it was still very watery.

This is my first Indian cookbook. I like this cookbook a lot because, as others have stated, it's very well laid out and has clear instructions. There are also helpful pages on spices, other ingredients, techniques, etc. I like most of the recipes I have made out of it. However, I don't feel like they have ever quite tasted like the Indian food I get in American restaurants - it doesn't seem quite as good to me. Maybe this is because she has made them low-fat, or they are actually more authentic than restaurants, or she has simplified the ingredients (although I still find the recipes time-consuming, like 1-2 hours each). So I'm still on the lookout for an Indian cookbook that duplicates that (expensive) restaurant experience.

I love to plan, prepare and eat Indian food but let's face it, cooking several dishes each requiring many different spices and lengthy preparation isn't often workable in our lives today. This book has made my joy of cooking Indian dishes renewed!

The book provides all the information needed for a novice to cook and enjoy authentic Indian cooking. Common substitutions for ethnic ingredients are very helpful. The photography is more than adequate, and evocative. I have enjoyed learning more about foods that I enjoy, and a culture different from mine. I recommend this cookbook to anyone who enjoys Indian food and cooking.

I bought this book thinking that I could recreate all of the wonderful dishes that I regularly enjoy at the many Indian restaurants in Houston. Figuring that the author lives in Houston, the dishes would resemble the stuff I get in the Mahatma Gandhi District. After spending about thirty bucks on spices and ingredients at a local Indian grocer, I was stoked on making some good food. I have tried two recipes in this book and both were disappointing. Pork vindaloo was dry and malty, the methi aloo tasted Americanized. Sorry to say, I will not try any more recipes from this book.

One of my favorite cookbooks. Love the layout; one recipe per page, mouthwatering photographs, and friendly, little asides in the margins. The directions are clear with just the right amount of detail. Best of all, these recipes truly are easy. Many of them are quick, too; it's great when you come home late, tired, and hungry. I've worked my way through all the dals and especially like the buttery mung dal. The aloo gobi is terrific, too. If you only have one Indian cookbook, this should be the one.

Finally, fairly authentic Indian cooking that is manageable at home. I love Indian food, but normally don't make it at home b/c it is involved and time consuming. These recipes are do-able and lend themselves to adjusting. I first tried "Preeti's Brown Onion Chicken". I was looking for a little more in the way of vegetables and heat, so added some celery and a chili when sauteeing the onion. When it was nearly browned, I added some spinach, then pureed it.
When cooking the chicken, I added some chopped carrots, chard, and diced potatoes. I know my additions would make a purist faint, but it was fantastic, healthy, and family-friendly. Cheers!