Customer Reviews

Food of India (Food Of Series)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This gorgeous oversized hardcover (yes amazon has the wrong picture . . .) first gave me the impression that the authors' priority would be pretty pictures and recipes would come second. I was very pleased to find that I was wrong. The book has lovely and accurate recipes for everything an Indian Kitchen should have including how to make panner (indian home made cheese) chenna (cheese used to make desserts) yoghurt, obscure indian vegetables and the main staple recipes of most indian cookbooks. I do have two complaints - the recipes are given without possible western substitutions for indian ingredients . . E.G wrapping things in bananna leaves and cooking them. Sounds great but my indian store doesn't tend to carry bananna leaves. Would foil work?? I don't know. It usually helps if a recipe is tweaked to accomodate a western supermarket. Julie Sahni's book Savoring India does that wonderfully.
Also, ocassionally there are fold out pages with little blurbs and pictures of things like street foods or snacks without a recipe for them. Nice to see but no way to cook them is provided.
I would also like to make a comment about the growing size of the cookbooks nowadays. I hated the teensy weensy pocket paperbacks but these huge SUV's of the kitchen take up the entire counter space above a cabinet and are way to long and heavy for a standard cook book holder. about six inches shorter would have worked fine although some of the pretty decor would have had to go.
All in all, a nice book for indian cooking

When I decided to purchase an Indian cookbook, I looked extensively through the recipes in many different ones before buying this one. Yes, the pictures alone make this a coffee table book worth having, but the recipes were also very well laid out and looked acheivable.

For a point of reference, I am a fairly experienced home cook, but not a pro by any stretch (except possibly a pro at cookbook collecting). This past Saturday night, I had a few friends over and made the following recipes (making them for the first time, I might add) - Butter Chicken, Lamb Korma, Matar Paneer, Raita, Carrot Halva (plus some spiced basmati rice). It was unbelievably scrumptious - with the added bonus of very straightforward, foolproof recipes. I hope to make my way through some more of them very soon. :)

Ditto to several other reviewers' comments that you will need some special spices/ingredients if you don't already have a kitchen stocked for Indian cooking, but nothing that I was unable to find (in the Salt Lake City area). I highly recommend this cookbook.

though the cover picture is wrong but the recepies aren't- i am a professional chef with quite a good expertise in indian cuisine and in pursue to sharpen my skills in south indian- i find the recipes easy and also authentic in every aspect- the author may be a srilankan national( a wild guess by her name) but the work and the dedication has made her a authentic indian to her work. It is very appreciable hats off to the author priya. I have tried a few reciepes which are perfect and the pictures in the book are extrodinary to the western eyes bringing the streets of indian market to them..
I with no doubt give 5 star rating to this book

This book is both gorgeous and useful. The many delicious recipes are interspersed with mini-photo essays on the geography and culture of the subcontinent. Every recipe I've tried from this book has been successful and delicious. (Try the Kasmiri chicken, cooked with yogurt, almonds, and pistachios!) However, I am lucky enough to live in a city (Houston) with a large ethnic Indian population and several sources of supply for some of the more unusual spices called for in these recipes without which it would be difficult to tackle these recipes.

I use this cook book weekly, I love Indian food and this book really does an excellent job of going through step by step. Even my Indian friends say the food tastes like it does in India. I recommend this book highly. Oh, the almond corriander chicken is fantastic too!!!

This is the ultimate Indian cookbook to own.

This book explains in detail the delicacies of various parts of India. As many people know, India has culture, language and practices that differ vastly from one state to another. This book encompasses dishes from almost all the states of India. This book also explains when a meal is eaten (e.g. breakfast, special occassion etc). The photos of people, places, and dishes add good value to the book. I have tried many recipes and are quite authentic. (Since India is a large country, the meaning of authenticity of a particular dish varies from place to place). The ingredients are easily available in any specialty grocery store. If not, you can safely substitute/omit some of the ingredients.

A must have for all Indian food cooks out there.

Even though i was from India I amnow in the US where sometimes finding Indian ingredients could be a long lengthy process. This book not only retains the origian taste but also incorporates ingredients easily found in a non Indian environment. I absolutely love the andhra style chicken pulao and the chicken tikka masala. This book has made my mom proud (since she loves to take credit for training me with regards to cooking), little does she know i owe it all to this book.

I received this book for Christmas and have used several recipes already. The pictures are beautiful, the recipes are well written and easy to follow, and everything I've tried so far has been delicious.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in Indian cuisine. There is information about ingredients that will help you with some unfamiliar things you may encounter

With so many Indian cookbooks already on the market, why should the interested home cook look at yet another? It's simple: The Food Of India: A Journey For Food Lovers by Priya Wickramasinghe and Carol Selva Rajah is quite a cut above most of its similar-sounding competitors. In the first place, a team of traveler/food fans join forces to offer exquisite color photos of both Indian foods and culinary scenes across the country, pairing these photos with clear discussions of the seven Indian states and the local foods they're noted for. Secondly, The Food Of India includes a healthy dose of local history and ingredients research, as well as interviews with chefs and food producers. And if this isn't enough, it needs to be noted that the recipes selected for The Food Of India are anything but ordinary: from a Fried Beef Kerala to the Northern Indian traditional Chole Chaat, many regional specialty dishes aren't to be found in competing guides. All these features combined assure a visual treat packed with dishes all levels of Indian cook will relish.

India is geographically and culturally enormous. The only country that is comparable gastronomically is China. The first problem for someone writing a cookbook about India is the selection of the national and regional segments of Indian cuisine that will be featured. For example, there must be at least one hundred ways to prepare cauliflower Indian-style. On Pages 180 and 183, we get two of those methods. That is two out of a hundred -- and they better be good! Well, in this book, the selection is superb -- both cauliflower recipes are terrific, and that holds for practically all the other selections as well. Don't buy this book expecting an encyclopedic approach -- this is a cookbook that takes a measured approach but that samples a huge variety of regional delights.

I really appreciate the pictures in this book. They justify the size and cumbersomeness of the book because they add so much for a person who lives outside of India and has visited only a few times. I hardly ever get to see most of these dishes. I would have appreciated a few pictures of the preparation process as well. However, writing about Indian cuisine for a non-Indian audience places a special demand on the producers of the book to make the food look attractive so that those unfamiliar with it will buy the book and cook the food.

If you are wise and flush enough to buy this book, I am sure you will cook the food. And you will be very glad you did. Accurate, attractive, authoritative, and, most of all, delicious.