Healthy Indian Cooking [Hardcover]

Shehzad Husain (Author), James Murphy (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 1997

Indian cooking has always been naturally healthy and low in fat, using spices and herbs rather than fats as the principal flavor enhancers. This book makes the vegetable- and grain-centered dishes even healthier by replacing "ghee", the traditional Indian clarified butter, with vegetable oil. 100+ recipes. 80+ color photos.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Indian cooking with an eye on fat content is the underlying theme to this lavishly illustrated book. With a reputation for being on the greasy side, Indian cookery experts Shehzad Husain and Manisha Kanani, set out to provide a healthy alternative to the ghee-ridden dishes so often encountered in Indian restaurants. All the favourites are found within - kormas, baltis, vindaloos - alongside more eclectic dishes such as baked potato with spicy cottage cheese and lamb with apricots. Nutritional notes accompany each recipe along with tips on what best to serve as accompaniments. Don't be put off by the "healthy" title - all the recipes are truly tasty and attractively presented but with the added bonus of being good for you. - Lucy Watson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Manisha Kanani, who was born in Uganda, is a freelance home economist, working regularly at Family Circle magazine, and assisting on photography shoots for various magazines and books. She has also worked on demonstrations at the BBC Good Food show. Shehzad Husain was born in Pakistan. She is a full-time food writer, teacher and consultant, specialising in all regions of the Indian sub-continent, and her books include The Balti Cookbook. She is consultant to Marks & Spencers Plc on their popular range of Indian foods. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Stewart, Tabori and Chang (December 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556706790
• ISBN-13: 978-1556706790
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 9.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #730,361 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not traditional Indo/Pak cooking -- but good!, June 6, 2000

By 

C. Sulaiman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Healthy Indian Cooking (Hardcover)

This is not a cookbook on traditional Indo/Pak cooking. It is a blend of the tradtional tastes and the modern or western way of cooking. From a western perspective I always thought Indo/Pak food was "over cooked" leaching out the vitamins and minerals from vegetables and such. (This is the source of some argument between my mother-in-law and myself -- she feels I under cook food).

Shehzad Husain attempts to mix the best of both worlds and I think she does this very well. She gives a good idea of what a typical Indo/Pak meal consists of... but generally I just make one or two dishes and serve with saffron rice (mix) to bend to our busy schedules.

Two of my favorite recipes are the "Ginger and Lemon Chicken" and the "Hot and Spicy Chicken Stir-Fry with Sesame".

The amount of spices in recipes are also for western taste buds -- There are also more vegetable recipes than I've found in Indo/Paki non-vegetarian cookbooks. There aren't any pork recipes in this book, which suits us well.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shehzad Husain elevates Indian cuisine to a new level., May 24, 2001

By 

Terry Bradley (Hopkinton, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Healthy Indian Cooking (Hardcover)

Healthy Indian Cooking is a truly excellent book. A fresh approach to Indian cuisine, by using traditional ingredients in a modern, sophisticated way. The "Healthy" part is achieved by substituting clarified butter (Ghee) with vegetable oils, replacing heavy cheeses with Fromage Blanc (a sort of ricotta and cottage cheese combo), and specifying low fat choices wherever commercially available.

A particular favorite recipe is Shrimp Dopiazza. Shehzad Husain takes an interesting approach to the idea of using "two onions" (as in dopiazza). Rather than Caramelize one batch of onions and cooking the second batch until opaque, she adds onion seed to golden fried onions. Other clever twists abound in the book.

The Baked Stuffed Tomatoes is another interesting dish. Again using traditional ingredients such as peas, cauliflower and panir (a light, firm Indian cheese), along with cumin, coriander, turmeric and chili powder to create an interesting and not-too-spicy mingle of flavours.

Almost all of the dishes are pictured with beautiful photographs by James Murphy. It's really useful to see how you can present these meals, raising the humble ingredients to a new level.

This book is a must have.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Its okay., January 3, 2002

By 

Rabia (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Healthy Indian Cooking (Hardcover)

If you're into non-traditional Indian cooking, as in you like trying new and creative things that are Indian-style but are not the typical Indian dishes, you will like this. There are more non-traditional recipies than traditional ones. So probably not the best book for someone who just wants to know how to cook the main Indian dishes. The healthy part is great. Every recipie has a nutrition guide with how many calories, fat grams etc. there are per serving. There are not pictures to accompany every dish, just a few of them. The reason for 3 stars is I wish they indicated somewhere that the dishes are not the typical Indian ones...