Indian Cooking Without Fat: The Revolutionary New Way to Enjoy Healthy and Delicious Indian Food [Paperback]

Mridula Baljekar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2001

Mridula Baljekar has discovered a revolutionary method that allows you to enjoy deliciously spiced Indian meals, packed with flavor and nutrition, but without added fat. Drawing upon her unrivaled knowledge of traditional Indian cooking techniques, flavors, and spices, Baljekar has devised no-added-fat cooking methods that dramatically revise how delicious Indian food is prepared--without altering its traditional great taste. Divided into 11 sections, the 150 flavorful and easy-to-prepare recipes cover appetizers, soups, main dishes, vegetarian meals, and much more. Cook's tips are featured throughout the book, along with basic cupboard ingredients. Eight pages of beautiful four-color photographs are included.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Baljekar takes traditional Indian recipes and revises the ingredients and preparation methods to lower the dishes' fat content. By dry roasting spices instead of frying them in ghee (clarified butter); using low or nonfat yogurt, sour cream and coconut milk; and grilling or baking meats instead of deep frying them, Baljekar sidesteps saturated fat pitfalls. The drawback to the techniques is that many of the recipes can be labor intensive. Shopping for a comprehensive spice list and special ingredients, prepping (grinding and roasting spices, pureeing ginger and garlic, making broth) and then making the recipes themselves is a time-consuming process. Preparing some of the ingredients a day or so beforehand helps the purees can be stored for two weeks in the refrigerator and the roasted and ground spices last for 10 to 12 weeks. The rewards are flavorful, low-fat dishes: Chicken Tikka Masala is fresh tasting and creamy, Spiced Mixed Lentils is fragrant with pungent black mustard seeds and Karnataka Potato Curry is bright and savory. They might not be as rich as the high-fat versions served in Indian restaurants, but they're perfect for the calorie-conscious diner; this is an excellent book for intermediate to advanced cooks looking to spice up healthy eating.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Mridula Baljekar is a leading Indian cookbook writer and broadcaster who has written several books, including the best-selling Complete Indian Cookbook, Quick Vegetarian Curries, and Real Fast Indian Food. She has been hailed as “the new Madhur Jaffrey” as a result of her successful UK television series, Mridula’s Indian Kitchen, and is the owner of Spice Route Restaurant in Windsor, England, which has been ranked in the Top 30 restaurants in Britain by BIBA (Best in Britain Awards) since it opened its doors in 2002. She lives in England.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Marlowe & Company (October 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569245452
• ISBN-13: 978-1569245453
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,544,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tasty recipes that work, February 28, 2002

By 

CountryClauds "claudss" (NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indian Cooking Without Fat: The Revolutionary New Way to Enjoy Healthy and Delicious Indian Food (Paperback)

Recipes in this cookbook are straight-forward and produce great results. I particular recommend the fish in coconut and coriander sauce (mashli ghashi) and leaf-wrapped fish (patra-ni-machchi). Chicken in yogurt (dahi murgh) was also a big hit. The author is especially attentive to the use of spices and gives clear instructions to get the most from them. It takes time and attention to produce a main dish and vegetable, but it is worth the effort.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book..., August 13, 2007

By 

M. Elliott "migoto radiation" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Indian Cooking Without Fat: The Revolutionary New Way to Enjoy Healthy and Delicious Indian Food (Paperback)

Two things sold me on this book - a limited number of spices/herbs to work with and the use of as little oil/fat as possible. All the recipes I've tried have been great and easily committed to memory after a few meals. I was able to find every ingredient I needed at Nashville's local Indian grocery. Hint - use fresh curry leaves. I looked at a good number of books before settling on this one and I'm glad I did.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Indian Cookbook, March 27, 2008

By 

DK (Tennessee, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indian Cooking Without Fat: The Revolutionary New Way to Enjoy Healthy and Delicious Indian Food (Paperback)

I have already tried five recipes from this book and they were all amazing. I have quite a few other Indian cookbooks, and this one is by far my favorite. I will be giving this book as a gift to my friends and family.