Indian Vegetarian Cooking from an American Kitchen [Paperback]

Vasantha Prasad (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 1998

Recipes include:
¸  Cucumber Pirogue
¸  Spicy Potato Soup
¸  Fruit Salad with Yogurt Cheese Dressing
¸  Sautéed Eggplant and Bell Pepper Curry
¸  Spinach with Homemade Cheese (Saag Paneer)
¸  Mixed Vegetable Korma (Navarathna Korma)
¸  Rice Pilaf with Cashews, Black Pepper,
   and Coconut
¸  Vegetable Biryani
¸  Basic Toovar Dal
¸  Spicy Black-eyed Pea Curry
¸  Chapatis (Whole Wheat Flat Breads)
¸  Parathas (Whole Wheat Flaky
   Griddle Breads)
¸  Aloo Parathas (Potato-stuffed Breads)
¸  Masala Dosa
¸  Rava Idli
¸  Minty Yogurt Drink
¸  Sweet Vermicelli Pudding
¸  Almond Milk Fudge

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Sahni (Savoring Spices and Herbs, LJ 4/15/96) has already written the introduction to Indian cooking, her authoritative Classic Indian Cooking (1980). In her new book, however, which might be considered the "light" version of the earlier one, she presents simpler, more casual dishes in an effort to make Indian food seem unintimidating even to the novice cook. The recipes are uncomplicated?most have only three steps?and the headnotes are informative but very user-friendly. Recommended for most libraries Prasad's book, on the other hand, written with more or less the same goal in mind?to make Indian vegetarian cooking accessible to busy family cooks?is rather disappointing. Some of the dishes don't seem particularly Indian, while many of the others can be found in any basic Indian cookbook, and the bland, "generic" headnotes don't add much ("Black pepper lends a special flavor to this okra dish"). Neelan Batra's The Indian Vegetarian (LJ 6/15/94) does a far more interesting job of combining Indian and American tastes and flavors.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

For those intimidated by the complexities of Indian cooking, Prasad offers easy-to-prepare vegetarian dishes based on Indian models but with American simplicity and convenience always in mind. Prasad makes a lot of use of corn. Creamy corn on toast accents corn's sweetness with lime juice, and she spices it and adds color with both sweet and hot peppers. Her samosas make a great party appetizer, with traditional potato-and-pea filling perfumed with garam masala, ginger, coriander, and cumin. Prasad's version of nan, Indian flatbread traditionally baked in a clay oven, cooks first in an iron skillet before finishing under the broiler. Although these recipes with their Eastern spices may be unfamiliar, they are much more accessible to American vegetarian kitchens than are most other Indian cookbooks' offerings. Mark Knoblauch

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (May 12, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679764380
• ISBN-13: 978-0679764380
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,040,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars a complete waste of money and time, April 4, 2002

By 

Anu (Huntsville, AL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indian Vegetarian Cooking from an American Kitchen (Paperback)

I chose this book among others simply because It has the nutritional information for every recipe . But again , the chutneys and sauces dont have the calorific breakdown.

Moving on to the recipes , being an Indian myself I know how indian food is supposed to taste .. and this book does not reach anywhere near it. Its been COMPLETELY AMERICANIZED .

Also simply adding a pinch of "garam masala" to american soups and italian pasta dont turn the soups into "authentic Indian cuisine "!!!! thats an insult to the readers intelligence.

when I saw the title , I expected a book which would help me cook indian cuisine with the grains and greens available in the US and offer good subsitutions for many vegetables that are not widely available here. and this book completely failed in that respect. Quite a number of the recipes are hashed up new world recipes with a pinch of curry powder thrown in to make them "indian".

If you are looking for a good indian cookbook with AUTHENTIC Indian recipes , this would be a bad investment. If there was a system of negative rating , I would surely give that to this book.

The only book I have liked so far is Julie Sahni's " Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking " and I am still looking for something better.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good start, but be careful., June 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Indian Vegetarian Cooking from an American Kitchen (Paperback)

As a person who enoys Indian cooking but wanted to learn more about the dishes this has been a terrific book. The problems I've had with the book appear to me to be oversights or perhaps a lock of proper proof reading.

For example in one receipe (sweet pea and potato curry) the potatoes need to be cooked prior to adding to the other ingredients, the author does not mention this. The other thing that bothered me was the use of unit measures, for example "two tomatoes" or "five potatoes". Due to the veriation in sizes of vegatables I'd have preferred "two cups of chopped tomatoes".

I'd like to see a second edition of this book with those small corrections.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book for beginners, January 21, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indian Vegetarian Cooking from an American Kitchen (Paperback)

As someone who is not a good cook even with American food, I found this book very easy to follow with ingredients that were easy to find. All of the ingredients I either found at the local grocery or at the Indian Spice store. I made Spinach Paneer, Fritters, and Cilantro Chutney and even my discriminating Indian husband thought it was very tasty. One thing I would like to see in the next edition is having each recipe on one page, or on facing pages. It was very difficult to cook and flip pages back and forth between ingredients and instructions--especially since I was using a cookbook holder. Good vegetarian books are difficult to find that will appeal to beginning cooks like me. I am thankful to Ms. Prasad for providing a good resource.