Madhur Jaffrey's Step-by-Step Cooking: Over 150 Dishes from India and the Far East, Including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia [Hardcover]

Madhur Jaffrey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 6, 2001

You might have sampled Thai, Japanese, or Vietnamese dishes in your local restaurants but were reluctant to try cooking them at home. Now Madhur Jaffrey's Step-by-Step Cooking brings the freshness and intensity of Asian cuisine into your own kitchen. With carefully selected recipes from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and India, Madhur Jaffrey, in an easy-to-follow, inviting format, offers a broad range of these distinctive individual cuisines united by many common ingredients and cooking techniques.

One ingredient -- shrimp -- may be stir-fried with asparagus in Hong Kong, dipped in batter and fried in Tokyo, or stirred into a coconut sauce in Malaysia. A combination of cooking techniques (grilling, steaming, stir-frying, and marinating) and seasonings (chilies, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass) will enable you to produce highly nutritious and delicious food with ease and exciting variety. A basic dish of blanched vegetables becomes unforgettable when tossed with a delectable, instant dressing of grated coconut, red chilies, lime juice, sugar, and chili powder. The bursting, contrasting flavors of hot and sweet, sour and salty can be captured in Thailand's popular Tom Yam Kung (Hot and Sour Prawn Soup); herbs verdant as a summer garden combine with extraordinary results in Thit Bo Kho (Aromatic and Spicy Beef Stew) of Vietnam; and the delectable lightness of India's Kulfi (Ice Cream with Cardamom and Pistachios) is the perfect dessert for any meal.

Tantalizing recipes for more than 150 dishes fill these pages -- soups and first courses; fish and seafood; poultry and eggs; meat; vegetables and salads; rice, pancakes, and noodles; dips, sauces, and garnishes; desserts and drinks -- and represent the extensive palate of Asian culinary treasures. Madhur Jaffrey also outlines key ingredients and equipment you'll need and demonstrates essential techniques with easy-to-follow step-by-step photographs. Peppered with invaluable tips, personal anecdotes, and suggestions for complete meals, each page of this cookbook conveys Madhur's lifelong passion for the different regions of Asia and their food.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Madhur Jaffrey's Step-by-Step Cooking fearlessly brings the intense flavors of Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and India to American home kitchens. Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian made Jaffrey a household name, and her Indian cookbooks have garnered her wide recognition as a doyenne of Indian cooking. Here she extends that authority to take readers on a culinary tour of the Far East, and offers more than 150 easy-to-follow recipes that bring the extensive palate of Asian culinary treasures home.

The tantalizing recipes represent the broad spectrum of flavors and cooking techniques found throughout Asia. Hot, sweet, salty, and sour burst in popular dishes like Thai Hot and Sour Prawn Soup, and the intense flavors of fresh herbs shine in dishes like Vietnamese Aromatic and Spicy Beef Stew. Chicken may be poached, shredded, and tossed with a spicy sesame sauce for Bon Bon Chicken in Hong Kong; sautéed with bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and black beans in Malaysia; or smothered with a heady spice paste of chilies, shallots, and turmeric, and roasted whole wrapped in banana leaves in Indonesia.

An informative introduction includes helpful guidance on equipment and the various cooking techniques used. Invaluable tips, charming personal anecdotes, helpful menu suggestions, and gorgeous color photographs sprinkled throughout convey Jaffrey's deep passion for the foods and traditions of this stunning and vibrant corner of the world. --Robin Donovan

From Library Journal

Originally published in French in 1993, this attractive volume is a celebration of the seasons by one of France's top chefs. Robuchon provides thoughtful mini-essays one for each week of the year on ingredients from spring's asparagus to winter's chestnuts, along with 52 recipes that show them at their best. The essays are illustrated with botanic and other antique prints and engravings, and there are color photographs, many of them full page, of all the recipes. Robuchon's prose, like his food, is elegant and refined, and his thoughtful tributes to the seasons' bounty are informative and thoroughly readable. For most collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Ecco (November 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0066214025
• ISBN-13: 978-0066214023
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,290,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Beware: This is a Hoax for Madhur Jaffrey fans, December 20, 2001

By 

Glenn Kessler (McLean, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Madhur Jaffrey's Step-by-Step Cooking: Over 150 Dishes from India and the Far East, Including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia (Hardcover)

We were so excited when we saw there was a new Madhur Jaffrey book on Asian cooking that we ordered it immediately. What a hoax--this is nothing more than a reprint of one of her earlier books, Far Eastern Cookery. That book is out of print, and so if you don't have it you might enjoy this book. But everything is virtually the same--the text and the recipes! The only difference is that there are a few Indian recipes tossed in, and there is less interesting information on the countries. The format is also less convenient. The publisher should be ashamed, since they also published Far Eastern Cookery, but there is no mention of the earlier book anywhere in this one--not even in the list of her previous books. Buyer Beware!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars madhur jaffrey's step-by-step cooking: over 150 dishes from, April 25, 2002

By 

duncan liston (Chico, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Madhur Jaffrey's Step-by-Step Cooking: Over 150 Dishes from India and the Far East, Including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia (Hardcover)

Glenn Kessler is exactly right. the book is almost identical to madhur jaffrey's far eastern cookery which i purchased in 1990. changes are a joke. e.g. one quarter pound in 1990 --four ounces in 2001. .... fortunately i have a cooking friend who does not have this one and has a birthday coming up so my [money] is not wasted. thanks for giving your clients this opportunity for expression, good or bad.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Food from the East, January 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Madhur Jaffrey's Step-by-Step Cooking: Over 150 Dishes from India and the Far East, Including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia (Hardcover)

I recently received this book from Santa for Christmas and have already made three dishes. The Red Chicken Curry was the best version I've ever tasted (I've been enjoying Thai food for 15 years). I love the format of this book as the recipes are well layed out and there are lots of beautiful photographs. Madhur has provided a great selection of dishes from this region. Perhaps if you have other cookbooks from the author this might replicate the recipes, but for someone looking for a consolidation of the best dishes of the East, I would highly recommend this book.