La Porte Des Indes Cookbook [Hardcover]

Mehernosh Mody (Author), Sherin Mody (Author), John Hellon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2005

Part of the Blue Elephant Group, the acclaimed La Porte des Indes restaurants in London and Brussels offer a unique style of Indian cookery inspired by the French creole cuisine of Pondichery and other former French trading posts in Southern India. Dishes such as Demoiselles de Pondichery (scallops in a saffron sauce), Magret de Canard Pulivar (roasted duck breasts in a banana leaf parcel) and Riz au Lait de Rose (crushed basmati rice and clotted cream milk pudding) blend French and Indian ingredients and flavours in a delicious way. The historical theme is continued in the design of the restaurants, where elegant palms, moghul waterfalls and antique carvings and paintings evoke the atmosphere of French-colonial India. La Porte des Indes Cookbook presents the very best recipes from the restaurants, including many of these original 'fusion' dishes as well as other regional specialities from across the subcontinent. Introductory chapters cover the ingredients and equipment used in Indian cooking, as well as Indian teas and suitable wines to drink. These are followed by over 80 recipes for hors d'oeuvres, soups, fish and seafood, meat and poultry, seafood, vegetables, rice and bread,

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though the close-up photographs of tandoori grilled prawns and a chef holding a skewer of seven large eggplants are both beautiful and amusing, cooks won't be laughing after they've spent hours making mushy and bland Smoked Aubergine Crush (Rougail D'Aubergine) or incendiary and acidic Bombay Style Potatoes (Bombay Aloo). The premise seems promising: the book is based on the award-winning London restaurant of the same name where the food is inspired by French Creole pockets in India's regional cuisine. Hence, Tandoori Foie Gras. Sounds stimulating, but these recipes are better suited to restaurant than home cooking. The deep fryer dominates the hors d'oeuvres chapter; a live coal is recommended to smoke the foie gras. Many recipes use components that need to be prepared ahead of time (there are no cooking time estimates included with the recipes), like boiled onion sauce in the recipe for the sour cilantro-based Green Fish Curry (Nilgiri Machi)-the recipe is found 60 pages later and produces twice the amount needed. Trying to use up the sauce? The index is worthless. Spotty conversions will frustrate American cooks; the recipe for Kerala Chicken Stew lists "200 g potatoes, peeled and cut into 2.5 cm/1 in cubes." However, the pictures are oddly appealing-an abstract shot of a torn-apart lobster faces the recipe for Char-Grilled Lobster (Lobster Anarkali)-making this a book better suited for the coffee table than the kitchen.
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From the Publisher

The acclaimed La Porte des Indes restaurants in London and Brussels offer a style of cooking inspired by the créole cuisine of French colonial India. Dishes like Scallops in Saffron Sauce, Roasted Duck Breasts in Banana Leaf, and Crushed Basmati Rice and Clotted Cream Pudding blend French and Indian ingredients and flavors to dazzling effect. In La Porte des Indes Cookbook, Executive Chef Mehernosh Mody presents the restaurants’ very best recipes, as well as other regional specialties from across the subcontinent. Introductory chapters cover the ingredients and equipment used in Indian cooking, as well as native teas and compatible wines. These are followed by more than 80 recipes for hors d’oeuvres, soups, fish and seafood, meat and poultry, vegetables, rice and bread, chutneys and sauces, and desserts. Throughout, gorgeous photographs capture the sumptuousness of the finished dishes.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Pavilion Books; Bilingual edition (May 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1862056439
• ISBN-13: 978-1862056435
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 9.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,850,968 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #46 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > Native American

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transform your Indian adventure with this book, January 8, 2006

By 

Stardazer (Greensboro, NC United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: La Porte Des Indes Cookbook (Hardcover)

Imagine a twist on traditional Indian faire, namely one with a resounding French influence. I was so taken by the outstanding cuisine of this London restaurant that describes itself as "Indian Cuisine with a Difference" I pined for their cookbook. My five year wait is over. Is it ever impressive!

I had never dreamed that I could create credible tandoori grilled salmon or prawns on my own outdoor grill at home by following the recipes described in the cookbook. The grilled prawns are such an absolute knock out that unsuspecting dinner guests who instinctively must reach for cocktail sauce find themselves instead reaching for yet another grilled prawn! The green fish curry made with monkfish, with its novel presentation, was another succulent dish expertly nailed.

Tadka Dal (tempered yellow lentils) and Yellow Lentil Soup are other dishes prepared that our guests readily savor. They also made delightful autumn themed additions to our table, what with the blend of yellows, reds and greens.

Mehermosh and Sherin Mody have compiled an exquisite work that is easy to follow and even includes recipes for a number of delectable chutneys and sauces that greatly complement certain foods. Many superb photographs visually accompany dozens of recipes. They sent me scurrying to my local Indian spice shop to round out my spice cabinet. And, I now keep on hand lots of fresh garlic!

Whether one's experience level with Indian cuisine is novice or sophisticated, one will find the cookbook easy to follow and informing. For me, it was well worth the wait. For my friends who cook, well, let's just say they have tasted their way into ordering their own copy of the La Porte des Indes Cookbook!

5.0 out of 5 stars A Little French Influence on Indian Cuisine, Magnifique!, May 28, 2010

By 

Captain Katie (Long Beach, CA and the Sunny Caribbean) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: La Porte Des Indes Cookbook (Hardcover)

La Porte des Indes Cookbook is one of my favorite cookbooks and I have scores of Indian cookbooks, as I'm sort of a gourmet chef. I wrote a cooking column for a sailing magazine for a couple years and one of my favorite articles was my "Two Ways to Tandoori" which you can read in one of my "Amazon So You'd Like to Guides," if you want. Tandoori chicken is just delicious. Anyway, while I was making the guide, I listed fifty cookbooks from my collection. I have more. I know, I know, one would think a couple books would be enough, but it's sort of an obsession with me, making food taste great and I just love to see how others have done it.

While I was doing the guide, I pulled out all my Indian Cookbooks, had them all stacked around me. Then I decided to pull out all the ones I didn't think I could live without. It came to an even dozen and La Porte des Indes Cookbook was one of the books. The recipes are just divine. I've never been to India, been a lot of places, but never there. Delhi, Bombay, Ganges, names that just ring with adventure. I imagine I'm there every time I cook up something Indian. I can feel the smells as they wrap their delicious flavors all around the kitchen, or galley, if I'm cooking on board the sailboat my husband Dub and I live on half the year. You won't go wrong with this book. Check it out. Check out my other eleven too. Cook up something from India tonight, taste the adventure.

5.0 out of 5 stars Bringing the UK restaurant home to the USA, April 14, 2010

By 

D. Courson (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: La Porte Des Indes Cookbook (Hardcover)

I've had this cookbook since visiting the London location back in March of 2006. Recipe's are from the "French" part of Inida if you can believe it. Menu is lighter on the sauces and have some very interesting new takes on generic Indian food. Tandoori salmon, carb malabar, scallops are a few of the mix. I break it out quiet often.