Where are the best Indian Recipes for a home cook?
Does anyone have a good recommendation for Indian recipes. I'm looking for a website or book that has good recipes for the most common dishes: Tandoori chicken, Tikka Masal, Rogan Josh, Vindaloo, curries, etc. The dishes you would see on almost any Indian restaurant menu.
Not looking to get into a debate over what is an authentic dish or not. I'm just want to buy some of the essential spices at the specialty store that will be versatile enough to have home cooked curries a couple times a month.
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10 Comments:
We were just writing about this in another thread - two of us really liked the recipes and books of Madhur Jaffrey - she has been around a long while - I like the book I have because it gives a synopsis of the various condiments and spices and how to roast and grind them, it also contains vegetarian dishes as well as the ones you mentioned - her Rogan Josh is fabulous, I cook it for all special occasions. I forget the name of the book - it is definitely an older one and there is a picture of her on the front holding a grocery bag - sorry, my stuff is all packed away while we are renovating for a new kitchen. Hope this helps.
bareneed at 7:14PM on 02/04/09
The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking, by Yamuna Devi, is very good, but obviously won't give you recipes for meat dishes. Another that I like is Six Spices: A Simple Concept for Indian Cooking.
lovelybunny at 7:18PM on 02/04/09
India. ; D
carolrsfMISSESTEXAS at 7:52PM on 02/04/09
Also, there's a wee book called Curry In A Hurry that may still be available, which is simple stuff.
lemons at 10:45PM on 02/04/09
Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking, by Raghavan Iyer. Before you scoff at the Betty Crocker label, let me tell you this book is amazing. He makes it easy and sensible, even offering substitutions for ingredients you may not be able to find if you are not near an Indian market (as a result of Iyer going to college on the Minnesota prairie).
If it gives me any more cred, I am Indian and my mother's attempts to teach me to cook did not work, but this book did.
(Iyer also has a few other books I love, including the Turmeric Trail, which has these great stories to go with each recipe, and his latest book 660 Curries, which has 660 curries, including a few cool fusion ideas, but is more than 660 recipes thanks to other accompaniments. It's thick as a phone book but amazing.)
inothernews at 11:24PM on 02/04/09
There are a lot of great Indian cooking blogs that you can check out...I have a few linked to from my cooking blog, Hungry Desi www.hungrydesi.com. I also have a post about essential Indian spices so you know which spices are the most common.
nithya at hungrydesi at 11:27PM on 02/04/09
Madhur Jaffrey's memoir, CLIMBING THE MANGO TREES, has amazing recipes in the back and she walks you through them carefully and reasonably. I feel like I'm always writing about this book, but I love it and my copy is stained with garam masala and ginger juice at this point! If you live in NYC go to Kalyustan's on Lexington Ave and talk to the (admittedly grumpy) owners/shopkeepers -- they have every ingredient and spice that you will need and a good selection of cookbooks behind the counter.
eleeb at 11:51PM on 02/04/09
I love the Chicken Tikka Masala recipe from Cooks Illustrated. Have made it many times. It gets raves on their bulletin board.
Remander at 12:57AM on 02/05/09
Butter chicken or chicken tikka are very good starters. They actually are Brit versions of Indian food. Go to a store that has indian foods. Take a look at what they have. Ask questions then go get a book. I got a Mdhur Jaffrey book and a Julie Sahni. Julie's book takes you down to the ingredients and the why and how. Read some then go back to the indian grocery. Enjoy the experience. You are going to love it.
JerzeeTomato at 1:58AM on 02/05/09
The only Indian cookbook I ever owned was Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni. I was actually renting part of a house from an Indian professor at the time, and the smells of fenugreek and chili and coriander were forever wafting through the air... Anyway, Sahni's book taught me all about parathas and chapattis and korma and things. It wasn't a bad start. Disclaimer: I did have gourmet pretensions at that time; now I just want things to be healthy and delicious.
gentlyferal at 12:16PM on 02/05/09