macrakis@harvard.ARPA (Stavros Macrakis) (03/06/85)
Thanks for the recipe: those chickpeas in tamarind sauce are one of my
favorite small dishes in Indian restaurants. By the way, tamarind is
available in a more convenient form, already extracted from the
fibers--brandname Tamcon--which as far as I can tell is just as good and
far easier to work with than tamarind cakes. Available around here at
Indian stores, e.g. India Tea and Spice, Belmont, MA.
You know, it might be more productive to exchange experience with
cookbooks rather than individual recipes. For Indian ones, we can
presumably limit ourselves to those which start with individual spices
rather than curry powder. I'll start things off with three:
Dharamjit Sen, Indian Cookery (Penguin), cheap paperback
Excellent! Emphasizes method--certain tours de main make a tremendous
difference in some dishes. Concise but complete. Many recipes. No
atmospherics (`my grandmother's kitchen', `as the sun sets over the
bay of Bombay'...). Some anglicisms (prawns, aubergines, ...) only a
very few of which are opaque. Assumes more kitchen savvy than others.
Madhur Jaffrey, Indian Cooking (?), `quality' paperback
Good. Recipes are longer (but not more complete) and fewer than Sen.
Emphasizes special dishes that are likely to appeal to American
tastes. Some atmospherics.
Time-Life, Cooking of India, hardcover with spiral-bound recipes
Good. Strongest on atmospherics: good color photos of settings,
dishes, ingredients; text evokes author's childhood in India. Recipes
quite good. Probably a good introduction for someone with no
background in Indian cooking.
-srajeev@sftri.UUCP (S.Rajeev) (03/10/85)
> You know, it might be more productive to exchange experience with > cookbooks rather than individual recipes. For Indian ones, we can > presumably limit ourselves to those which start with individual spices > rather than curry powder. I'll start things off with three: > > Dharamjit Sen, Indian Cookery (Penguin), cheap paperback > Excellent! Emphasizes method--certain tours de main make a tremendous > difference in some dishes. Concise but complete. Many recipes. No > atmospherics (`my grandmother's kitchen', `as the sun sets over the > bay of Bombay'...). Some anglicisms (prawns, aubergines, ...) only a > very few of which are opaque. Assumes more kitchen savvy than others. > "Indian Cookery" by Dharamjit Singh (not Sen) is available in a Penguin edition for $3.95: I bought my copy at the Asian Book Store on Bow/Arrow St (?) in the vicinity of Harvard Square. It has a large number of recipes; however, I find some of them unnecessarily complex and even intimidating. Perhaps the highfalutin'-ness (eg. "despite what ordinary mortals say, one NEVER adds garam masala to a dish except as a garnish", or words to that effect) is meant to let it be known that this is haute cuisine, Indian style; perhaps the author went overboard in his zeal for authenticity. Anyway, it makes good reading, and is free of pretty pictures and other distractions: it's serious and businesslike. I agree that it's meant more for gourmets, rather than for your average person trying to make aloo gobi. "A Taste of India", by Mary Atwood (Houghton Mifflin, Boston) is the most useful Indian cookbook I have found for someone like me who wants to make something moderately edible with a minimum of effort. It has a large number of simple recipes with easy-to-follow directions, and I have, even if I say so myself, dished up some real neat stuff using them. It is written by an American who apparently travelled a lot in India: because of this, the directions are meant for American kitchens. Unfortunately, this book, published in 1969, is out of print. Its original price was $6.95 (hardcover). One of the reasons I like this book a lot is that it has plenty of South Indian, especially Kerala recipes, which, sadly, is not the case with most Indian cookbooks. -- ...ihnp4!btlunix!rajeev -- usenet ihnp4!btlunix!rajeev@BERKELEY -- arpanet Sri Rajeev, SF 1-342, Bell Labs, Summit, NJ 07901. (201)-522-6330.