Madhur Jaffrey Indian Cooking

`Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking' by the distinguished author of Indian and South Asian cookbooks, Madhur Jaffrey, is an excellent collection of Indian recipes, but it is not quite comparable to the great expositions of national cuisines as we have seen in Julia Child's `Mastering the Art of French Cooking', Marcella Hazan's `Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking', Diane Kochilas' `The Glorious Food of Greece' or Mimi Sheraton's `The German Cookbook'. These titles are all successful surveys of an entire national cuisine, with in depth treatments of equipment, techniques, pastry, and breads. This volume from the famous Ms. Jaffrey is less than half the length of most of these other volumes. This is not to say that this is an unworthy book, but I believe there are other titles by Ms. Jaffrey which cover major aspects of Indian cooking in much greater depth than does this volume.I have been aware of Ms. Jaffrey's reputation as a writer and teacher on Indian cooking for many years. Her reputation in her own field is as great or greater than Diana Kennedy's reputation as an apostle of Mexican cooking or Marcella Hazan's reputation among writers on Italian cuisine. Like Ms. Kennedy, she stands out largely because, in English, she has the field pretty much to herself, unlike the very crowded field of writing on Italian and French cooking.I immediately developed a respect for Ms. Jaffrey before I even read any of her works when I saw her appear on a Food Network episode of the Martha Stewart show, `From Martha's Kitchen' where she pointedly replied to Martha that stockpiling a pantry of staples is simply not a good idea. The proper strategy for filling our pantries is to get only what is called for in recipes we are doing today or this week, and only as much as we need for those recipes. One can begin stocking up on a staple when we are sure that we will make use of the item within the expected shelf life of the staple. I was really pleased to see her repeat that comment in this book, as I have used this observation as a criticism of many books that pad their pages with long lists of pantry items.As this is only the second book I am reviewing on Indian cuisine, I am especially pleased to see that both books agree on what is probably the keystone of all Indian cooking. It is well known that Indian cuisine has a really unique way with spices with their many different spice mixes, generally addressed by the great unwashed as `curry powders'. What is much less well known is the fact that the great genius of Indian cuisine is to treat their spice ingredients in many different ways, in order to bring out subtle differences in flavor from the same ingredients. Thus, crushing together raw spices will give a different flavor than crushing together roasted spices, which will give a different flavor than cooking whole spices in oil with fried foods. Another subtlety of Indian spice mixes is that while it is well known that chili based spice mixes can help cool the body by the capsicum induced perspiration, the spice mixes from northern India are formulated to have the opposite effect of giving a warming sensation to the body.An important aspect of this book is that it is inexpensive, meaning that it is a relatively cheap way to get exposure to Indian recipes to see if they are something you wish to explore in greater depth. Even at this bargain price, you have the assurance that you are getting recipes from a recognized expert in Indian cooking.While the appendix on cooking techniques is much smaller than you may find in one of the major tomes cited above, it is still important to read this before starting the recipes. It is important enough that I would wish the author had placed the section at the beginning of the book. The paragraph on the technique of adding yoghurt (sic) to a braising stew is pretty important, as if you do not follow this technique; there is a high risk that the yoghurt will curdle, spoiling the consistency of the stew.While Ms. Jaffrey has written big, authoritative books on vegetarian cuisines, this is not one of those books. While very little beef or pork is eaten on the Indian subcontinent due to Hindu and Muslim beliefs, lots of lamb and goat is eaten, and Ms. Jaffrey supplies us with many excellent recipes for both, substituting lamb in recipes where Indians would typically use goat meat.For those of you who share my interest in bread, I will say that almost all Indian breads are flatbreads, although there is one recipe for yeast leavened bread, `Naan'. Bread and rice are the two major starches in Indian cuisine. Legumes are represented primarily by lentils and peas, both of which have the great virtue of cooking much more quickly than the beans so popular in the Mediterranean.This book does not deal with spice mixes in depth. For that, you can go to `The Indian Spice Kitchen' by Monisha Bharadwaj which has sections on a half dozen different spice combinations from all over India. This book does have a special chapter on chutneys, which should appeal to anyone who likes the tang of pickles in all its glorious variety.While there are several very unusual ingredients required by some recipes in this book, the author does an excellent job of limiting these ingredients to just a few dishes. The average American megamart will have almost all the semi-unusual ingredients, but they may be short on things such as edible silver leaf, Kalonji (onion seed), and Kewda essence (from the screwpine plant).If you are interested in doing serious South Asian cooking, hook up with a good Indian, Pakistani, or Thai grocery or a good Internet supplier.An excellent `get your feet wet' introduction to Indian cooking.

Wow! Just wow! I have had this book for several years, and I am still amazed at how good it is. I bought this book and one other because I had eaten at an Indian restaurant once and wanted to learn how to cook that way. (At the time, I could do basic cooking, in that I knew how to tell when meat was done and could manage not to set things on fire, usually. I could follow a recipe, though.) Some recipe authors assume you have a basic understanding of Indian food (Neelam Batra) or another tradition (Graham Kerr) and are merely hoping to broaden your horizons. This book assumes you have no familiarity with Indian food and only a passing acquaintance with kitchens. (Appropriate cookware is explained.) That said, the recipes are very involved. The author does not shrink from three-hour cook-times, several separate uses of a food processor, or painstaking reductions. I would not recommend you start with this book if you do not already love cooking.This book gives an extensive explanation of ingredients. The meats and vegetables in the recipes are familiar ones. The spices, following the guidance given in the book, can be obtained at a Penzeys or a Whole Foods. Some of the dals may require a more adventuresome trip to a specialty grocery store, but it is fairly easy to pick a recipe and get started. The recipes themselves are carefully explained and subtlety spiced. I always reach for this book first when selecting recipes.Suggestions: Vindaloo (yum--I make it with baked onions, though), Carrot Halva, the Black-Eyed Pea and Mushroom recipe, the Chicken and Cilantro recipe, the Chicken and Tomatoes recipe, and so many more.A few downsides: this book is focused on main dishes. There is a small selection of breads and desserts (try the carrot one!) as well, but few side dishes. For an extensive selection of pickles, vegetarian recipes, and side dishes, see Neelam Batra's 1000 Indian Recipes. (This is also a good book, but I prefer the Indian Cooking versions of the recipes, when available.) Also, the recipes are not classed by region, although some background is occasionally given in the recipe introduction. There are other books that do this. If you are interested in low-fat cooking, this book will need to be adapted because it uses the traditional amounts of oil and things. New Indian Home Cooking by Madhu Gadia has a bunch of nutritional charts and includes recipes adapted as lower-fat versions. The recipes are not as tasty as Madhur Jaffrey's book, but the lower-fat techniques can be used to adapt Madhur Jaffrey's recipes.

Recently purchased this book on the recommendation of a friend, who said all the recipes work beautifully. Also I have listened to Ms. Jaffrey several times on the Splendid Table radio show as a guest and was impressed by her knowledge of Indian cooking.I haven't yet had a chance to try the recipes, though the instruction and pantry info seems pretty thorough and easy to follow. My only disappointment is that such a large-format hard-cover cookbook should have so few photos. I am visually oriented, and a good photo of a completed dish, or photos of complex cooking steps, are inspiring to me as a cook. There are some, but more photos would make me want to tackle more of the recipes inside.