Indian food cookbook for beginners

RWJ · 11-10-2008, 09:06 PM

I'm not sure where this belongs, but I don't think they make cookbooks in eformat, so reading recommendations seems inappropriate.

Anyway, we have discovered we love Indian food, and it's got lots of vegetarian (or easily adaptable vegetarian) recipes, and I want to learn to cook it. I know less than nothing about it, so I need to find a beginners' cookbook that assumes no prior knowledge of techniques, ingredients and so on. I realize there are many different sub-genres of Indian food, and don't really know what specifically I'm looking for, but some of the dishes we most love are navratan, palak paneer, butter chicken, channa masala, biryani, gulab jamun and kulfi.

So, since there is a remarkably broad knowledge base here, I thought it was worth a shot to ask! And if anyone knows of an electronic Indian cookbook, so much the better.

zelda_pinwheel · 11-10-2008, 09:11 PM

i can't help you (sorry) but i'd also love to find an indian cookbook if anyone else knows of one.

i can give you a little tip : if you can find an indian grocery store, you can get indian spices and other ingredients. for instance, dal masala is spices for lentils. then you just make lentils as usual, with carottes and onions and whatever other vegetables, and add the indian spices. very easy, very delicious.

other suggestion, look for recipes online, and make your own ebook of your favorites.

desertgrandma · 11-10-2008, 09:12 PM

apparently Indian food is good for you. I just got a
"how I lost 35 lbs FAST!" ad.......

ShortNCuddlyAm · 11-10-2008, 09:25 PM

Madhur Jaffrey has written a few Indian cookbooks, and I seem to recall they are easy to follow and don't assume you know the techniques. I've also had Cooking Like Mummyji recommended to me - but haven't ever looked at it so can't comment!

It is good fun making your own spice mixes. (The base mix I tend to use is from a Delia Smith recipe, so is almost certainly utterly inauthentic, but it tastes like curry

) You need the whole dried spices for things like coriander seed and cumin seed, a small frying pan you can heat without anything in it (I've got a small blini pan that I use for this), and something to grind the seeds with after - a coffee grinder or a pestle and mortar (tip for choosing a pestle and mortar - the mortar (bowl) should be solid enough not to go shooting across the work surface as you use it, the pestle should have a good weight to it).

Heat the frying pan up til it's very very hot, then put the seeds in and spread them out. WARNING: Unless you really really dislike the other people in your house DO NOT put chilli seeds into the hot pan - the fumes will drive you all out!! Watch the seeds in the pan - after a minute or so they should start to jump. Turn the heat off and tip them into the mortar or grinder, and grind. Then add powdered spices etc as required.

Which is all more than you wanted to know,probably

zelda_pinwheel · 11-10-2008, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

Which is all more than you wanted to know,probably

or, the beginning of our personal indian e-cookbooks.

thanks for the good tips.

montsnmags · 11-10-2008, 09:29 PM

Kurma Dasa is an Australian TV chef, and, being a Hare Krishna (and having learnt his trade in their kitchens), he is quite up to speed on vegetarian and Indian cuisine (he was Head Chef at Melbourne's Gopal's Pure Vegetarian Restaurant).

While not purely Indian cuisine, we have his book Cooking With Kurma and I can recommend it, particularly as a "beginner". You will note the apparent lack of onion and garlic in his recipes, which is related to his beliefs. Although not a direct substitute, you will see mention of asafetida powder instead. In most cases, the use of onion and garlic in place of asafetida works for me, though the yellow asafetida powder he uses is no doubt worth trying it if you can easily get it.

Cheers,
Marc

Elsi · 11-10-2008, 09:36 PM

Not a cookbook -- but I'm very fond of Manjula's recipes at http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/ She's put together several videos available on You-Tube and they really help with understanding how to use spices or seasonings that are not used outside of Indian cookery.

Also Indira's recipes at Mahanandi.

Whenever I'm in the mood to cook one of my favorite Indian dishes, I turn to one of these sites -- and follow links.

zelda_pinwheel · 11-10-2008, 09:37 PM

hare krishnas don't eat onion and garlic ? i didn't know that. what is the reasoning behind that ?

ShortNCuddlyAm · 11-10-2008, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montsnmags

In most cases, the use of onion and garlic in place of asafetida works for me

Urgh. Seconded. That stuff is very well named in my opinion.

zelda_pinwheel · 11-10-2008, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

Urgh. Seconded. That stuff is very well named in my opinion.

heh. it did seem to me that i had read that asafoetida has a foul odour... but then seeing it as a spice in a recipe made me doubt (anyway, i put onion and garlic in everything).

RWJ · 11-10-2008, 09:50 PM

Wow, thanks for all this. I will definitely look up the Jaffrey and Dasa books as well as the websites.

Making my own spice blends seems a bit ambitious right now, but that sounds like a lot of fun once you figure out what flavours you like. And I should definitely locate an Indian grocery store.

ShortNCuddlyAm · 11-10-2008, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

heh. it did seem to me that i had read that asafoetida has a foul odour... but then seeing it as a spice in a recipe made me doubt (anyway, i put onion and garlic in everything).

It does - well, I think it does! I got some ages back to try in an Indian recipe in place of onion and garlic. I can't remember now what it tasted like, but the smell was vile.

I might occasionaly not put onion in something, but I put garlic in everything. Savoury, that is. Although I have seen garlic ice cream on sale (here, in fact, although unsurprisingly they only sell it in their shop, not mail order!)

zelda_pinwheel · 11-10-2008, 09:56 PM

heh. google ad on this page right now :

Indian Food Direct
Indian spices and cooking
ingredients direct to your door
www.spicesofindia.co.uk

that reminds me : RWJ, where are you located ? a lot of big cities have large indian immigrant populations, in which case you can easily find indian products if you find what neighborhood they are concentrated in. i go to the indian neighborhood here when i want to buy dal masala, or ginger tea, or chai, or horlick's...

ShortNCuddlyAm · 11-10-2008, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montsnmags

Kurma Dasa

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elsi

http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/ Mahanandi.

Book marking all of these - there's some lovely sounding recipes.

zelda_pinwheel · 11-10-2008, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

I might occasionaly not put onion in something, but I put garlic in everything. Savoury, that is. Although I have seen garlic ice cream on sale (here, in fact, although unsurprisingly they only sell it in their shop, not mail order!)

i've heard of garlic ice cream but i'm not sure what i think of the idea... i do like to mix sweet and savoury though (like pineapple in stir-fried vegetables, or coconut milk curry with bananas and ground almonds...) so maybe i would like it. on the other hand there are so many flavours of ice cream that i know i love that i might just never get around to tasting garlic, because there's only so much ice cream one can eat in one lifetime.

11-10-2008, 09:06 PM	#1
RWJ Zealot Posts: 120 Karma: 170 Join Date: Jul 2008 Device: PRS-505	Indian food cookbook for beginners I'm not sure where this belongs, but I don't think they make cookbooks in eformat, so reading recommendations seems inappropriate. Anyway, we have discovered we love Indian food, and it's got lots of vegetarian (or easily adaptable vegetarian) recipes, and I want to learn to cook it. I know less than nothing about it, so I need to find a beginners' cookbook that assumes no prior knowledge of techniques, ingredients and so on. I realize there are many different sub-genres of Indian food, and don't really know what specifically I'm looking for, but some of the dishes we most love are navratan, palak paneer, butter chicken, channa masala, biryani, gulab jamun and kulfi. So, since there is a remarkably broad knowledge base here, I thought it was worth a shot to ask! And if anyone knows of an electronic Indian cookbook, so much the better.

11-10-2008, 09:12 PM	#3
desertgrandma Enjoying the show.... Posts: 14,270 Karma: 10462843 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Arizona Device: A K1, Kindle Paperwhite, an Ipod, IPad2, Iphone, an Ipad Mini & macAir	apparently Indian food is good for you. I just got a "how I lost 35 lbs FAST!" ad....... Last edited by desertgrandma; 11-10-2008 at 09:14 PM. Reason: sp.

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11-10-2008, 09:11 PM	#2
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	i can't help you (sorry) but i'd also love to find an indian cookbook if anyone else knows of one. i can give you a little tip : if you can find an indian grocery store, you can get indian spices and other ingredients. for instance, dal masala is spices for lentils. then you just make lentils as usual, with carottes and onions and whatever other vegetables, and add the indian spices. very easy, very delicious. other suggestion, look for recipes online, and make your own ebook of your favorites.

11-10-2008, 09:25 PM	#4
ShortNCuddlyAm WWHALD Posts: 7,879 Karma: 337114 Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Mitcham, Surrey, UK Device: iPad. Selling my silver 505 here	Madhur Jaffrey has written a few Indian cookbooks, and I seem to recall they are easy to follow and don't assume you know the techniques. I've also had Cooking Like Mummyji recommended to me - but haven't ever looked at it so can't comment! It is good fun making your own spice mixes. (The base mix I tend to use is from a Delia Smith recipe, so is almost certainly utterly inauthentic, but it tastes like curry ) You need the whole dried spices for things like coriander seed and cumin seed, a small frying pan you can heat without anything in it (I've got a small blini pan that I use for this), and something to grind the seeds with after - a coffee grinder or a pestle and mortar (tip for choosing a pestle and mortar - the mortar (bowl) should be solid enough not to go shooting across the work surface as you use it, the pestle should have a good weight to it). Heat the frying pan up til it's very very hot, then put the seeds in and spread them out. WARNING: Unless you really really dislike the other people in your house DO NOT put chilli seeds into the hot pan - the fumes will drive you all out!! Watch the seeds in the pan - after a minute or so they should start to jump. Turn the heat off and tip them into the mortar or grinder, and grind. Then add powdered spices etc as required. Which is all more than you wanted to know,probably

11-10-2008, 09:29 PM	#6
montsnmags Grand Sorcerer Posts: 10,155 Karma: 4632658 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: none	Kurma Dasa is an Australian TV chef, and, being a Hare Krishna (and having learnt his trade in their kitchens), he is quite up to speed on vegetarian and Indian cuisine (he was Head Chef at Melbourne's Gopal's Pure Vegetarian Restaurant). While not purely Indian cuisine, we have his book Cooking With Kurma and I can recommend it, particularly as a "beginner". You will note the apparent lack of onion and garlic in his recipes, which is related to his beliefs. Although not a direct substitute, you will see mention of asafetida powder instead. In most cases, the use of onion and garlic in place of asafetida works for me, though the yellow asafetida powder he uses is no doubt worth trying it if you can easily get it. Cheers, Marc

11-10-2008, 09:36 PM	#7
Elsi Wizard Posts: 2,366 Karma: 12000 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Texas, USA Device: Kindle; Sony PRS 505; Blackberry 8700C	Not a cookbook -- but I'm very fond of Manjula's recipes at http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/ She's put together several videos available on You-Tube and they really help with understanding how to use spices or seasonings that are not used outside of Indian cookery. Also Indira's recipes at Mahanandi. Whenever I'm in the mood to cook one of my favorite Indian dishes, I turn to one of these sites -- and follow links.

11-10-2008, 09:37 PM	#8
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	hare krishnas don't eat onion and garlic ? i didn't know that. what is the reasoning behind that ?

11-10-2008, 09:50 PM	#11
RWJ Zealot Posts: 120 Karma: 170 Join Date: Jul 2008 Device: PRS-505	Wow, thanks for all this. I will definitely look up the Jaffrey and Dasa books as well as the websites. Making my own spice blends seems a bit ambitious right now, but that sounds like a lot of fun once you figure out what flavours you like. And I should definitely locate an Indian grocery store.

11-10-2008, 09:56 PM	#13
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	heh. google ad on this page right now : Indian Food Direct Indian spices and cooking ingredients direct to your door www.spicesofindia.co.uk that reminds me : RWJ, where are you located ? a lot of big cities have large indian immigrant populations, in which case you can easily find indian products if you find what neighborhood they are concentrated in. i go to the indian neighborhood here when i want to buy dal masala, or ginger tea, or chai, or horlick's...