Can you recommend a relatively simple Indian Cookbook?

Whew, just finished reading the college student cooking thread, and given all the snark, I'm not posting this there.

But what I am looking for is an Indian cookbook suitable for a fairly new cook, yep, a college junior. With apartment, stove, etc., basic but not extensive cooking utensils. Reasonable cooking skills, but still learning, and needs the recipes not to assume too much knowledge, nor to take all day to cook. Fairly adventurous cook and eater, and Devon is his favorite place to eat. But he lives too far away, so he needs to cook the stuff (and he can't afford to eat out all the time ). We can go to Devon and buy a bunch of spices, etc., to stock him up.

We bought him a few of the Shan spice mixes, which have recipes on back. But I think he really wants to understand how to make some things from scratch.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Try Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking ... good stuff.

Ah -- just checked Barnes and Noble online -- looks like is this Jaffrey's longstanding, well-known cookbook -- which I would have on my shelf except that either I or the aforementioned son have misplaced it. My recollection is that it is a bit complex, I do not recall "quick and easy" being in the title, or being in the recipes, either. But perhaps I am mistaken! Haven't cooked from it in awhile, and when I did, it was samosas, which were a bit of a production.

A quick buzz over to Amazon lets me search inside the cookbook-- I will bet that I have not cooked from this book in forever, except dipping in for samosas -- it looks like the only thing complex is the long list of spices, which is not a problem, and couldn't be omitted in any case.

I think -- this is funny -- I may have had this book on my shelf since before I really started cooking more seriously, and it used to seem complex to me because of the long lists of spices, and because I had not eaten so much Indian food and it seemed more foreign.

Looks like just the thing.

I've been rather happy with Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni.

It's modeled after Marcella Hazan's "Classic Italian Cooking" and the recipes are quite approachable. I prefer her recipes for Rogan Josh and Muttar Paneer to most of the ones I can get in the Chicago area.

Yep - this is not the one I have but is a special "quick and easy" collection ... looks like a good starting point then he can graduate to her others if he likes.

I've given this to non-cooks who were in love with Indian food with good results.

FWIW, I'll second the Jaffrey book. In fact, I've got several of her books and find them all to be pretty straightforward. I don't think I've cooked anything from any of them particularly recently, but my recollection matches your finding: the most complicated aspect of many of her dishes is the list of spices. Some of the recipes are, necessarily, more complex and involve more steps, but my recollection is that while there may be a number of steps (I'm talking largely about her other books here), nothing is particularly hard or complicated. Good luck!

I swear by Indian Home Cooking by Suvir Saran: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/disp ... 11012.html

An incredibly simple set of Indian recipes that makes the most rarefied ingredients optional, or suggests substitutions you can get at your local grocery store (though a trek to Devon St. is always nice for stocking up).

We've given this book as a gift to everyone we know, and they even novice cooks have been won over. It's the most dog-eared, spice-stained, and beloved cookbook on my shelves. We especially love the simple dal (we use yellow lentils, but green or red are both fine) and Bangalore shrimp. Easy enough to whip up even on a weeknight. Good stuff.

It sounds crazy, but I swear by Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking. Actually written by Raghavan Iyer (author of 660 Curries), not by Betty Crocker, I find the recipes to be clear, easy to follow, and without a lot of complex or obscure ingredients. Great samosas, channa masala, and a lima bean dal that is in heavy rotation at my house.

PS, an electric spice grinder and a selection of whole spices would make a great companion gift.

http://www.amazon.com/Betty-Crockers-Indian-Home-Cooking/dp/0764563157/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1292366471&sr=8-1.

Try Anjum Anand's books
Indian Made Easy
Modern Indian

Easy and they offer a more updated version of Indian cooking.

You might recommend the following website: http://www.vahrehvah.com/

I've been trying to understand some of the basics myself and enjoy watching " ...All of this and more bought to by our versatile and ever cheerful Chef Sanjay Thumma ..."

I think he mentioned some connection to Chicago in one of the videos.

Local author and sometimes LTH poster Anupy Singla wrote an Indian cookbook for the Crock-Pot; many of the recipes are on her blog in the link.

JoelF wrote:I've been rather happy with Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni.

It's modeled after Marcella Hazan's "Classic Italian Cooking" and the recipes are quite approachable. I prefer her recipes for Rogan Josh and Muttar Paneer to most of the ones I can get in the Chicago area.

Seconded. Straightforward, but still relatively comprehensive if you want to read the extra text.

There are many Indian cooking websites and also on You Tube. You can buy a book or you can just go to a website. One is Manjula's Kitchen.

http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/ Two basic vegetarian recipes to make would be Aloo Gobi which is a potato and cauliflower dish, and channa dal.

I'm another fan of the Sahni book, more than the Saran book which I also own.

Madder Jaffrey's Simple Indian Cooking offers Step-by-step pictures for each recipe.

Mhays wrote:Local author and sometimes LTH poster Anupy Singla wrote an The Indian Slow Cooker; many of the recipes are on her blog in the link.

I picked up the book at the Lit Fest (nee "Printer's Row Book Fair") last Saturday (Anupy was signing on Sunday).
Tried the first recipe tonight, and Indian food really can't get any easier:
Nihari is basically sliced onion put in the slow cooker with brisket on top of that, spices sprinkled over that, and a little oil on top.
Go away for 9 hours. Well, 8 and a half, so you can make rice -- or just buy some naan to eat with it.

Outstanding recipe, I look forward to trying some of the various bean recipes (there are several other meat dishes). Some are a bit more complicated (requiring a food processor or blender to prep onions, tomatoes, etc.) but most are dump the stuff in and go away.

I cook from this book with some frequency:

5 Spices, 50 Dishes: Simple Indian Recipes Using Five Common Spices
by Ruta Kahate

the dishes are very simple and flavorful

My nephew is a bright, well-organized, coordinated and careful young person who has the ambition to become a professional chef. His favorite cuisine is Indian, and he has tried most of the typical restaurant dishes. As a holiday gift, I'd like to get him a book which introduces him to some of the history and regional variations as well as ingredients and techniques. (He will be able to obtain any and all ingredients he needs.) I'm not looking for a book directed at kids, as I am sure he would rather have a sophisticated book to challenge himself. Any suggestions?

Josephine wrote:My nephew is a bright, well-organized, coordinated and careful young person who has the ambition to become a professional chef. His favorite cuisine is Indian, and he has tried most of the typical restaurant dishes. As a holiday gift, I'd like to get him a book which introduces him to some of the history and regional variations as well as ingredients and techniques. (He will be able to obtain any and all ingredients he needs.) I'm not looking for a book directed at kids, as I am sure he would rather have a sophisticated book to challenge himself. Any suggestions?

Josephine-

I have the Indian Slow Cooker cookbook by Anupy Singla and think it would be good for this purpose. Other ideas are in this thread as well.

Hi Josephine,

I would also look through this thread, because it covers similar territory: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=16355

Regards,

Josephine wrote:My nephew is a bright, well-organized, coordinated and careful young person who has the ambition to become a professional chef. His favorite cuisine is Indian, and he has tried most of the typical restaurant dishes. As a holiday gift, I'd like to get him a book which introduces him to some of the history and regional variations as well as ingredients and techniques. (He will be able to obtain any and all ingredients he needs.) I'm not looking for a book directed at kids, as I am sure he would rather have a sophisticated book to challenge himself. Any suggestions?

I strongly recommend this book, Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking, by Yamuna Devi

http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Krishnas-Cui ... 0525245642

Its written by an American woman who became a disciple of, & personal chef to, a fairly well known swami. As such she was able to travel India extensively (including visiting a lot of temple kitchens that are usually closed to the public) - its written for the American kitchen, but has a strongly authentic under-pinning about Vedic cuisine & a ton of history about India in it. Its a huge encyclopedic book that will definitely challenge him.

For the non-veg side, I think Madhur Jaffrey's "An Invitation to Indian Cooking" is a classic introduction to Punjabi cooking & is a solid place to start, its very good in its discussion of Punjabi, & in particular Delhi-based Punbjabi food traditions & techniques.

Thanks, the GP, Cathy2, and Athena. I guess I never looked at the other thread because of the title, "Love's labour lost: should I bother learning to cook Indian?" - OF COURSE YOU SHOULD BOTHER! is my emphatic response. However, I appreciate that with a cuisine as varied as this one, it can be difficult to decide where to start. Perhaps, as Athena suggests, Madhur Jaffrey is a good place to start. Also, a slow cooker could make the process easier for his family to manage in their kitchen. Still, I think that my nephew is the sort of kid who has a lot invested in his interests, and he might be just delighted to learn more about the history of India and Vedic cuisine. I am going to give this some further study and report back on the results.

Athena wrote:

Josephine wrote:My nephew is a bright, well-organized, coordinated and careful young person who has the ambition to become a professional chef. His favorite cuisine is Indian, and he has tried most of the typical restaurant dishes. As a holiday gift, I'd like to get him a book which introduces him to some of the history and regional variations as well as ingredients and techniques. (He will be able to obtain any and all ingredients he needs.) I'm not looking for a book directed at kids, as I am sure he would rather have a sophisticated book to challenge himself. Any suggestions?

I strongly recommend this book, Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking, by Yamuna Devi

http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Krishnas-Cui ... 0525245642

Its written by an American woman who became a disciple of, & personal chef to, a fairly well known swami. As such she was able to travel India extensively (including visiting a lot of temple kitchens that are usually closed to the public) - its written for the American kitchen, but has a strongly authentic under-pinning about Vedic cuisine & a ton of history about India in it. Its a huge encyclopedic book that will definitely challenge him.

For the non-veg side, I think Madhur Jaffrey's "An Invitation to Indian Cooking" is a classic introduction to Punjabi cooking & is a solid place to start, its very good in its discussion of Punjabi, & in particular Delhi-based Punbjabi food traditions & techniques.

+1 on the Lord Krishna and on any of Jaffrey's or Julie Sahni's books.-Dick

Everyone on here (as usual) is correct. I've had Madhur Jaffrey's "Invitation to Indian Cooking" for years and it's always provided good, solid results. Additionally, I still find myself referring to "The Best of Lord Krishna's Cuisine."

A more recent book I've found that I'm really enjoying is Anupy Singla's "The Indian Slow Cooker." Perfect for your cold winter days where you'd like a hot meal when you get home.

As you can tell from my username, I was born in India. I never learned to cook while growing up but had to do it to stay vegetarian once I came here. When I came here I could barely boil water, but ever so slowly I have become a decent home cook; good enough that my family actually wants me to cook when we get together or I visit. I learned slowly and these are the books I have that I used/use regularly. Two caveats. I am a vegetarian, so I have no idea of meat cookery (except for that one time I made Lamb Biryani for my ex-Wife for her birthday). These recommendations are from a vegetarian perspective. Secondly, I grew up in Hyderabad, so I am used to really, really hot food. For me, if my bald head is not sweating, the food is not spiced right.

Madhur Jaffrey -Invitation to Indian Cooking: This book is GREAT. Her recipes for Potatoes and Okra in the Delhi style are fantastic. In fact, all her North Indian recipes are great. I have been using this book for 20 years and she has never disappointed me. Especially the Okra recipe. I have made fans of people who say they hate Okra with this.

Chandra Padmanabhan: Dakshin. Hands down the BEST book on TamBram vegetarian cooking. This is the food I grew up with and I am telling you; this book is absolutely authentic. Just a terrific, terrific book. The book title is, of course, a misnomer. It is essentially TamBram (Tamilian Brahmin) cooking. But whenever I crave anything from my childhood, this is the book I cook from. Everything I have made from this, which is pretty much the whole book; has tasted really authentic.

Raghavan Iyer: 660 Curries. This is not a comprehensive book and is only a book of Curries. It does not have any sections on Rice, Breads, Chutneys, Pickles, Sweets etc., but it does have reliably authentic Curry recipes from all over India, even some from outside India (like Sri Lanka and Nepal). But it has become my go to book for making curries. It is really massive. If I am bored with any of my other go to recipes for any reason, this book always gives me a new version to try. Like recently I wanted to make a Potao/Chickpea curry but did not want to make the same old thing again. I tried his version of this curry in the "PINDI" style. I was blown away. Street food from Rawalpindi that was so different from what I usually make. That is why I LOVE this book. Just by using subtly different spices, I end up with something that tastes completely different from whatever I was used to making. This is not a beginners book though. You do have to have some knowledge of Indian cooking to make good use of this book.

I obviously have not tried the meat recipes from Jaffrey or Iyer's books. But the vegetarian recipes I have tried are so good, that I am sure the meat recipes are equally good, if not better. Although I have other books that I am going to list now, I do not use them as often as the three I mentioned so far. But these books are also good. I just do not cook from them often.

Julie Sahni : Classic Indian Grain and Vegetarian Cooking. I just do not cook from this often.

Jigyasa Giri and Pratibha Jain: Cooking with Pedatha: Really good collection of Andhra Recipes. I have cooked about 10 things from here but I like TamBram cooking better. But the recipes are really authentic Andhra food. Reminds me of eating at my friends' house.

Chandra Padmanabhan: Southern Flavors: I have not cooked a lot from this yet. But it has a collection from all over the south. I think this will end up replacing Dakshin soon. I like the idea of using similar spices and ending up with totally different end product by varying the method of cooking. I just have not used it enough to recommend it, but I am sure it will be my go to book for Southie dishes soon.

Vedavalli Venkatachari: LIFCO How to Cook: This little book was what my mom sent me when I called her begging to send me something as I was DYING from my bad cooking at the beginning. Dakshin has replaced it now, but I have fond memories cooking from this little book. Frankly it is falling apart, and it smells BAD. But I cannot get myself to throw it away. Now that my mom has passed away, I do not think I will ever get rid of this book.

I also second the recommendation for Anupy Singla's Indian Slow Cooker book. I gave it away, along with my HUGE crockpot to someone of the Forum recently. The food does not turn out 100% authentic, but for the effort you put in, which is nothing; the results are fantastic. I hope the guy who took the book and the crockpot from me is making better use of it than I. It just makes a LOT of food for one person.

Hope this helps. Oh, btw; for all Indian recipes; check out the http://VahreVah.com website to get an idea of how the dish should turn out. The Chef on that site, Sanjay Thumma, does a FANTASTIC job explaining things on the videos. He used to have the restaurant Sizzle on Devon; oh those many years ago.