Complete Indian Cooking at Chef2Chef

Bring the best of authentic Indian food to your home! This large-size visual delight, with full-color photos of mouthwatering dishes, includes over 100 recipes that feature a range of flavors-many of which are delectably subtle, rather than searing hot. Feast your eyes on an enticing display of perfectly spiced soups, breads, meats, poultry, fish and shellfish, vegetables, rice, and desserts from throughout India. Try a Fish and Coconut Soup, or a deliciously refreshing chilled Split Pea Soup. Savor an Indian version of a familiar meal: Ekuri reinvents scrambled eggs by combining them with fresh green chilies. Chicken Vindaloo, a fiery curry, is not for the faint-hearted--they might prefer a mild, creamy Korma. Or make Rogan Ghosht, a combination of cubed lamb, yogurt, mint, and almonds; a rich, hearty Calcutta Beef Curry; Aloo Sag, a potato and spinach dish; Vegetable Rolls with Quick Chutney; and many more delectable ideas to tempt your palate. 256 pages, 150 color illus., 9 1/2 x 11 1/4.


Reader Reviews
First off, we bought this book because it was the only Indian book we could find with a recipe for Gulab Jamun. That brings up an issue of mine with the book, however. The author refers to things by their western name, and only occasionally by their proper name. Gulab Jamun, then, is called "deep fried milk pastries" in the book. It sort of loses its authenticity this way. Additionally, I have yet to visit an indian restaurant which has their menu in english. And not for lack of trying, really. We do indian a lot. This means, though, that if you're looking for your favorite indian dish from a restaurant, you may be stuck reading through the book finding a recipe that seems like it's the one you like. The other issue I have with it is it appears that there was very little quality assurance involved with this book. The recipes, it seem, have all the ingredients listed to the left. However, as you begin to go through the recipe, you will find that some of the ingredients listed are simply not used in the recipe. This is not because they aren't used, I think, but because the author simply forgot to include them. I think most cooks however, can overcome that. The pictures, as others have mentioned, are very nice. The paper is also very nice. Perhaps not something you'd really want to have in the kitchen (for fear of damaging it), but nonetheless would make a great addition to a library in general. The quality of the recipes themselves is also up for subjective interpretation. Most indian food (per tihs book) is not particularly complicated. There's a lot of ginger, coriander, cardamom, turmeric, and lemongrass involved. Generally this is pureed, added to an ingredient, and then it is either made into a soup (such as the halibut soup early on in the book), or into a grilled item (such as the tandoori chicken later in the book). The recipes themselves are very short. Often four paragraphs of 2-3 sentences each. "combine these four ingredients, puree, set aside. combine another four ingredients, prepare, then add previous four ingredients and cook on high heat in a wok." It is certainly very possible to cook with such recipes, but not customary by the cookbooks (of many cuisines) we are accustomed to. I think this may also be part of the omissions mentioned above. The food tastes fine. It is definitely indian, but has a very strong thai influence, it seems. With all the ginger and lemongrass, that's not hard to understand. I am generally happy with my purchase, but might go for a more traditional black-ink-on-white-paper book if I were to consider buying another indian cookbook.