From: nrlfs1.nrl.navy.mil (Judy Karpen)
Newsgroups: rec.food.veg
Subject: Re: Indian cookbooks
Date: 21 Aug 92 20:13:10 GMT
Organization: NRL

In article <1992Aug20.203855.7001@mcshub.dcss.mcmaster.ca>, masonp@physun.physics.mcmaster.ca (Peter Mason) writes:
> 
> Since becoming vegetarian, my cooking skills have certainly grown.  My
> favourite type of food, without a doubt, is Indian.  ... 

ME TOO !!!!!!!!

> ... recommend a really good Indian cookbook.  (stuff deleted)

I've looked at alot of Indian cookbooks and own a few, but your
tastes might differ from mine so "caveat emptor" (.. lector"? who am I
kidding, I don't know Latin....).  Also, every Indian acquaintance 
of mine has very strong opinions on what constitutes "good" Indian 
food, mostly dictated by where he/she (or parents) grew up. Most
Indian cookbooks (and restaurants) serve Northern cuisines, which differ alot
from Southern cooking, for example (sort of like the US, right?). This is a 
pity, because the tradition of vegetarianism is quite strong in South India 
and the food is wonderful (plus HOT, yummm). NOTE: this is NOT an insult to 
the rest of India, so please no flames from irate veggies from other regions;
it's just what I've been told and saw/tasted for myself.

My favorite author is Julie Sahni, partly because she uses 
U.S.-type terminology and measurements (no insult intended to the Brits 
among us, but it took me ages to figure out what a "courgette" is, and my
scale is not metric, alas).  Problem is, I'm terrible at remembering book 
titles so I apologize in advance for getting them wrong.  Her first? book on 
"Classic Indian  Cooking" (?) isn't all veg, but has alot of useful recipes 
that are. Even better, her next(?) one is titled something like Indian Grain 
and Vegetable Cooking, and is indeed all vegan and lacto-vegetarian (might 
include some ovo- stuff too, I don't recall).  Also, she includes a number of
recipes for Southern Indian dishes --- like idli sambar, pongal, and various 
dosas --- which (as I said before) are unusual in the Northern-dominated cookbooks. 
Another plus is her recipes for homemade staples such as garam masala, 
ghee (for lacto-veggies), sambar powder, etc.  Big improvement over store-
bought equivalents! My only quibbles with her style are that she spices 
somewhat lightly, IMHO, and uses more oil than I like, but it's easy 
to adjust her recipes to your own taste. Also, I was not impressed by her 
book on microwave Indian cooking; I only tried a few recipes, but one was a 
disaster and the others weren't great. Incidentally, I found it in a local 
library, which is a good way to try out cookbooks before possibly buying
them.

Another good book, although not all Indian, is Madhur Jaffrey's Worlds of the
East (?).  The interesting recipes come from all over Asia, but her heritage 
is Indian and so her most personal recipes come from there. Also, have you 
looked at the large number of Indian recipes at the archives? I think the 
internet address is something like mathvax.cs.umiami.edu (sorry, can't look
for it now). Sorry this is so long (Indian food is one of my favorite topics)
but I hope it's helpful.  Enjoy!                                 Judy
*****************************************************
Judy Karpen
karpen@nrlfs1.nrl.navy.mil
Newsgroups: rec.food.veg