Review: Excellent Unique Mixture of South, North and Modern Indian Recipes.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 1, 2013
When looking for a cookbook that I want to keep, I look for several things. Does the book describe the types of ingredients that are being used? Are the amounts and directions specific? Are there any personal anecdotes about the recipes being shown? Are there pictures to show me how it should look? Does the recipe give a preparation time? Is the layout of the recipe easy to follow and preferably on one page. For the kindle there is an additional thing I look for. Is there a clickable table of contents? None of these are deal breakers. However, the more of the above questions that are answered in yes , the better chance of me purchasing it.I have lived in the US and in India, for extended times.  I am always on the look out for new Indian recipes.  I have been very disappointed in most of the Indian Cookbooks that have been offered.  I was actually surprised at how good this cookbook is.  More importantly I was impressed with the style of Indian food being offered.Included in this are North Indian, South Indian, and Anglo Indian.  Looking at the various recipes I would recommend this book for experienced cooks, not professional level, but someone who is comfortable in the kitchen.  The recipes seem to be designed for a western kitchen.Some of the reasons I like this book,1.  Clickable TOC.2.  Number of servings and preparation times given.3.  Photos for all the recipes.4.  Recipe format starts with an ingredient list (one ingredient per line)5.  Followed by bulleted instructions.6.  Followed by tips.At the beginning of each recipe the author discusses the origins and Indian name of the dish. Following the recipe the author offers tips and variations.Some of the recipes are not traditional recipes but are modern Indian.  Many of the meat dishes can be customized by changing beef to mutton, chicken or shrimp.  I was surprised that none of the recipes called for garam masala, which is usually an Indian requirement.  I was also surprised that almost all of the non vegetarian dishes were beef based, which is a very uncommon ingredient in India.Even though a couple of things seemed strange overall the recipes looked authentic, in fact the aloo puri looks like very similar to my families recipe.I recommend this cookbook.