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Six Spices: A Simple Concept of Indian Cooking
Selected for the cookbook section of The New York Times Book Review Summer Reading issue
Featuring authentic recipes and introducing the use of fundamental spices, this recipe collection guides cooks of all levels of expertise in the preparation of healthy, delicious Indian meals. The recipes selected use no more than six spices to create tasty, satisfying, and authentic dishes and introduce a simpler way to prepare Indian food. Each chapter focuses on a different cooking technique, offering insight into foods that at times can seem daunting for the novice cook. This recipe collection has been tasted and tested through more than 20 years of the author's teaching experience and Indian cooking expertise.
Featuring authentic recipes and introducing the use of fundamental spices, this recipe collection guides cooks of all levels of expertise in the preparation of healthy, delicious Indian meals. The recipes selected use no more than six spices to create tasty, satisfying, and authentic dishes and introduce a simpler way to prepare Indian food. Each chapter focuses on a different cooking technique, offering insight into foods that at times can seem daunting for the novice cook. This recipe collection has been tasted and tested through more than 20 years of the author's teaching experience and Indian cooking expertise.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2007
53 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
cooking
April 2, 2012Made my own ghee just for the recipes in this book. I could eat that stuff with a spoon, but I won't.
I liked the Lal Dal, but not sure if I liked it enough to make it again.
The Red Kidney Beans, on the other hand...well, they do not look like the picture. Saluja's kidney beans look distinctly red and soupy, like chili. Mine are sort of a weird pink paste. And I followed that recipe carefully, except for not using the full 4(!) tablespoons of cooking oil. This went into the trash, unfortunately.
I liked the Lal Dal, but not sure if I liked it enough to make it again.
The Red Kidney Beans, on the other hand...well, they do not look like the picture. Saluja's kidney beans look distinctly red and soupy, like chili. Mine are sort of a weird pink paste. And I followed that recipe carefully, except for not using the full 4(!) tablespoons of cooking oil. This went into the trash, unfortunately.
February 22, 2010
I had a chance to attend a free one night cooking class with the author at the University of Wisconsin Madison and had a great time! She's put together a great collection of very simple, extremely tasty Indian dishes that are very practical for every day meals. We've incorporated a lot more vegetarian meals into our diet because of this book!
October 27, 2018
I love to eat Indian cuisine and wanted to learn to produce some of those flavors at home. A few Amazon reviews recommended this book for newbies and it worked really well for me.
To be clear, the book actually uses maybe 8 or 9 different spices (several more if you want to count whole and ground forms separately), but the individual recipes tend keep the number of spices in check. Accordingly, it has recipes for healthy but yummy everyday food. There are just no super-rich, delicately-blast-your-head-off gourmet extravaganzas here.
There are about a half-dozen nonvegetarian recipes. Of the rest, many are vegan, and many that aren’t can be made so by substituting oil for ghee.
Most ingredients could be found at a typical US big-chain grocery with the rest at a typical health-foods store — except, maybe, the asafoetida (aka hing) and optional curry leaves (climate permitting, consider growing one of these cute plants).
Some recipes were way too salty for my tastes, so I now use half the amount called for and adjust as needed. YMMV.
To be clear, the book actually uses maybe 8 or 9 different spices (several more if you want to count whole and ground forms separately), but the individual recipes tend keep the number of spices in check. Accordingly, it has recipes for healthy but yummy everyday food. There are just no super-rich, delicately-blast-your-head-off gourmet extravaganzas here.
There are about a half-dozen nonvegetarian recipes. Of the rest, many are vegan, and many that aren’t can be made so by substituting oil for ghee.
Most ingredients could be found at a typical US big-chain grocery with the rest at a typical health-foods store — except, maybe, the asafoetida (aka hing) and optional curry leaves (climate permitting, consider growing one of these cute plants).
Some recipes were way too salty for my tastes, so I now use half the amount called for and adjust as needed. YMMV.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews