Indian Cookery Course

by Monisha Bharadwaj

This comprehensive guide to Indian cooking explores the myriad regional varieties of authentic, healthy and lesser known Indian recipes. With chapters broken down Rice, Breads, Meat, Fish & Seafood, Poultry, Eggs, Dairy, Lentils & Beans, Vegetables, Snack & Sides, Grills, Salads & Raitas, Chutneys & Relishes, Desserts and Drinks, Monisha covers a varied range of dishes as well as providing insights into ingredients, techniques and step-by-step masterclasses to help you recreate classic and popular recipes. Monisha offers a vivid overview of India's colourful traditions and geographical differences, from the earthy lentil dishes of the North to the coconut-based curries which are a staple in the South. Including advice on the building blocks of Indian cuisine, such as how to make a basic curry and how to cook the perfect rice, plus tips on the different varieties of rice and how to shop for the best type for each dish. Monisha teaches you how to make traditional Indian food at home, based on the principles of good health and touching on the values of Ayurveda. The Indian Cookery Course is the ultimate guide to everything you ever wanted to know about Indian food.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, India, Indian Literature, Culinary

997 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 16, 2016

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before 2013 I spent much time in India and gained an appreciation for the cuisine across the country. So on picking up a copy of this book from a discount bookstore in my local shopping centre, I was pleasantly surprised at how comprehensive it was. Having already tried two of the recipes, I have found them very easy to follow. The descriptions and backgrounds of the various foods and how they should be prepared and cooked is also useful.

The book includes dishes from across India, and I'm sure you will find something to your liking within its pages if, like me, you enjoy Indian food.

[Emily Cornell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m terrible about actually reading cookbooks—but this one blew me away. After placing a whole packet of sticky notes in the book (to mark techniques, facts, and recipes), I can’t do anything but sing praises for this book.

All I want is similar books for all kinds of cuisines. (If you know of any..... please...... tell me.)

[Sarah Lumos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an excellent introduction to Indian cooking; especially for those who are just beginning. Bharadwaj does a great job at breaking down the history of Indian food, as well as the variation that exists between the food across different regions in India.

Pros:

I think this book is great at exposing readers to different types of Indian dishes. For example, despite growing up with South Asian food, I mostly only ate North Indian food since that is where my family is from, so it was interesting to learn about foods from other parts of India. Through this book, I was able to learn about and then try lots of South Indian recipes, which tend to use more mustard seeds, curry leaves, and coconut in their cooking.

It also explores all of the basic techniques that you would need in order to cook Indian food. It goes over making rice, roti, tadkas for dhal etc.

Cons:

I wish the recipes had more pictures of the actual dishes! I am a visual learner, and I would have loved to see step by step photos of her cooking the dish, as well as of the finished dishes. Pictures I think are vital parts of a cookbook.

I also felt like the recipes themselves were _okay_. Again, this book exposed me to a lot of different types of Indian dishes. However, I found myself googling the names of the recipes since I felt like based on the ingredients I was reading, the recipe would probably turn out too bland for my palate.

[Somia]

99p on Amazon on 10th August 2019

[Joshua Welbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great cookbook

I actually wish it was even longer. I will be using this for years to come and I am going to be so very fat. Thank you.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this cookbook, but, alas, they did not follow through.

The main problem? No taste. Over and over again, I found the recipes lacking in flavor other than heat from the chili peppers and occasionally cumin. I'm relatively certain it's not solely my cooking skills, because I use numerous sources of information to cook Indian food, and dishes I've consistently reproduced became bland when I followed this book.

This may be due to an effort to Americanize the recipes - I can't say for sure. There are typically FAR fewer spices included in each dish than I've seen used elsewhere. I will say this cookbook would be an OK starting guide for someone just learning to cook Indian food - the techniques are quite different and can take some getting used to at first. And the book shines in other areas: beautiful photography, interesting narration and commentary on food traditions in India*. It's also nice to have something to glance through when I'm not sure what I want to make and need a simple way to browse. However, I now browse through the book, decide what I want to make, and then go to Veg Recipes of India and follow their recipe.

*One bone to pick with this: the author will mention popular dishes, but then fail to include a recipe for them! (Example: "Bhaji," a potato and eggplant dish, is mentioned in the introduction to the vegetable section but no recipe is listed.)

[Eileen Zhou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Cookbook

This is a good cookbook, what makes it even better is that I bought it for a bargain. The recipes are not complicated, but straight forward. It tells the rich history and culture of India what lays behind the food and dishes. It's worth the buy.

[Alex Orr · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've been cooking Indian food for nearly 25 years, have a good dozen Indian cookbooks on my shelf, and have cooked about a dozen recipes from this book, and I can honestly say, this is a VERY bad cookbook. There are so many problems, many of which seem like an editor could have addressed but many of which lie in the fact that these are simply bad recipes.

The most obvious issue is the vague ratios. "2 large onions" is a common way to refer to the amount of onion in a recipe, however, a large yellow onion in the U.S. and a large white onion are vastly different. You're easily talking a difference of more than a cup of onion, which will obviously have a drastic impact on the final dish! This comes up a lot. "Leaves from one bunch of methi" is used in the aloo methi recipe, but there is no standard for the size of a bunch of methi and the amount can easily differ by a whole cup. This comes up over and over and is simple to fix. Just measure the amount you used in the test recipes and print those amounts! I realize a counter-argument would be to just improvise, but if this is actually supposed to be a definitive course, then you need to teach specifics first before your student can successfully improvise. That being said, in every recipe I've tried I've had to adjust things, often things which are just basic cooking fundamentals regardless of whether it's Indian or Italian cooking. This leads me to point number 2...

One can often just read a recipe and see that it is wrong. For example, a veggie recipe calling for sautéing the veggies will have too little to prevent scorching or prevent the meat from adequately searing and not sticking. Cook times are often waaaay off. That aloo methi was supposed to take 25 minutes to cook, but following the recipe exactly it took nearly 90 minutes for the potatoes to become tender. In many cases, it's the opposite. A number of shrimp recipes suggest cooking the shrimp until pink and then simmering for 10-12 minutes. NOOO! That will give you shrimp as tough as rubber. Chicken breast recipes that call for browning cooking bite-size cubes of chicken breast for 4-5 minutes and then simmering for up to 15 minutes? Do you like dry-as-sand chicken breast? The mistakes and poor techniques show up over and over.

Lastly, perhaps the greatest sin is just how bland all the recipes are...the spice amounts are almost always far too low for the amount of meat and veggies called for resulting in some really disappointing dishes that are honestly an insult to Indian cooking. Is it dumbed down for western tastes? I don't know, but even the amounts of salt are always too low. Good Indian food does not need to be hot, but by god it should have a spice profile with decent depth and dynamics of flavor. This is indeed a lovely book. It looks sooo much better than some of my favorite Indian cookbooks, but make no mistake, this is not just a terrible Indian cookbook, it is a terrible cookbook in every way, regardless of style. I just ended up tossing it in the recycling bin. I didn't even bother selling it or donating it - no one should be exposed to such poor recipes from such a glorious cuisine.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love this book! The photos are gorgeous, and so far all of the recipes I’ve tried we have loved. I also really enjoyed all the information on the different regions in India and why they cook the way they do. I definitely never realized how diverse the country was.
There are many ingredients that can be tricky to find. But during my local search for them I did find a lovely Indian market and have taken time to get to know the owner who was also able to share lots of information with me. So I loved that outcome of reading this book!

[CJ Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who did not learn these recipes or techniques from family growing up, I find this author's step by step instructions and tips super easy to follow for great results. Try the poori (puffy fried bread) - delicious!

[Du · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe my stars will change after I make something from this. As it stands its a cookbook. Nothing too exciting.

[Laura del Alisal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not your typical recipe book. It is a compendium of everything related to Indian food: its history, its variations, its ingredients and its science (Ayurveda, for example). I really wish there was a book like this for every cuisine in the world.

[Christi Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book!

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very inspiring. Great photographs and easy to understand recipes.

[Siva Kumar S A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting book with lot of useful information particularly for beginners.

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A large and fairly comprehensive Indian cookbook. I did like the photo inclusion on how to make specialties like dosas and paranthas. A worthy addition to your collection.

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such great information and historical background regarding what's eaten and why, and cooking techniques.

[İdil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t recommend this book enough! It’s the kind of cookbook you’ll want to read from cover to cover.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on Indian food, spices and cooking. Good photography.

[Marc-Antoine Serou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greatest Indian cookbook, came highly recommended by an Indian food scientist randomly met in a plane. First cookbook I read cover-to-cover, and my overall cooking has been so much better ever since.

[Va · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very useful beginners guide


I personally still feel watching YouTube videos and taking down notes works better

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a primer on Indian cookery and found it really interesting for that.

It is a source-book that I'll remember (it's on my Kindle, anyway) and come back to when I'm looking for an interesting recipe, ahead of time... Probably when thinking about what to cook for next week & planning a week's dishes, in advance. It can be done!!! 😋 So, there!!!

[Jaimed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciate this book as a beginners guide to making Indian food. So far I have enjoyed the recipes that I have tried.

[Mik Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monisha has done it again. I have over 50 Indian cookbooks, some even obscure antiques. I am an avid Indian cook. One of my favorite cookbooks is Monisha's The Indian Spice Kitchen. It has the best spice descriptions of any of the Indian cookbooks. The only problem I had with that book is that there weren't that many recipes. There were some excellent ones that I have made many times over but just a couple for each spice described. This book is the opposite. It has 300 recipes but is very short on spice description. Many spices that I use all time are not included, anardana and star anise, just to name a couple. I highly recommend both books however. They should be companions. Another flaw in this book is that the print font is too small, even for reading, let alone trying to cook from it. Additionally, it suffers from overproduction a little by putting the printed word in a color that does not contrast with the background color, again making for difficult reading. In spite of my complaints about readability, I can't give is less than five stars.

[NafizaIsAddictive · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am just stunned by this cookbook!

Plenty of cookbooks just highlight themselves with well done food photography and a catchy cover. Happily, tho there are lots of beautiful pictures, Bharadwaj goes above and beyond to present an inviting and stress free introduction to Indian cooking. Many cookbooks will call themselves a teaching book, bible of.... and lesson of .... But few actually COULD be used in a textbook way of sorts.

Bharadwaj dispels the misconceptions of Indian cooking at the same time explaining regional foods, explanations of terminology then goes on to masterclass explanations and skills right down to traditional and common Indian housewares. And the recipes? Not only were there classics like your favorite kormas and rotis but they're alongside ones I've never heard or tasted in the US. Coconut green beans? YES! You might have to adjust some to taste like the samosas and add a bit extra spice. But other than adding or taking away heat I had no issues.

[Scotslass · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love to cook Indian food, and this book has it all. I’m a longtime fan of Madhur Jaffrey,, and my family love my Indian cooking. Monisha Bharadwaj has put so many different and deliciously simple recipes into this book, with very clear instructions and Masterclasses throughout the book. One of the first recipes we tried, was the Butter Chicken which is always a family favourite. Many other familiar recipes are included in this book. It’s a beautiful encyclopaedia, full of photographs of the finished dishes, ingredients and amazing pictures of the Indian Subcontinent.
I highly recommend this book if you are looking for a complete cookery book, covering the region, with simple doable recipes presented by an expert.

[Karlene Gould · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indian cookery course

This is an awesome guide to cooking and healthy way to eat. From my experience in India , I totally enjoyed so many of these recipes!