Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking

I love to cook. I am a home-cook who can hold my own in a kitchen and the type of cook who never follows a recipe (unless I'm baking OR completely out of my element). I have always enjoyed Indian cuisine. Lately, though, I have craved it non-stop. But the list of ingredients is very intimidating.This is not the case with Madhur Jaffrey's Quick and EAsy Indian Cooking. I have tried 3 recipes from this book in the 5 days I've had it. None have been a miss and I feel confident that I can cook ALL of the recipes from this book. There are many great main course meals but also a wonderful selection of side dishes. This is not a HUGE cookbook but is most certainly a great place for someone to become acquainted with this style of cooking. It has beautiful photos in it. Most of the recipes boast a photograph of the finished product. THe author has a writing style which is easy to follow and fun to read. Not overly sentimental but with enough personality to make it fun to read beyond just the recipe.What I love about these recipes is that they are a great base for a good tasting Indian meal that won't take alllll day. And you can tweak them to suit your preferences. With the three dishes I made I modified them to suit me. If you are interested, I will include the mini modifications I made at the end of the review. I don't think my changes would offend Jaffrey. I think sometimes people review this (and all cookbooks) harshly because they are not brave and/or creative enough to modify recipes to meet their expectations. My Indian palate, admittedly, is novice. But my tastebuds know when something tastes good. These recipes were tasty as written-- but I used my own taste to change them to be better suited for me and my family.Tonight I made the vindaloo for my kids, husband, and friend. My kids loved it-- but they don't mind a little spice-- and my husband enjoyed it as well. My friend LOVED it. This is her favorite dish and she orders it frequently at her local Indian restaurant. She said it was awesome and just as good as her favorite place.I will absolutely recommend this book to friends wanting to be introduced to Indian cuisine. I cannot wait to try more of these wonderful recipes! This is NOT one of those cookbooks I will leave to gather dust on a shelf.My modifications:Chicken Korma- cut oil in half.... used half n half in place of cream. Extra cayenne pepper.Lamb or Beef Vindaloo- substituted chicken... added 2tsp garam masala...xtra dash red wine vinegarRice w/peas and dill- added approx 1/2 tsp extra garam masala... added raisins (boiled)... used brown jasmine rice in place of basmati.

I got this book for my husband's birthday, and we absolutely love it! We have begun cooking a meal from this book about one night each week, and we just can't get enough of it! Every week I look forward to our Indian food night. We have enjoyed every dish that we have made out of this book thus far.The recipes are all easy to very follow and somewhat quick. The author uses a pressure cooker for some of the recipes to speed up the cooking time, so if you don't have one, you will have to simmer the dishes a little longer (she lets you know how long). Though the cooking times can sometimes be long, the prep time is short and easy. Just plan ahead to make sure you have enough time to let the dishes simmer. I like that I can use the simmering time to clean up my kitchen.You may have to buy some spices that you have not used before, but don't worry, you will definitely get your money's worth. So many spices are found in multiple recipes, so you won't find yourself investing in a spice, only to use it in one dish.This is an excellent book to buy if you are new to cooking Indian food, as we were. The author repeats many of the same techniques in each recipe (such as infusing oil with spices), so these already easy-to-make dishes get even easier as you become used to these techniques.

I am excited about this book. I plan on making the Vindaloo as soon as possible. I also love the spice index where she explains each spice in the book, where to get them and why to use them. I am an advance cook, however this will be my first try at Indian food. The reason for 1 missing star is the font. Its far too small, and there isn't a good reason for it. There was plenty of room on the page. I admittedly wear glasses, but even my fiance, who sees far better than I do, had a hard time with the font. Using it in my kitchen is proving problematic.

I've wanted to try making Indian dishes for awhile now but frankly, I've been a bit intimidated by it. Let's face it, Indians are known for their magical use of spices in cooking and a lot of those spices I've never even heard of. That's why I love this cookbook so much. Madhur Jaffrey keeps the list to a mininum and most of those you can find fairly easy. You may even already have some of them on hand from holiday baking!So far, I've made about six or seven dishes from the book and all of them have been wonderful. Although, I was less impressed with the mushroom curry. However, that might have been user error. All the recipes have been clear and not hard to make at all. I love the way my house smells when I'm cooking them and feel that if I were served them in a restaurant, I'd come back for more! Add to that, the author's intimate way of writing makes it seem as if she wrote these recipes especially for you. It is by far, my favorite cookbook now. If you've ever wanted to try cooking Indian food, I think this is the perfect book for beginners.That being said, if you want to know nutritional information for the recipes, it's not here. Just in case that's a deal-breaker for some of you. For those of you who think ignorance is bliss, dive on in! You won't regret it.