Indian Food Made Easy [Paperback]

I love curries and have bought 2 or 3 curry recipe books already in my quest to be able to recreate a good take away curry in my own kitchen.

I've bought this book and tried 2 recipes already and have to say they're very close to the real thing. The recipes are simple to follow and use ingredients that you should be able to get in your supermarket. You don't need to be an expert cook to follow the recipes. The main bonus for me is that you know whats going in your meal and the recipes are healthier than what I suspect goes in a takeaway curry.

It isn't all curry though, plenty of starters, side dishes and other dishes. There are chapters on snacks, seafood, poultry, meat, vegetables, lentils and beans, rice and breads, chutney, desserts and drinks. I'd thoroughly recommend this book

I have a very old dog-eared copy of a BBC Madhur Jaffrey cookery book from years ago which I often use, but Anjum Anand's new book is an excellent modern day version, with more attention to eating healthily. There is less oil, for example, in most of her recipes.
The recipes themselves are well laid out, easy to follow and beautifully photographed, so you can appreciate what the end result should look like.
So far I have made the bengal gram curry, the avial, the chicken wraps, naan bread and a lamb curry and everything has been easy and delicious. We also drrank the strawberry lassi in the summer, which I much preferred to a smoothie.
I am lucky to live near Indian grocers, but there is a lot of information about how to buy unusual items over the internet and more details about these ingredients.
If you love Indian food and enjoy cooking I can thoroughly recommend this book!

A beautifully produced, passionate book

From the front cover flap:

'Indian Food Made Easy accompanies the BBC TV series in which Anjum Anand creates delicious Indian food that is light, healthy and bursting with flavour. Anjun is passionate about using fresh, local and seasonal produce, and all the ingredients are readily available in supermarkets. All Anjun's recipes are easy to follow and use simple cooking methods. Her dishes range from quick snacks to slow-cooked curries, and from breakfast dishes to easy midweek suppers.
All the recipes from the TV series and more are included in this book......and throughout there are tips and techniques to make cooking Indian food easy.
The book begins with guidance on using the various spices and advises you on the store-cupboard basics, while a useful glossary demystifies any unfamiliar ingredients.
If you have ever wanted to try cooking Indian food, this is the book for you.'

Personally, I have never been terribly confident in my ability with Indian cooking, but this book did inspire me to branch out in this direction.......and discipline myself into giving plenty of time for the marinade stage! I have to admit to first class success with the 'Succulent Chicken Tikka Wraps', 'Tandoori Lamb Wraps' and the divine and very delicate 'Potato and Pea Samosas', the latter being achieved by taking Anjum's advice to simplify and lighten the recipe by 'using shop-bought filo pastry!

160 high quality pages, spilt into main chapters:

1. Light Meals and Snacks
2. Chicken
3. Meat
4. Fish and Seafood
5. Vegetables
6. Lentils and Beans
7. Bread and Rice
8. Raitas and Chutneys
9. Drinks and Desserts

with an introduction, brief sections entitled:

* The Indian Kitchen Made Easy
* The Recipes Made Easy

a list of suppliers, the glossary and a concise index.

From the introduction:

'.....In the UK, Indian food has been on a journey of evolution. We have moved on from inauthentic creamy, fruity curries and can now easily find tandoori and regional options. But there is still so much to discover.
India is a country that has so much to offer.
It is food that is eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is everyday food; food for children, adults, friends and family.
But every cuisine has all these elements so why has the obvious escaped us for so long?
Why has Indian food been relegated to the upper shelves of book stores - the back bench of the United Nations of Cookery and out of most people's reach for so long?
It has been a long road getting there and a slow but exciting journey, but thankfully we can now experience Indian food the way it was intended, at home.'

Each chapter opens with a 2-page spread of a selection of the recipes contained within, to whet the appetite!
Each recipe is clearly laid out with the number of servings, the list/s of ingredients, the title, the method. and a relevant note, e.g.:

getting back to those aforementioned:

'Succulent Chicken Tikka Wraps

These easy wraps make a perfect light lunch.
Don't let the cheese in the marinade throw you - this is an authentic tandoori recipe. Cheese was first introduced as a way to quieten the flavours of the original Tikka for the tourists, the strong flavours being replaced with more delicate spices.
The result was so delicious that this has now become a standard tandoori recipe and is found across India.
We often make mini versions to serve with pre-dinner drinks, and the chicken is also great served with salad and raita.'

A small taste of the other recipes included:

* Masala Scrambled Eggs
* Savoury Semolina Cake
* Paneer and Vegetable Skewers
* Oven-Fried Chilli Chicken
* My Chicken Korma
* Classic Northern Chicken Curry
* Curried Lamb Meatballs
* Easy All-in-One Lamb Curry
* Tandoori Monkfish
* Green Fish Curry
* Bengali-style Baked Fish
* Mangalorean Prawn Curry with Rice Dumplings
* Mussels with Dry Coconut
* Stir-fried Nigella Cabbage
* Sweetcorn Cob Curry
* Simple Spinach and Lentil Curry
* Basmati Rice
* Wild Mushroom Pilaff
* Simple Layered Flatbreads/Roti/Naan
* Pomegranate Raita
* Green Chutney
* Steamed Yoghurt
* Mango Smoothie
* Kulfi
* Orange Scented Rice Creams
* Coconut Sweets

Colour photography throughout, with the majority of the main dishes featured.