Customer Reviews

50 Great Curries of India

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I don't understand the reviewer who claimed this is a 'vanity book'. It explains which spices have to be cooked for what time to maximise their efficiency. The recipes work (I have yet to make a duff one) and the food comes out better than I can buy at my local Indian restaurant. This book has rekindled by love of Indian food.

...beautiful photography, wonderful recipes, unique insight on how & why spices and ingredients are used. The first few curries I tried were duff but that's because the recipes are challenging and it takes practice and skill to get the best out of them, which , when done properly are divne...

This book is an absolute must for anyone who likes to put a bit into the kitchen and get a lot out. The food is so much nicer than the usual "stuff" served at Indian restaurants. If you like curries buy the book and educate yourself starting with the absolutely superb "Kebab Curry".

I am an enormous fan of cooking and I am an even greater fan of eastern cuisine. Especially curries. This is unfortunate for me as the majority of curry books that I either have or have seen are pathetic. The recipes often look nice on reading; but on cooking are far from impressive. This book, however, is the exception. I have cooked all but a couple of them and have loved all but a few. And, what's more, the ones I didn't love were loved by others.

In a sense, this should be reason enough to buy this book - there are few others who try out a whole book before recommending it... I'm not basing my opinion on how nice the words look. And neither am I basing my opinion on the beautiful and tempting full-page photographs that accompany every curry; though, having said that, this fact does separate this book from other less or less-well illustrated books that often fail to tempt one to attempt what turns out to be a beautiful dish.

All the dishes are full of flavour. Not like so many others I have tried. How it happens I don't know because Camellia does not use more spice than others. Maybe just more know-how.

And this is a large factor indeed. As anyone who knows anything about curries will know, you cannot just fling the spices in the pan at any old time you fancy (or you can, but not for best results). There is order to it all. Many books have the spices bunged in the pot in a one-er, or, worse, thrown in after the liquid has been added, often leaving the spices tasting raw and like a cheap, cheap can of curry. Camellia does not do this. Her cooking is the art-form that is required to make good curry.

And, in addition to the curries themselves you will find an assortment of other dishes like pickles, chutneys, rices, dals and, for those brave enough to try them, Indian deserts made almost wholly from oil and flour

Excellent food. Excellent book.

Tell me of other genuinely great books if you know of any.

This is more than just a book on how to cook curries. It tells of the history of Indian cuisine and explains some of the regional variations. It is beautifully presented and illustrates spices and herbs with reasons for their individual use. It even tells you what kind of spice combination to consider when attempting a style of dish, and to complete the picture an accompaniment is suggested too.

This is the kind of 'foodie' book that you can simply read and enjoy, but it is at its best when you use it to create a dish. And create you will. More than just a dish, a culinary experience. Of about 30 cookbooks in my possesion it is outstanding and one of, if not, THE best.

I love the book and use it almost exclusively when making indian food. The recipes are easy to follow. Ok, the list of ingrediants can sometimes seem daunting but it is well worth the effort. The '50 curries' title undersells this a bit. A great deal of information is given about the philosphy of indian food, and indian ingrediants. The book provides recipes for breads, rice and side dishes. A book for lovers of indian food.

This book is exactly what the title says: honestly good and authentic home-style curries and side dishes - no page fillers which are great in a restaurant but which one would rarely make at home e.g. samoosas.

My housemate and I have worked our way through about a dozen of the recipes in this book since I brought it home and it's proved itself one of those rare regional cookery books which can be trusted blindly - Richard Olney's 'Simply French Food' and Anna del Conte's 'Classic Food of Northern Italy' falling into this category in my small libary.

The introduction on ingredients is great, the short background on each recie insightful, the instructions clear and the results breathtaking... every time. The side dishes listed are practical and the cauliflour with shredded ginger and the stuffed baby aubergines I've subsequently served with regular 'Western' roasts.

I've bought and recommended this book as gifts many times and will continue to do so.

I would really like to give this book five stars. I have owned it for about a year and cooked a good number of recipes from it, all of which have been wonderful. Why not five stars then?

As some readers have commented, there are some problems with quantities of liquid athough in fairness these are pretty easy to remedy. It is probably best to reduce the liquid initially and then add more as necessary. One other problem I have noticed is that sometimes the method 'loses' some ingredients. Last night I cooked the Parsee red chicken curry and noticed two problems. First, the recipe listed dried kashmiri chillies and the first line of the instructions said that the should be soaked but thereafter the chillies weren't mentioned at all so it was not clear when to add them. After consulting other recipes I figured out the best place to add the chillies in but you really shouldn't have to do this. The other difficulty was a confusion in the amount specified for the quantity of coconut milk (you make this yourself using grated coconut rather than using tinned coconut milk). I went with the first mentioned amount. The recipe turned out fine despite these issues and I have now annotated the recipe for future reference. I remember another recipe I tried which included dried chillies but in that one there was no mention of soaking them first. It was obvious to me that for the recipe soaking was required but this might not have been apparent to all.

If you are looking for a quick and easy Indian cook book then this isn't it - try Anjum Anand or Atul Kochar's "Simple Indian" instead. However, despite the occasional lapses, the recipes do produce great dishes which reward the time required to make them.

this book is simply fantastic for beginers! as an indian girl. im expected to have edge on indian cuisine, but honestly i never had the time to learn living in london, this book is excellent for anyone from any culture, it starts on the very basics, the diffeent types of spices etc, the different recipies for meat, vegetarian, and deserts and finally how to construct your own indian menu! its simply superb for anyone trying for the first time!

This is a nice little book which gets straight to the point.

The first 65 pages describe the ingredients, such as various types of chilli, herbs and spices. There quite a few pages on what ingredients to use for thickening, colouring, souring and to change the aroma.

The actual recipes are fairly simple. The text is generally on the left and a nice picture to the right. The recipes I have cooked so far didn't take too long and were very nice! There's a good balance of meat, fish and vegetables dishes.

The book is quite small, much smaller than A4 paper but bigger than A5. At 224 pages I think it's a little expensive. That's why I have given it 4 stars.