50 Great Curries of India Paperback – 5 Oct. 1995

by Camellia Panjabi (Author)

4.5 566 ratings

Camellia Panjabi has searched all regions of India and all walks of life to find the best traditional curry recipes, and in this book she presents 50 of them, amalgamating culinary tips from various people, both cookery experts and others. The introduction sets out the basics of curry-making, from the main ingredients such as spices, and thickening and souring agents, through to the traditional way of serving curry. The recipes including accompanying dishes such as side-vegetables, dals, raitas, rice dishes and chutneys.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kyle Cathie; New edition (5 Oct. 1995)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1856261867
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1856261869

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4.5 566 ratings

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E. L. Wisty

Undoubtedly the best all round curry book on the market right now

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 June 2009

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I've been taking the art of cooking south Asian food quite seriously for some years now, collecting a considerable number of books on the subject. This book by Camellia Panjabi is undoubtedly the best all round (balancing results with ease of recipes) Indian curry recipe book on the market right now.

The recipes are preceded by 60 pages of information on the history and social aspects of Indian food and the ingredients and techniques used.

Highlights of the recipes for me include:

- 'lamb korma pulao' from Lucknow, a fragrant combination of lamb and rice slow cooked in a casserole
- 'kaalee mirch cha mutton' (lamb with herbs and black pepper) from the Konkan coast, with a sauce containing loads of coriander and mint colouring it green
- 'nalli korma' (lamb shank korma) from Lucknow, fragrant slow cooked lamb shanks falling off the bone
- 'aachar gosht' from Bhopal, lamb cooked in pickling spices
- lamb curry Madras style from Tamil Nadu, hot but a flavoursome combination of spices
- 'safed murgh korma' from Agra, a white chicken korma
- 'chicken rizzala' from Bhopal, a green chicken korma with coriander and mint
- 'pista chicken' from Delhi, a chicken pistachio korma, with a green pistachio sauce which is a bit of an effort to prepare but is worth it
- 'kaju chicken in kaala masala' from Mumbai, chicken and cashew nuts in 'black spices'
- Parsee red chicken curry from Mumbai

The are plenty of other recipes not only with lamb or chicken but also using fish, shellfish, eggs, vegetables and fruit, including some more unusual ones like watermelon curry, mixed dried fruit curry and pineapple curry.

Whilst concentrating mostly on main courses, there are also recipes in the end section for accompaniments - breads, rice dishes, vegetable side dishes and chutneys - and desserts.

One downside is that being a paperback of relatively small dimensions, you can't lay it open flat on the kitchen worktop (there was an earlier edition of this book with some different recipes which I also own, which had larger dimensions and did lie out flat). It needs a decent cookbook stand, or do what I do and photocopy a recipe so it doesn't matter if you manage to dribble spice pastes all over it.

If you get just one curry book, make it this one.

21 people found this helpful

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Mikey

Curry recipe

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 September 2023

Excellent book 😁

Very good dishes.. very clear to follow amd beautifully illustrated.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 June 2020

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I gave 4 stars because using these recipes, i find unless i use a home made base curry, they're not as tasty as we like!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 June 2013

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A long time ago in my youth I was taught how to make curry by the mother of an Indian friend, I still remember how proud I was to recreate the first lesson at home and serve up Mattar paneer (after first making my own paneer) many curry books later and always disappointed by the results I came across this one that said "The 50 best Indian curries" I read the book and decided to make everything from front to back......still not finished after several years because the first one "simple homestyle curry" was so good it is difficult to resist, my next the most complex was the Parsi inspired dhansak, for which you have to make your own spice blends. OMFG was it good! the minced lamb curry the fish curry, all wonderful, I have had the book for years now and I still haven't made more than a dozen meals from it, every one I have tried looks like the photo and tastes like heaven, I have bought several copies now for friends who never fail to thank me, I have read the reviews and am saddened that the people that gave it low scores obviously haven't read the book which describes the ingredients, if it says yoghurt make your own thick indian/greek style yoghurt, if it says kashmiri chillies it means kashmiri chillies, no others will do. This is simply the best curry book I have ever owned and I delight my friends and partner with the meals from it all the time, My wife no longer asks for just curry, she says "can we have a curry from the book tonight?" But a warning....you will never enjoy a take away curry or a ready meal or a cook in sauce again......but it is so worth it.

22 people found this helpful

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Manni K

Great Book, easy to follow

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 April 2021

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I'm a Punjabi, so grew up eating delicious curries made by my mother. Although I learnt from her well, I love to try new different curries from all parts of India. I've made 2 curries from this book, The parsee red chicken, which is divine, although I used dried Mexican guajillo chillies as I didn't have any Kashmiri chillies on hand. It was so delish that my son asked me to make it again! I've also made the malabar prawn curry as we love coconut in Thai curries as well, and this was equally satisfying. Can't wait to try one of the lamb dishes next.

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B. Willcocks

The best ever Indian cookery book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 July 2010

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This book is everything you could wish for to be able to produce consistently excellent curries and other Indian food. Although our 'Indian' takeaways are mainly Bangla Deshi, this is a collection from all over India itself and the regional styles are very distinctive. The recipes are comprehensive and have the authority of highly skilled chefs, but they are neither intimidating nor chancy. This is more than a cookbook - the recipes are all the better for the thoroughly absorbing contextual information early on.
Together with Kris Dhillon's 'The Curry Secret', which does cover (excellently) the takeaway style, you could astound yourself and your friends with reliable, sublime food without the need for any other books.
You may wonder how I am so familiar with this book, having only just bought it. It's because I have found yet another would-be curry cook friend whose culinary life will be transformed by it...I've had my copy for years, and given away many copies to others.
Highly, highly recommended.

2 people found this helpful

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V. Martensson

Lovely book but ..

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 June 2013

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I think the book is beautifully written. I really appreciated the introduction to Indian cuisine, the explanations for usage of spices and the overall philosophy behind the cooking. Also the pictures are stunning.
However, I have tried about 4 recipes so far and neither of them was that great to be honest. I followed them to the dot, yet I can not get anything similar to the food I was used to from the London East End restaurants (I have not been to India so can not compare the food from there). One recipe was supposed to be mild, however it uses 4 chillies and it was definitively not mild!! So I am not throwing the book away just yet, but at the moment I am not that sure about it.

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Amazon Customer

This is a brilliant book!

Reviewed in the United States on 6 December 2022

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Loved the context, history and background. This is a well-researched book. Kudos to the author.

Analee Afaga

Great book!

Reviewed in Canada on 22 January 2019

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It’s the very traditional way of doing recipes. Some are a bit labor intensive. Actually had to look up a speedier way to accumulate the ingredients for the butter chicken but the dish was very tasty. Would recommend

Sixtus García

Todo perfecto

Reviewed in Spain on 19 October 2020

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El artículo llegó a tiempo y en perfecto estado. Es uno de los mejores libros sobre currys que hay en el mercado.

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Md

Amazing book

Reviewed in India on 16 August 2019

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If you love to try different kind of curries it is a must book. I made mutton Rogan Josh from this book trust me it was delicious measurements and all perfect. Author clearly written about basic knowledge of curries cooking timing of each ingredients and most important thing about this book is you have almost all pictures of recipes given in book.I got used book it was in perfect condition thank you Amazon.

One person found this helpful

O. Klepper

all the way from basics to dish

Reviewed in Italy on 25 March 2019

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It's a great book, useful for it's description of ingredients and basic techniques going on to delicious recipes for both the beginning and the more advanced cook.

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50 Great Curries of India Paperback – 5 Oct. 1995

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Camellia Panjabi