Indian\Curry Cookbooks

[JimM169]

OK guys, I fancy having a go at knocking up my own curries. Can I have your suggestions of what cookbooks I should be checking out? Looking to start with the restaurant staples, kormas, jalfreizi, madras etc and then moving on to something a bit more adventurous

Cheers

[shirt]

Google for the basic ones, then buy this, it's all you'll ever need:


http://www.amazon.co.uk/India-Cookbook-Pushpesh-Pa...

At 14quid it's a bargain. As with all phaidon cookbooks it's huge, in depth and well presented. Maybe a little too much' for a newbie but at that price it's a steal and will reqard experimentation

[soad]

Google Sainsbury's - Curry Recipe Collection
Only a fiver.

[peter tdci]

This came up a few months ago IIRC.

'Curry Recipe Collection' from Sainsburys got some good recommendations.

[rsbmw]

Depends whether you want authentic or Indian restaurant/takeaway style.

If the latter, curry-recipes.co.uk forum is all you ever need. It's the pistonheads of curry recipes.

[6th Gear]

This is the only book you need OP.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Madhur-Jaffreys-Ultimate-C...

Excellent.

[jep]

Yup, I echo the above about Madhur Jaffrey. Excellent cookbook, and the recipes taste wonderful.

[MacW]

I just use youtube, can find pretty much any recipe on there with a visual walkthrough.

[prand]

I find this website extremely helpful and comprehensive, and dare I say it, authentic (as it's a very subjective word when applied to Indian food).

http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/

[toasty]

Maybe a testament to our local restaurants but curries are the one thing that are better got from takeaways.

Cooking them from scratch yourself takes ages, requires many ingredients that will probably never get used again, stinks the house out and gives you loads of washing up. Or just pick up the phone.

[prand]

toasty said:

Maybe a testament to our local restaurants but curries are the one thing that are better got from takeaways.

Cooking them from scratch yourself takes ages, requires many ingredients that will probably never get used again, stinks the house out and gives you loads of washing up. Or just pick up the phone.

...which is your opinion of course. Once you understand how it is made, there's no great mystery to Indian food. I've found that once I mastered some basic techniques and have some core ingredients (onions, garlic, ginger, a few key spices) in the house, even restaurant grade curries are as easy as making spaghetti bolognese.

[MacW]

prand said:

...which is your opinion of course. Once you understand how it is made, there's no great mystery to Indian food. I've found that once I mastered some basic techniques and have some core ingredients (onions, garlic, ginger, a few key spices) in the house, even restaurant grade curries are as easy as making spaghetti bolognese.

+1

[Fas1975]

Rick Stein's India, a complement to the TV series of the same name, is really good

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rick-Steins-India-Stein/dp...

[prand]

MacW said:

+1

To be fair to Toasty's comment, it's not unusual for our takeaway order to be the equivalent of a four or five course meal, fried starters, selection of curries, grilled meats, some vegetable side dishes, breads, rice, pickles, salad, popadams, yoghurt dressing etc

It would certainly take a big chunk of a day to produce from scratch, yet it can be pretty much ready in 20 minutes at our local restaurant.

I guess it's rare I would make all of that for an evening meal. But beyond a Sunday roast I don't usually create huge range of dishes routinely.

[geeks]

I can recomend this one highly: http://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Indian-Restaurant-...
Friend of mine has part 2 and rates it just as highly!

Edit to add part 2: http://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Indian-Restaurant-...

[Craikeybaby]

6th Gear said:

This is the only book you need OP.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Madhur-Jaffreys-Ultimate-C...

Excellent.

Another vote for this.

[HotJambalaya]

Fas1975 said:

Rick Stein's India, a complement to the TV series of the same name, is really good

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rick-Steins-India-Stein/dp...

Agree with this, absolutely excellent book.


Have had a couple of good recipes from

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/024114633X?psc=...

including the 100 garlic clove curry....


Just ordered Madhur's book based on comments here, so looking forward to it.


My top tip though OP is to make sure you get yourself a spice grinder, will make life easier, at some point...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005FFT9B6?keyw...

[craig1912]

If it's restaurant style curry you can't go wrong with this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Curry-Secret-Indian-Re...

Invest a little time preparing the base etc and freeze it for future use. You can then knock up a curry in 20 mins. Depending on where you live just nip done to your local Asian store to buy starters - also use them for the spices.

This site is good

http://www.greatcurryrecipes.net/2011/09/27/restau...

and he also has an ebook which is good value

Or if you want to buy a kit for each curry this place is pretty good

http://www.curryfrenzy.com/

[1878]

Vegetarian Indian by Shehzad Husain. One of my most-used cookbooks.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shehzad-Husain-Vegetarian-...

[Mobile Chicane]

soad said:

Google Sainsbury's - Curry Recipe Collection
Only a fiver.

This, all day long.

Where it scores above others is the variety of 'curries' included - Thai, Malay, Sri Lankan, Vietnamese, Caribbean etc as well as Indian.

There are instructions given on how to make your own spice pastes, or you can cheat and use Sainsbury's ready made. It's obviously going to be a plug for Sainsbury's but isn't in your face about it.

It's only a fiver.

I have Rick Stein's and Madhur Jaffrey's books as well, but I use the Sainsbury's book most.