Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could reccommend a 'truly authentic' indian cookbook?
My father is from Bangladesh and i have been trying to recreate the flavours of our childhood using various cookbooks but unfortunately without much success.
Any help would be much appreciated.
P.S. the recipe for 'mum's chicken curry' is a definate winner! Mampta you should do a book version of this site!
Thanks in advance, Mark.
I have a book called Bengali Kitchen. It is from Chef's Special series, by Lustre Press, Roli Books. I must admit I have not tried many recipes from it. It is a small pocket book, quite cheap.
http://www.thebookservice.com/ROLI22~1/roli/cuisine8.htm#a2
Thanks for the quick response Mamta, i will give it a try if i can find it.
Can i ask what is your opinion on Madhur Jaffrey's books in terms of authenticity?
Due to Mamta's reluctance to go into print Mark, I've made my own book of her recipes. I've written it here before but everytime I make a recipe from this site I print it off and put in a plastic holder in a file. Great for then taking each individual recipe into the kitchen, stain proof and easy to write your own comments on the recipe. (Mamta - I am now onto Volume II so will need another signing!)
Mark, also try the Bengali Chicken Curry, one of my firm favourites: http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=10136
Another favourite author is Das Sreedharan (books available on Amazon) probably as he writes in the same clear format as Mamta, also with good results.
For Bengali recipes the chapter on Bangladesh in Rick Stein's 'far eastern odyssey' is worth at least getting from the library and makes for good reading.
Hi Winton,
Great idea you've had to make your own book of the recipes from this site (might just copy you lol)
Will definately give the Bengali curry a try this weekend and try to get a book by Das Sreedharan, i have never heard the name before. Whats your opinion on Madhur Jaffrey?
Mamta should 100% write a cookbook with all the recipes from this site - bound to be a No1 bestseller with all the followers here. This site is great but i cant resist adding great cookbooks to my collection so i would definately buy a copy!
Hi Mark
You are very welcome to print the recipes off - on each recipe page is a PRINT FRIENDLY link which opens the page without the background and margins - a print friendly version, basically. I would print that!
I have not owned a Madhur Jaffrey book, but I am sure she is a great cook. Otehrwise, she couldn't have sold so many books. But bear in mind that she was a well known actress, before she got into publishing books.
Thank you for suggesting that I publish a book, but mo one wants books from unknowns like me, LOL! I am sure no publisher will be least bit interested in publishing it. As I have said before, I am not famous, nor young/pretty/sexy and I am not a professional cook. You are most welcome to make your own copy of printouts from here, just like Winton.
Mamta
Thanks for the info on Madhur Jaffrey, has anyone tried any of her recipes?
To Mamta -
After trying only a few of the recipes on this site i know that if there was a link to buy a cookbook version i would not hesitate for a second to purchase it. Add that to the fact that you have had over 5 million visits to date a publisher would have to be mad not to sign you up!
It would need a supplementry CD that gets updated once a month to keep up !
Steve
After coming to Mamta's kitchen I have stopped looking for other sites/ books. This i find is the best. Thanks once again to Mamta and all of you wonderful people who are concerned with this site.
In my opinion Madhur Jaffrey uses far too much oil in her recipes.
Over the years I have had many "favourites" but now my favourite ever is
Healthy South Indian Cooking (expanded edition)by Alamelu Vairanvan and Patricia Marquardt. Only a few meat recipes but that suits me as I am veggie but husband is a meat eater so use this site recipes and others from the very many books I have.
I also collect and print out recipes and keep them in a file and also have a note book which would devastate me if I lost it. One of these days must put all these notes on disc.
Atlaya, when MJ wrote her books, EVERYONE used far more oil in their cooking, so it's simply a sign of the times. Generally, you can reduce the oil content and still achieve the great flavours she introduced to British home cooks who wanted to cook Indian!
There was a forum on this just a few weeks ago! http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/board/showthread.php?thread_id=14735
Will definitely try a Madhur Jaffrey as her name pops up everywhere!
Thanks For the recommendation Atlaya, i will pick it up asap.
Will admit to having every book M.Jaffrey has ever written including - Climbing the Mango Trees - Memoirs of a Childhood in India. It was a wonderful read and I do like her books, just cut down on the oil. The first chicken tikka masala I cooked was from her book and used it in my pub restaurant for many years.
My favourite for many years was - The Encyclopedia of Indian Cooking by Khalid Aziz - first published in 1983 and still love and use it. It has been available on ebay.
The Ultimate Low Fat Indian Cookbook by Shehzad Husain and Manisha Kanani - now comes under a slightly different title (hate it when they do this as I bought it from Amazon recently as it had a different cover and title but was the same as I have had in hard back since 1998 but gave it away as a wedding present - was annoyed about this never the less - luckily our friends love it).
Recently came back from India where I buy Tarla Dalal small books - just over ?1 each and she has one - Popular Restaurant Gravies - which I have not had time to use yet but my Indian/UK friends daughters tell me is very good - sent them a copy each. Will report back when I have tried them. T Dalal has a web site where you can have a look at the book.
I too remember climbing the mango trees, sitting on them, eating mangoes, raw and also ripe! We did the same on guava trees and Jamun(Jambon fruit) trees. My siblings and I were great tree climbers, LOL! They were the fun days. Most children of my generation living in the countryside did this, climb the trees that it!!!
Mark - there is a website for the South Indian cookbook
www.curryonwheel.com
the ladies live in Canada but depending where you live you could google it - I bought my book from Amazon in UK
Mamta - have you read M Jaffreys book or would it be the same as your childhood - I really enjoyed reading it.
Hello Atlaya
No, I have not read Madhur's life story. I have seen some of her earlier Merchant Ivory films. She is a beautiful and a very talented lady. I think she grew up in Delhi, but I don't know any more about her.
I must admit to finding Madhur Jaffrey's recipes too fussy, too much of add an eigth of a teaspoon and cook for five seconds sort of thing. One book I use is the first one I bought many years ago. Called, "Complete Indian Cookbook" by Michael Pandya. I bought it in 1980 and find the recipes very authentic and fun to cook. I do not know if it is still available but well worth looking out for. I too print Mama's recipes off and keep in a folder, Sri Lankan Murga Curry being one of my favourites.
It is good to know that you guys like my recipes. I am also very interested to hear when a recipe doesn't work. It gives me a chance to work on it again.
Those of you who are regular probably have noticed that I change recipes a bit here and there from time to time, trying to improve/tweak them a bit here and there. I occasionally change a recipe completely, when I work out a better way to make it.
Mamta