Best Ever Indian Cookbook: 325 Famous Step-by-Step Recipes for the Greatest Spicy and Aromatic Dishes Hardcover – July 7, 2014

I am in the middle of pursuing a small-time dream..... that is to say, I really want to learn more about the culture and how to prepare the food of India and the sub-continent. I have visited restaurants and cafes and food vendors across the United States and have discovered how much I like the food. It is aromatic and spicy, delightfully different and just plain delicious. So, how do you go about preparing this sumptuous repast in the home kitchen..?? Ahh, that is indeed the question.I purchased five different books as I prepared to start on this journey. I have reviewed four of them so far and none of them have disappointed me. Truthfully, they all vary in quality somewhat but I have gained knowledge from all of them and so I believe that they were all worth the effort. This is the last of the group of five. Just based on the outward appearance, I thought I was leaving the best for last. That may or may not be true, but I will say that this book is certainly one of the best, if not the best.First, let me get one thing out of the way. This book does not follow generally accepted protocol for publishing in that there is no "masthead" bound into the front of the book. The book has a title page, followed by a page for author attributes and then it goes straight into the "contents" page. I looked and looked trying to determine the publisher and the date and the copyright notice, ISBN, Library info, etc., etc. ....... NO LUCK..!!! I finally located the information. There is a single page in VERY small print added as the very last page in the book.... Almost as an afterthought. !! (???) I found most of the information there, although I cannot understand the "why" of it all. ¿Quien Sabe? (Who knows..??)Anyway, forgetting all of that, the book really is quite nicely done. If you want a book to peruse at leisure, this is it. If you like photographs, this is it. If you like a bound, hard-back book, this is it. If you like "slick" high quality paper with pages easy to turn, this is it..... As of this minute, the jury is still out on the actual binding of the book. I think the binding was somewhat short of my expectation because the rest of the printing and layout was SO high. But, thankfully, the binding does not detract from the quality of the information or the images or my overall perspective. This is because I value the content more than the cover.There is a section of about 25 pages at the beginning dedicated to introductory information. This includes spices, ingredients, utensils, and preparation basics. It is well thought out and comes complete with the necessary photos to make it all easier to understand. The sections that follow are the "meat" of the book with the recipes and photos that make your mouth water and your soul happy. There are almost sixty (60) pages dedicated to vegetarian dishes, so if that is your thing, you should be able to find plenty here to make you happy. If your tastes tend toward heartier fare, you will find plenty of meat dishes as well. Separate chapters on poultry, seafood, soups, meat, side dishes, relishes and chutneys, desserts and drinks, as well as a chapter on "Balti" dishes make up the rest of the book. With all told, there are over 500 pages of information and photos.Other than the anomalies I mentioned previously, I found this book to be an encyclopedia of information and beautiful pictures. I have started through the recipes and have numerous ones that are truly inspiring. I LOVE lamb and various curries. These recipes alone make this book valuable to me. The ingredients are easily located (generally speaking..) and the instruction is well done (for the most part..!!). You should note that the measurements in the book are NOT all American standard. If you can conform to them as listed, that would be perfect. If this concerns you, you should definitely read the small paragraph entitled "NOTES" that is included on the back page. (Remember the comment above about publishing information..?? Well, as part of that page (remember SMALL print..) there are several bits of information worth noting... One is the "NOTES" section which details information about measurements and quantities and other things that differ from country to country... Take note..!!!) This is important because this book was obviously intended for use around the world where measurements are not necessarily the same as ours. This is a British publication.So, four (4) stars for a high quality book that may have one or two issues. The binding is one of them. But if not for that it would definitely be at the very top of my list of Indian cuisine books. It is that good..... Enjoy!!

Written clearly and extremely well illustrated. If you can't follow these instructions, you probably shouldn't be allowed to play with knives in the kitchen. Most of recipes read as though the dishes would be delicious, although I have yet to acquire the herbs and spices necessary to actually make one. I have, however, read the book from cover to cover in myarmchair. My only criticism is that there seems to be some confusion regarding volumetric measures, for example with respect to the number of ounces in a cup. This is a minor point, however, since cooking is an inexact art and small deviations in measurement are unlikely to make any noticeable difference. That said, the novitiate will definitely want to have the book open on the kitchen work surface, as timing of additions seems to be important for a number of the recipes. The authors also thoughtfully provide various kitchen tips and cautionary notes; for example, regarding handling and use of Capsicum peppers. For those of us who don't have an Indian mother to teach us, the authors make an heroic effort to fill that role. I think that they succeed rather handily, and can't wait until I collect the spices, roll up my sleeves, and let the authors guide me in my first steps into a new (to me) form of cooking.

We bought an earlier edition of this cookbook ("Best Ever Indian Cooking", same publisher), and have been waiting forever for a re-print, so I could buy a gift copy.Pros:- extremely easy to follow - the recipe steps are logically and (mostly) sequentially laid out... many cookbooks' recipe steps seem to jump around a bit, so if you're not a big "mis-en-place" cook, you'll suddenly find that you need an extra cup of "X", or to have already minced "Y".- a very good early section on prepping the pastes & other mixtures you'll be drawing on frequently- very useful pictures to help keep you on-track- a TON of different recipes - and many are "everyday" style- and the recipes, for the most part, seem to be pretty forgiving of substitutions or measurement alterationsCons:- none really, but a small quirk (might not be relevant)... many Indian restaurants divide up their menus regionally, so if you're used to that, using this cookbook might re-orient you a bit, since it's more traditionally laid out (by meat/fish/veg/etc).

I always thought that Indian cooking meant "add 2 Tbsp curry powder". Was I ever wrong! Best Ever Indian Cookbook teaches you everything you need to know to produce authentic Indian food in your own kitchen. The recipes are surprisingly easy to make and the ingredients are not difficult to find. The act of combining simple, natural ingredients to make not only healthy, but spectacular meals has been a wonderful experience. My family, who all thought they hated Indian food, line up with plates in hand as the aroma of exotic spices fills my neighborhood. By selecting rice, rather than bread, as an accompaniment, most meals are gluten-free - an important consideration for me. I've never had so much fun cooking. I can't wait to choose the recipe I will try tonight!

Most cookbooks are either full of pretty pictures with so-so recipes or full of strong recipes but no pictures. This book makes a new niche for itself on the rather crowded indian cuisine shelf by being worthy on both accounts: fantastic quality pictures and a comprehensive cookbook with delightful recipes. It even has calorie and nutrition information for the recipes. The only drawback is that some of the pictures are just there to fatten the book, just ingredients being mixed in a pan which don't add any real value but there is always a picture of the final meal. If you wanted to buy a single book on indian cooking and care about pictures, this would have to be the one.

I lived for many years in South Africa which has a large Indian community and many excellent Indian restaurants, having visited my favorite ones many times over the years you realize what a huge variety of authentic dishes there are. This book opens up a whole world to anyone who is not familiar with Indian cuisine. If you can read, this book enables you to produce fantastic meals at very reasonable cost and will certainly impress your dinner guests.Happy cooking

I thought I would be ok with recipe names being in English but I am not. I’m not able to know if the recipe is a variation on one I know by an Indian name.Recipes use curry paste and there are recipes for pastes at the front of the book, however, the recipes are for vast quantities of paste and having made up several jam jars you would then have to read loads of recipes to find where you can use it and it may be you wouldn’t like the ones which use the paste

With a title like "Best Ever Indian Cookbook" this book sets the bar pretty high, but I can honestly say that this book more than lives up to its name. It is BY FAR the best Indian cookbook I have owned - indeed I don't really see any need for another. So tasty are some of the recipes in the book that I have become somewhat addicted (try the Traditional Aromatic Chicken Curry, it really is something special!) and I struggle to decide to make anything else.Having said this I have tried a number of curries from the book, as well as dhal and some other side dishes, and found the recipes to be interesting, easy to follow, and often using techniques that I have not seen elsewhere.Long story short I recommend you buy this book and cook as many dishes as you can from it, you won't be disappointed!

Love this bookMany recipes tried and now our favourites

I've given two as gifts and this replaces my old copy - says it all really, it's the best Indian cookbook I've come across. All the recipes work perfectly for me (but not for my son, strangely, perhaps he doesn't stick as rigidly to the recipes as I do).