Beyond Curry Indian Cookbook: A Culinary Journey Through India Kindle Edition

I have two copies/formats of this book. First, I was offered a free PDF version for evaluation and review. There was initially a problem with the PDF download, but I wanted the book, so being a somewhat impatient person, I paid full price for the Kindle version. I read the Kindle version on my phone, and I now have the PDF version as well, so here is the DISCLOSURE: I received the PDF copy of this book at no cost in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.When I become interested in a particular cuisine I love to learn as much as I can about it. This book is serving me well in that regard. For instance, I knew that the onion used in most Indian dishes is the red onion, but I didn't know why. Now I do; if you want to know why, you will have to read the book - LOL. I also knew that asafoetida is a spice (actually a resin) often used in Indian cooking, and I knew that it smelled sort of garlicy/oniony, but I learned from this book that asafoetida tastes enough like garlic to be used as a substitute for people who want to avoid garlic. Also, the author describes the differences in the cuisine of various regions within India. This sort of thing is very interesting to me.As for the recipes themselves, unfortunately, I had to read a lot of them before I found one that interested me enough to try it out. I do love many Indian dishes, but there are also many that do not appeal to me. Thus far I have only tried one recipe - a Sesame Seed Chutney. The recipe offered some options so I made two versions of the chutney, to serve with naan. I made one with yogurt, and one without. I liked it pretty well (especially the yogurt version), but as per usual, I have already decided upon some modifications I will make next time around. Also, next time I serve the chutney with naan, I plan to make my own naan using a recipe from this book. And, I already have a third recipe that I am planning to try; it is Rich Milk Cake, made with paneer. Paneer is an Indian cheese, for which I already have a few recipes. I had never tried making paneer before as I wasn't really sure what I would do with it. Now I can make it to use in what sounds like a yummy dessert.Why four stars? I use a recipe management app (Paprika) that works great in conjunction with recipe websites, but does not work with a book format, so to put recipes from a cookbook into Paprika, I have to copy/paste them myself. For this reason, I will not rate a cookbook as five stars unless it is totally chock full of recipes that excite me. In this book, probably less than half the recipes interest me. Nonetheless, this book is better than "okay" (i.e. three stars) because it contains information about the cuisine, cooking techniques/methods, and a bit about Indian culture. And, on top of that I am getting at least a few good recipes from it. And, truth be told, I often don't get more than a few good recipes from a cookbook, as I am very picky and opinionated about food.

I was delighted when I discovered Beyond Curry Indian Cookbook : A Culinary Journey Through India. Our family is new to Indian food and we had just been discussing how we wanted to learn more about the cuisine and to try different Indian foods. The book has a beautiful cover featuring an Indian meal. It has a generous size with 262 pages. This is one of the most information-packed cookbooks that I have seen. It discussed regions of India and their cooking styles, popular Indian foods, Indian pantry staples, and essential equipment. There are tips and tricks for cooking and information on serving Indian meals. There are full page color photographs scattered throughout the book that will make you want to eat immediately. The 10 chapters cover every sort of recipe including spice blends, appetizers, rice, salads, vegan foods, poultry and meat, eggs, fish, drinks and desserts - and so much more. Each recipe has labels and icons that show the recipe origin, spice level, and dietary properties (vegetarian, egg-free, gluten-free, etc.) There's also a tiny map with each recipe that shows where the recipe originated in India. There's so much to learn about Indian food and cooking. This book is very informative and reassuring for a novice in Indian cooking. When I flipped through the book, I decided to start with a very simple recipe - Plain Basmati Rice. The directions were clearly written and I liked that there were instructions for modifying the number of servings of rice. I was very pleased with how this basic recipe turned out. When I was browsing through the cookbook, I was looking for fairly simple recipes to introduce Indian food to our family. Next I selected the recipe for Goan Russian Salad. It is a chilled salad including cucumber, potato, tomato, pineapple, green peas, bell pepper, hardboiled egg, diced chicken or ham, mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, and even a few more ingredients. I served this as a light summer lunch and the family really loved it. Then, for supper I prepared Chile Cheese Toast which is served in India as a snack, at breakfast, or teatime. This is my favorite recipe so far: buttered bread toasted in the oven and topped with cooked red onion, Cheddar cheese, green chile, bell pepper, and cilantro. This is also an attractive and colorful dish since it has red onion, orange Cheddar, green chile, cilantro, and - I used orange colored - bell pepper. This recipe reminded me of vegetable style nachos or cheese pizza vegetable toppings served on toasted bread. This cookbook has a wide range of delicious recipes ranging from very simple - like the Basmati Rice - to much more elaborate ones. I think it would be enjoyed by anyone interested in Indian cooking - from the novice to the experienced cook. I'll continue to try more of the recipes and look forward to enhancing my knowledge of Indian cooking. I received this product at a discounted rate in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

We love this book!

Great book. Many thanks

To reach a segment of cookbook buyers, this book is called 'Indian Cookbook', which actually is too broad a category. There is no Indian cooking as such, each area and each community within an area has its own cooking.D'Silva collects food from the Konkan-Malabar coast strip, and has done a good job of covering the use of pressure cooking and slow cooking. I tried a few recipies and was quite happy with the ease of preparation and the tips.

Excellent cookbook covering the whole of India unlike other recipe books on India.. Many unique recipes from all states which have previously not been covered in any cookbook. so not only do you get the usual cuisines like Punjabi, Goan or Bengali. You also get undiscovered gems like Manipuri cuisine, and Odiya cuisine.Very simple, easy to follow recipes and helpful timings and suggestions. and nice anecdotal info.

great Indian recipe book. Wish there were pictures, but the descriptions are very well done.