India: Cookbook (Hardback) By (author) Pushpesh Pant

I purchased this book a couple years ago, but I haven't cooked from it until now. Over the summer, my sister and I ate an Indian restaurant every other week, but when our schedules diverged, I decided to make a project out of this book by starting to cook from it. This book has so many different dishes to choose from, it may intimidate the beginning cook. Indeed, I don't recommend this for those just learning to cook or those who prefer in-depth recipes. I say this for just about any of the Phaidon cookbook bibles (except maybe the Nordic one, which was well executed): there are hardly contexts, the directions are generally summarized, and Phaidon cookbooks require a little bit of know-how and intuition (the previous editor of the Phaidon cookbooks allowed many measurement errors to slip into these bibles, which you can read about in the other book reviews). Interestingly, this one does not have measurement errors, at least in the recipes I have tried so far, but this could be attributed to the fact that Indian cuisine is not standardized and allows for much leeway and reinterpretation (see Monisha Bharadwaj's The Indian Cooking Course). My recommendation for those learning to cook specifically through the Phaidon cookbooks is to purchase supplementary international cuisine cookbooks that provide context, techniques, pantry building, etc. I personally use the Phaidon books for ideas, and then do research for additional information. Monisha's cookbook is a very good supplement to this one.As such, the recipes in this tome... wow. This is the first Phaidon cookbook I've tried in which I didn't have to alter the recipes; I cook from it as written. The chicken tikka masala, rogan josh, and paneer makhani were excellent, even better than the local restaurant's! And the grilled cauliflower was divine; I want to make the marinade and use it as a vegetable dip. The lamb samosas were delectable, and I used the chole recipe as well as Monisha's recipes for chaat masala and sev to turn them into samosa chaat, which is one of my sister's favorite. The garam masala recipe (I used the second version sans rose petals as I couldn't procure good supply) is very handy as it makes a huge batch, and many recipes call for it.Even as I'm writing this review, I'm browsing through it to prepare the next meal (I'm thinking a sambhar and dosa). I do a bit of research before attempting a new dish, and from what I've gathered a lot of the recipes in this book stay true to how cooking is done in India. For example, many rogan josh recipes online add tomatoes and garlic, but traditionally, no tomatoes are used and the flavor of garlic is added through asafoetida/hing, which is how this book does it.Of course, there are errors (it is a huge book, after all), but none that have deterred me. Honestly, in the way of typos, the serving sizes are the only errors I've seen so far; what it says serves four can usually serve 6-8 people. There are no basics section, but cookbooks of this scope usually don't have them. The index is not the best edited and leads to some reviewers thinking certain recipes are not included but actually are, like pani puri (and the puri itself) and chai (not listed under tea nor chai but is under masala chai), although there are so much variation in the English version of Hindi as well as the names of dishes, there are bound to be some limitations (multiple spelling variations are not a major issue with this book, but paratha elsewhere can also be parantha, parauntha, prontha, paronthe, as well as the Punjabi parontay and Bengali porota; one has to track down specifically how this book spells paratha).Despite the cons (and partly because I'm used to the Phaidon format), I gave this book 5 stars because the recipes are fantastic. This book isn't for the faint-hearted or disorganized, but if you have been cooking for a while and are interested in Indian cuisine, then try this book. The recipes are worth your effort. And it is an excellent way to taste the many different regional cuisines India has to offer.

This book reads as if the author sent a lifetime collection of recipes to the publisher, wrote an introduction and called it a day. The index and translations are professional, but I found a his book disappointing. Some recipes make enough for four, others make enough for 10. Why give a recipe for mint chatni that calls for 5 bunches of mint and tell the reader that “This chutney should be consumed on the day it is made”?! Want to know what a dish goes well with, or what it’s traditional accompaniments are? Too bad, there isn’t a shred of context given with the recipes. Want to know what the food is supposed to look like? Well there are ~170 color photos of cooked dishes and ~30 photos of ingredients and ~ 5 photos of cooking processes. This collection is more inclusive and comprehensive than my other favorites (“660 Curries” and “The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking”), but it’s a hell of a lot less useful. I’m an experienced cook and I’ve spent months in India, but Indian food is vastly variable and often complex. This is only a little better than an overgrown parish cookbook.

I've been cooking from this tome since last December, and I agree with the reviewers who have reservations for beginning cooks: this isn't a good place to start up on Indian food. For that, any of the recommendations in these reviews are better - Camille Punjabi, Julie Sahni, the inimitable Madhur Jaffrey. So cook for a year or two from one of those and then make this your second book (and probably your last). While Mr. Pant may only include one recipe for a dish that other books have half a dozen versions of, you'll get a solid foundation to practice with from that recipe.However...I wish there was a blog I could write to to get clarity on some of the preparations that seem way off. (Disclaimer that I'm not nearly Indian, but I'm familiar from cooking the food for twenty years and working with plenty of cooks in the tradition.) One I tried last weekend was an implausible read and produced an inedible concoction, toor daal with mint: 1/2 cup of toor daal, cooked and combined with a paste made from a small bunch of mint, 2-3 green chilies, garlic, and (ready?) 4 Tablespoons of black pepper. At this point, I almost gave up because it was tasting very acrid and bitter to all of us in the kitchen. Then I thought: OK, I haven't finished tempering it with the splash of ghee and spices: a dried red chilie, 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, 14 Tablespoons of mustard seeds...hold on. Did I read that correctly? Indian cuisine is known for bold flavors, but wowser, that's heavy load of some gripping spices. And it used up all my mustard seeds, harrumph! Anyway, it wasn't good.While there are a few here and there that look like the portions got mixed up in the process of putting this great big book together (they're obvious if you have a little experience), it has been great fun to work with.

I had been eyeing this book for years and finally bought one to recreate a laal-maas that I had in Rajasthan years ago, and though I haven't got around to that recipe yet, everything I have tried has been great (mostly lamb and rice dishes). It's worth taking the time to make up (and freeze) garlic, fried onion, ginger, pastes etc. (recipes for them are included) because some recipes can be intricate and time consuming even with such time savers. Not every recipe is illustrated - this is not food porn, it's an Indian-food-lover's bible: every recipe gives its origin, prep time, cooking time, serving size and ingredients list (in metric and imperial) as well as step by step instructions.Many recipes call for mustard oil but that is not on sale for human consumption in the UK and can only be purchased for "external use" - I wish I could get the flavour another way since I am not comfortable using products with identifiable health risks... but apparently "all Indian restaurants" use it, so maybe I shouldn't be too fussy if I'm not consuming it in large quantities.The index is extensive and there is also a helpful glossary.My one criticism of the book is its production: the paper is so thin (admittedly it needs to be thin because of the number of pages) and weak that it would be very easy to tear; I have been very careful but even a quickly removed post-it could be damaging.

This would be my 10th cookbook regarding the Indian cuisine, I would say am well familiar with the techniques and recipes by now - and I have to say this one's definitely worth the hype. A great variety of dishes, including something I've not seen in other Indian cookbooks - Tribal foods from the North East! Naga pork stew with bamboo shoots, and a couple other unusual things you wouldn't see elsewhere. Also, mr Pant has done a better job at dividing the Indian cuisines into categories. Whereas usual cookbooks just lazily state north-west-south-east, this book divides them into nine and gives background on each. Absolutely worthwhile! Extra love to the masala section. While I would have liked to see included some more regional masala recipes (like for example the Marathi goda masala, or a couple types of Kolhapuri masalas), its a great book for those wanting to familiarize themselves with Indian food and cuisines, and for those already familiar I'd recommend it for its inclusion of adivasi and tribal recipes, and awadhi cuisine which is also more scarcely seen on regular cookbooks pages.

A well researched and laid out book, a must have for anyone who wishes to enjoy authentic Indian food.Like most cookbooks you need to adjust and refine certain quantities to get the taste right but that comes with preparing that dish a few times. That said I've yet to be disappointed with any of the dishes I've made.The dishes are from all regions are easy to follow, the wealth of different flavours and textures demonstrate the limit of 'curry house' foods in Europe and how the multitude of Indian cuisine can and does taste.Phaidon seem to be on a mission to create these high quality, amazing encyclopaedias of foods from around the world with recipes collected locally. Having previously bought the Phaidon Thailand book I had no hesitation in buying this and pre ordering the soon to be released Chinese cookbook.

This is just an amazing book, full of love for the recipes contained within it, and Pushpesh Pant must have spent a huge amount of time and effort in putting it together. The publisher has also gone to great effort to make the book characterful.In a 30 page introduction, each region of India is explored, telling the reader a bit about its character, history, and distinctive cuisine. The main part of the book is the recipes, which are well-organised. The main sections are arranged as appetisers, main dishes, pulses, breads, and so on. Within each section, a lot of effort has been taken to group dishes by type, or by main ingredient, depending on what makes most sense. For example, all of the pakora recipes are grouped together into 10 pages. All of the main dishes where okra is the main ingredient are gathered together. This makes it really easy to browse, looking at a dry potato dish from Punjab, or a slightly different Delhi dish of potato and yoghurt, or a potato dish from Kerala involving coconut... you get the idea.To give you an idea of the depth of the book, there are 54 recipes for pickles, chutneys and raita, which vary from requiring a few ingredients, to over 10, and from 10 minutes preparation, to hours. There's something in here for everyone. Want to make a quick half-hour lunch of potato curry with some plain parathas? It's in here. Want to make a pan-Indian thali of ancient and modern dishes? You can do that. Or maybe you'd like to plan an intimate meal centred on a particular region of India, to make it as authentic as possible?I think that the main advantage of the book is that it gives you so many ideas, you aren't going to make the boring chicken curry you always make, you might decide instead to go to the supermarket and buy some taro roots and jackfruits!The paper quality is obviously a conscious design decision to make it have a slightly rough feel, and it is not an indication of poor publishing. Each section is also printed on a different coloured paper, which is a nice touch. People have also commented that the photos should appear by the recipes. I disagree - the idea of having a photo of a bench containing 5 or 6 different plates of food is so you can see them with reference to other dishes. All pictures are labelled with the page numbers where you can find the recipes, and the recipes are labelled with a camera icon and a page number so you can find the photos. It's fine.Finally, those reviews indicating the amount of errors, quite simply I don't believe in them. The errors are there, of course - but they are so infrequent and so obvious that it in no way detracts from the quality of the work as a whole. There are 1,000 recipes - the hit rate with flawless instructions is actually very high. Sure, if you want to go out and buy 10 cartons of yoghurt for the morsel of chicken you are cooking, be my guest. I'm exaggerating a bit - but there's some common sense needed here. Like the recipe that forgets to tell you to combine one main part of the dish with another main part of the dish. Please, this is not NASA, we are not making a moon buggy. We are making a pakora, just spend some time studying the WHOLE recipe before starting it!It's a pleasure to just flick through the book - I've been spending all weekend just browsing the recipes (and cooking some, too), it's been great!

this book is quality from the front cover to the back cover.it gives the story of indian food with the different recipes from all over india.1000 recipes covered in 815 pages,with 140 odd colour photos.there is also a section of recipes from 11 renowned guest chefs from around the world.this book covers all parts of indian cooking from spice mixtures and pastes,snacks etc,veg and meet dishes,pulses,breads,rice,desserts,to drinks.all very well written and explained throughout.you also receive a lovely spice bag with the cover of the book on it.this book is worth its weight in gold,and at approx £25 a complete bargain,and is the only book you will ever need.i have cooked a few of the recipes and all have been great.i will work my way through as many recipes as possible.highly recommended.hope the author can do a followup.