From India: Food, Family & Tradition

Can't get enough of this cookbook. I love Indian food, but in the past when I've tried Indian cookbooks they've been super intimidating, and the food didn't taste nearly as good as takeout. This book has been a game-changer, though. It's loaded with recipes that are really accessible and really delicious. And if you collect a handful of ingredients, you should be able to make pretty much everything in the book. Indian dishes are now our go-to in my household. Oh, and it's a beautiful book, too, always a bonus!

May I just say that this is a beautiful book! The cover is blue padded fabric with a gorgeous design that you just want to drink in. Moving to the inside, it just keeps getting better. A feast for your eyes as well as your palate, "From India" is filled with mesmerizingly beautiful photos both of food, as well as what looks to be family heirlooms. "Vannakkam" means "welcome" in Tamil, and this book welcomes you into the Mahadevan kitchen and their lives. You are drawn in and part of you wants to drink in the beauty of the book, while the rest of you wants to run for the kitchen and start cooking!I do recommend you pick up a few essential ingredients before you begin cooking out of this book. Items such as green cardamom, ghee, cumin seeds, curry leaves, chili powder (NOT the American version!) and more are used liberally throughout. Very few, if any, recipes can be made with pantry items on hand unless you keep Indian and/or Asian items readily available. Even a simple Pistachio Ice Cream calls for ground cardamom.I would have to say, this is probably my favorite Indian cookbook I've reviewed to date. It is a feast for the senses, inside and out. The recipes are delectable, and easy to follow. If a particular recipe takes a long time or in especially complicated, the author notes that, which is very nice. It would be nice if the recipes had the approximate time needed to execute the dish. While not necessary, it is a help for anyone not used to cooking Indian food to have an idea of how much time they can expect the execution of that dish to take.This really is an amazing book. Give it a try, and take a trip to India with your family tonight from your own kitchen. Happy cooking!I received a copy of this book from Thunder Bay Press for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.NOTE** I realize this exact review is posted twice. I didn't realize my husband's Amazon account was pulled up and it got posted from his account, too. Sorry about that!!

This book is beautiful, beautifully crafted and feels high quality the photos are stunning, even if you don't cook any of the recipes this book would look great on any coffee table..

I had hard copy of this book but I lost it, so I had to buy the kindle version. I really love the South Indian recipes in this book, they are traditional and authentic, especially if you hail from South India you’ll love this book.

what an amazingly gracious family - i feel blessed to be reading and sharing their journey. The title is perfect it is all about food and family and the recipes they share are so authentic

Beautifully produced book but personally I'm not very impressed by the recipes.

amazing recipes, we made very tasty dishes! we cooked most of those and enjoyed it a lot!