Made in India: Recipes from an Indian Family Kitchen Hardcover – September 15, 2015

These dishes are divine. I haven't yet read the personal story in full but it adds a great tone to the book. I recently chose to become vegetarian for spiritual reasons and I realized I have no idea what to eat apart from salads which are not enough for full time nutrition. This book is a salvation! It has enough variety of vegetarian meals (vegan with adjustments though butter is a big one innthis book)It's correct the best Indian food is cooked at home. I have always loved the taste of Indian but all restaurant-cooked Indian is usually too spicy for me. I do like a little kick but with this I can regulate the spices. I don't add less of any other spice in the recipe except the chilli peppers.I do double or tripple the amount of oil/butter as I find it's generally not enough in these recipes and for vegetarian eating you need something to fill you up.Account for hours spent in the kitchen at a time for these recipes - there are quicker recipes but for the mostpart you gotta love to cook if you are buying this book. The author sure loves to!Some measurements don't add up for US ingredients. For example two medium eggplants to total 1lbs. First, nothing is medium here unless you buy green market stuff that is intentionally produces to look ugly... it's a thing it seems. I don't get it. I gre up visiting my grandparents who had their own produce 100% organic save for the grapes produced for spirits and no veggie or fruit looked ugly. They were all picture perfect and so tasty. But I do go to the green market now weekly. One eggplant alone is 1.5lbs so some adjustments are needed to the recipes.If one has some experience in cooking it's ok. I have been cooking since I was 15, so 20 years now and sometimes the simplest recipe has complicated techniques or you just have to have experience to know when onions are cooked, when to add a bit of liquid to a stew, etc. I feel this book is not for beginners. But beyond that it is simply brilliant and frankly evdrything I have noted is not a flaw for me. It is the perfect book to make me a happy, healthy person! I can cook one meal and eat it days on end.

I'm new to cooking Indian cuisine and found this very easy to use.Wish the chef would come up with a "starter kit" of spices etc. so that I could buy enough asafoetida to play with one recipe, without buying enough for my lifetime, but that's just something that would be nice when experimenting with any new cuisine!

I haven't written a review for a cookbook before, but I want everyone who wants to give Indian cooking a shot to get this book. Thanks to our current shelter-in-place lifestyle, I am at home most of the time now and cooking a lot more than I usually do. Like most folks, I was trying to think of ways to use up the dried beans in my pantry and reached for this cookbook. I had bought it a while back along with Fresh India but hadn't tried any recipes from this one. I'm very sorry I didn't because the Kidney Bean Curry (p. 168) was delicious and the Perfect Basmati Rice (p. 153) lived up to its name. They turned out so well, I've now been on a Indian cooking spree that has lasted at least a week and everything I've made from this cookbook has been absolutely fantastic. In addition to the two dishes above, I've also made the Green Beans with Mustard Seeds and Ginger (p. 181), the Jumbo Shrimp with Garlic and Mustard Seeds (p. 138), the Masala Omelette (p. 148) and the Roasted Cauliflower with Cumin, Turmeric, and Lemon (p. 191). I usually don't prepare pickles or chutneys at home, but the recipes I had tried up to that point were so good and her description so approachable that I thought what the heck and tried my hand at se all and the Lime-Pickled Onions (p. 221). So simple and yet so tasty! It gave every bite that little extra oomph. She suggests eating the Omelette with buttered toast, but I put it on toast with some mayonnaise and some of the pickled onions and was transported. That sandwich along with a side salad was one of the tastiest and most satisfying lunches I've ever had. I'm now imagining other ways to eat my leftovers, such as taco-style in a flour tortilla with some of those onions and yogurt on top! I also don't usually make Indian breads at home, but I'm on a tear now and will next make the Cinnamon-Lamb Stuffed Paratha (p. 206). After that are the Gujrati Potato Curry, Simply Spiced Cabbage, Daily Dal, Cilantro Chutney Chicken, and the Sweet and Hot Tomato Chutney. I've been telling everyone I know about this cookbook now. I must have a dozen Indian cookbooks in my collection, most by Madhur Jaffrey. I'm so sorry, Ms. Jaffrey, but this is my new go-to.