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Cooking with Camellia Panjabi's "50 Great Curries of India"


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6 replies to this topic

#1 Okanagancook

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Posted 21 January 2013 - 05:40 PM

This is a new cookbook to my Indian cookbook collection. Which recipes are your favourites? I am making a dinner on Saturday and want to include a few dishes from this book.


#2 bague25

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Posted 22 January 2013 - 12:49 AM

This is one of the best books written on Indian Cuisine. She really has well researched the recipes and it's a nice panorama of Indian regional dishes. I appreciated the pistachio korma... but I must say, most recipes from this book have worked well for me :-)

#3 patrickamory

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Posted 22 January 2013 - 09:59 PM

I own it but have never cooked from it... I find myself gravitating toward Jaffrey, Sahni, Batra, Kaimal or online sources.

Mouthwatering photography though. I've had the malabar prawn curry on my list for ages. Also one of the Goan curries, maybe a vindaloo?

But as I say, I never seem to get to it... I think the organization of the book somehow doesn't inspire me to put together a meal.

What are people's favorites?

#4 C. sapidus

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Posted 23 January 2013 - 08:29 PM

I agree with bague25, this is a wonderful book.

Particular favorites:

Lamb curry, madras style
Chicken and cashew nuts in black spices (kaju chicken in kaala masala)
Malabar shrimp curry (konju curry)
Fish in coconut milk (fish molee)

Also good:

Goa lamb vindaloo
Parsee red chicken curry
Madras fish curry

Particularly good side dishes:

Fragrant rice
Lemon rice
Stir-fried French beans (beans porial)
Peas and carrots with cumin (gajar mutter)

Many of the other side dishes - green chutneys, red chutney, cabbage koshumbir, okra with onions, cauliflower with shredded ginger – are easy to make and very good.

#5 Okanagancook

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Posted 24 January 2013 - 08:18 AM

Many thanks for all your comments. Bruce, I have made notes of your suggestions. For my dinner I am going to cook the following from 50 Great Curries:
page 170 Chana Dahl
page 165 Peas & Carrots with cumin (if my local store has frozen peas...I'm in the country)
page 164 Stuffed baby eggplants (managed to score some little beauties yesterday)
page 161 spinach with curd cheese (I made some paneer last week and it's in the freezer)
page 158 chapati
page 157 Lemon Rice...that one looks wonderful in the pictures with the lovely cashew nuts
page 179 Mango mousse for dessert (we got a Superstore in Penticton last month and they have a wonderful ethnic isle where I found pureed Alfonso Mango Pulp)

From my all time favourite Asian book, Charmaine Solomon's Complete Asian Cookbook (if you don't have this book, believe me, it's the bomb...I am already on my second book seeing the first one fell apart from about 15 years of use; this new one I've had since 1997) I'm making:

page 68 Eggs in Meatballs (basically an Indian scotch egg using lamb)
page 41 Prawns in Coconut Milk

From Time Life Foods of the World Indian Cookbook I've made the Murg Kari Chicken on page 53...it's in the freezer after having mellowed in the fridge for two day. This is one of my favourite chicken curries.

From Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi (this book has wonderful soups, chutney and delicious vegetable dishes), page 345 Shredded Cucumber and mint Yogurt

Other Favourite Indian Cookbooks I use routinely are:

The books by Vij, Vancouver Chef

The Bengal Lancers Indian Cookbook by Mohan Chablani and Brahm N. Dixit. Doubt you'll be able to find it...it's out of print. Purchased in 1980 at a used bookstore.

I'll try and take pictures of the meal....if I can make it all and fit in on the table that is!



#6 rotuts

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Posted 24 January 2013 - 09:19 AM

people now days forget how terrific the Time-Life Food/cookbooks were at the time. i have the Indian Cookbook and still enjoy leafing through it.

#7 Okanagancook

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Posted 27 January 2013 - 02:42 PM

The dishes turned out very well. Everyone really liked the eggplant which is a very simple preparation. Make the spice mixture; cut a deep criss cross on the top of the mini eggplants; stuff in some of the spice mix then fry until cooked. They did take a lot longer than the 15 minutes stated in the recipe...about twice as long. No picture of finished dish.

The lemon rice was a new way of making rice for me. Cooking the rice first in some turmeric and salted water then turning out on to a tray to cool and dry. When ready to serve, fry the species, add the rice and heat. Very easy and it looked good. You can use lemon or lime juice and it had just enough citrus but not over powering.
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The Spinach and Paneer dish was a gamble. It tasted great with the fresh spinach and garden tomatoes cooked and pureed BUT it looked like pond scum :angry: We have lots of it left. Will not make again. I like the traditional peas and paneer dish I usually make.
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The peas and carrots has a nice ginger flavour and everyone liked this one a lot. Pretty easy to make but the carrots took too long to cook so I would cut them smaller next time or partially cook them before adding to the dish. The peas got over cooked.
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The dahl was meh. Not a lot going on except for the chili heat. I would rather make the recipe from Vij which has more cumin, coriander and black mustard seeds.
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The mango mousse was fantastic. Not too sweet nor too heavy after the curries. Easy to make: whip egg whites; whip cream; whip canned mango pulp; add gelatin and sugar; that's it.DSC_0032.jpg

The star of the meal was the pork vindaloo. Not from this book though. I sous vide the cubed pork shoulder at 149 degrees F for 48 hours after browning it first. I made the vindaloo sauce and simmered for two hours. Half and hour before serving the pork went into the hot sauce to mingle. The pork was juicy and tender. The flavour was there mainly because the vindaloo spicing is quite strong and it didn't matter that the pork was not cooked in it. I'll do this again. DSC_0029.jpg