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[Tan Can Cook]

On 8/2/2024 at 10:07 AM, Tempest63 said:

I have OCD over books, especially anything Indian, or similar.
I have a passion for food from the Indian continent and prefer traditional food as opposed to the slop served up in the U.K. high street Indian restaurants.

This arrived yesterday from Penguin India, although I ordered it several weeks ago from Amazon.uk.

I was working from home today and have had only had a quick flick through but it is already inspiring me. On first inspection it seems a cut above my other Nepalese cookbooks.

 

 

I am a huge fan of South Asian (Desi) regional cuisine spanning present day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iran. It's great to run into another foodie who is into regional Desi Khana. Namaskar from across the pond in California (USA).

[Tan Can Cook]

On 12/9/2024 at 10:45 AM, Tempest63 said:

That is quite a three pipe problem and will take some consideration.
 

The first two books would be the Madhur Jaffrey one from her 1970’s BBC programme, the second would likely be Camellia Panjabi’s 50 curries. That is based on the fact that they are the ones I revisit most. The MJ recipes are simple, but a bit more experience is needed with Camellias books as a number of the recipes are incomplete and don’t use all the ingredients listed.
 

In the 40 years or so that I have been cooking Indian food, books have come into favour then fallen out again. The Urban Rajah is one of my current favourites, the recipes are home style dishes, similar to a book I used a lot in the past titled Cooking with my Indian Mother In Law. Julie Sahni’s book on Indian food was first published in the 80’s I believe. and was heavily referenced back in the day and remains a classic. Nowadays anything by Vivek Singh or Anjum Anand whose recipes are easily accessible score high.

 

As for familiarity, I have been cooking traditional, home style Indian food for over 40 years.I know my Achari from my Biriani, and whilst we host a lot of Indian dinner parties (to use an out of favour phrase), we never get an invite to our friends for similar food. People tell us they couldn’t match what is prepared at our house.

 

I’ve picked up a few tips over the years, the most important being to “Cook with your nose”. Smell the garlic, smell the ginger and the masala as they cook, and don’t move on to the next phase until the raw smell has been cooked out. Always have a small jug of water to hand to cool down the pan and stop anything from burning, especially the spices. Take your time browning onions, 20 to 30 minutes. Halve the salt content given in a recipe book and adjust at the end. It’s easy to add salt but difficult to take it away.

 

Saying that India has many many regions and many types of influences. Historically I have focused on North Indian food, Kashmiri, Punjabi and Parsi food, so I am pretty blinkered to the food of the whole sub-continent.

 

I hope that goes someway to answering your question.

 

When it comes to regional Indian cuisine, my focus is Mughlai and Deccani cuisines and my studies and interests follows the Mughal culinary path and its adjacents. I have experiences cooking Awadhi/Rampuri and Hyderabadi foods. Because I also know Persian cuisine, I see immense Persian influences on Mughlai foods.

[Tan Can Cook]

Here are my recent purchases. Please ignore the specular highlights as they are from the Brodart archival mylar that I covered of Alwan-E-Nemat: A Journey Through Jahangir's Kitchen (October 2024) and Demco adhesive for the paperback book on Pahadi cuisine from Uttarakhand state in India called Uttarakhand Cuisine: Food and Folktales from the Hills! I got lucky and found a reputable independent bookseller on Biblio importing authentic books (priced fairly and competitively) from India.

 

I've already read through the Alwan-e-Nemat book, since it is right up my alley of being immensely fascinated by Mughlai and Nizami cuisines of India.

 

Brief trivia. Most of everyone know about the famous "Taj Mahal" of India. It was built by Shah Jahan. He was the 5th Mughal emperor. His father Emperor Jahangir is the 4th Mughal emperor and the book is a culinary time travel into 17th century "Mughal Hindustan" his kitchens based on Persian manuscripts.

 

Google Books has some previews of the introduction sections, which might be interesting to some history and cultural perspectives. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Alwan_E_Nemat/zzgxEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0.

 

The author—Shrimati Salma Husain ji—wrote The Mughal Feast: Recipes from the Kitchen of Emperor Shah Jahan (A Transcreation of Nuskha-e-Shahjahani) in 2021.

 

Based on how I positioned the books, they are at the extreme polar opposites in terms of ingredients, taste, and flavor profiles.

 

You have the time travel back to Mughal-era India, when India was on its apex of wealth and affluence. Next to it, the cuisines from the Pahahi people of Uttarakhand, who live along the Himalayan Hills in not to friendly environments to grow food and ingredients.