Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking

I was looking for a book to help me cook authentic Indian food for my Indian husband, who just came here from Delhi about 4 years ago. He was so unimpressed with most "American" or European foods, and longed for good, spicy Indian meals- but he didn't know how to cook them for himself. After looking at tons of Indian cookbooks, I decided upon this one. It seemed to be the one with the most background information, and the easiest-to-follow instructions. And hubby recognized a lot of the recipes, so I figured I'd go for it. What fantastic results! The first thing to do (for a beginner, or, dare I say, even for a semi-experienced Indian person) is sit down and actually READ all of the information about the regions of India, the cookware, the spices, the lentils, the vegetables, etc. Then, pick a few recipes and you're on your way. I will admit that it was a bit of slow going at first, but once you get used to the basics of Indian cooking, you will be zipping through dishes in no time flat. It's also a bit expensive at first, buying all the spices, but 1) buy them at an INDIAN grocery- they are MUCH cheaper!, and 2) once you get your basics covered, you won't need to buy much for a long time. I disagree with those reviewers who said the taste of these dishes was not right. My husband has absolutely loved every dish I've made, and has commented that it is all very authentic. The recipes may taste different from what some people had at home because Indian cooking is soooo versatile and malleable that whoever cooks for their family has spent years fine-tuning their recipes to suit the particular tastes of those family members. So, one person's experience of channa masala or chicken biryani may be vastly different from the next person's. In sum, this is an excellent book! The only thing I'd recommend would be more suggestions on "what goes with what." For instance, "Serve dry dishes with rotis, not rice- only serve rice when you are serving at least one dish with lots of gravy, or when you are serving dal." Raghavan is usually pretty good at offering suggestions, but I don't think he touched upon this little tip.

As an Indian who grew up in India and migrated to the U.S a little over two years ago, my knowledge of cooking was limited to instant noodles. Being a passionate foodie on a student budget and a new wife (double whammy, my husband was also a student at the time), I taught myself to cook by watching food TV. but my husband , a vegetarian (I've now taken care of that, whew!) missed his simple dal chawal subji (rice, lentils and usually dry vegetable--a regular everyday meal in every Indian household), and food TV wasn't much help! I started surfing the internet for recipes until a friend gifted me this book. What a lifesaver! I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning the fundamentals of Indian cooking (since then I've bought and sampled several cookbooks from renowned Indian chefs and nothing stands up to this in-depth and enriching culinary must-have)The introduction and explantion about each spice and its use was an eye-opener, and the recipes are not limited to one region of India. You won't find any use of generic curry powder-- all the ingredients are exactly what an Indian housewife in India would use, and the proof is in the eating. Forget the heavy cream sauces of mughlai food and the sad massacre of South Indian Sambhar and dosas that that have come to represent Indian cooking in the U.S-- this is as close to the real thing as you can get. Even now I turn at least twice a week to pick out a recipe for something as simple as making paneer or as complex as a biriyani. The text is simple, the pictures are wonderful and the English names of Indian ingredients make it easy for someone shopping in an ethinic section of say a New York gorcery store. Moreover Raghavan is helpful with tips and substitutions and I love the little nuggets of culinary history and information (I'm a culture buff and food is the best representation of any culture!), about the origination of a particular dish. I would gift this truly delightful Indian Cooking experience to any new cook in a jiffy!

This book is tremendous. I can only re-emphasize what other reviewers have written: the recipes are easy to follow, the ingredient lists are not intimidating, and the food tastes great! I have tried other Indian recipe sources in the past and have been disappointed with the results. But the recipes in this book produce beautiful, flavorful dishes that, while perhaps not restaurant quality, are far better than I had ever hoped to produce at home! Chefs of all skill levels will find this an excellent resource on Indian cooking.

We've been looking for an Indian cookbook off and on for months (something to reproduce some of the entrees at the great Indian buffets here in Seattle). Many cookbooks are too obscure, using ingredients that are impossible to find or impossible to even determine what they are. Others are so basic that they seem modified to meet western ideas about what tastes good. When I saw this book with Betty Crocker in the title, I thought, "Yeah, right. I'm sure Betty knows all about aloo gobi and masala dosa..." But it turns out she does! This is a remarkable cookbook with many of the traditional dishes in easy-to-use (yet authentic) recipes. Spices are recognizable and when ground fresh with a mortar and pestle they are very aromatic and delicious. We were very favorably surprised. Way to go Betty!

I was born in India and have a plethora of cookbooks dedicated to Indian cookery - my favourites are ones by Madhur Jaffrey. But this book by Raghavan Iyer is really very good. The photos are beautiful and make everything look just like it did on the table when I was growing up. Iyer's comments are interesting and helpful and the recipes are written with ingredients readily available in the U.S. I highly recommend this book to both people that are fmailiar with Indian cooking and to those that are experimenting.