Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India

I'm a South Indian myself and a total gourmand... apart from the classic "Cook & See" series, this is the book that results in the most authentic taste and flavor-filled dishes! The Cook & See books are translated from Tamil and not very well at that... but the results speak for themselves. This book, on the other hand, is written in English with good instructions... about the spice level, I think it's perfect but then I grew up eating this stuff! So if you have a mild palate, I'd easily quarter the chiilies and lessen the spices a tad. So if you are looking for a well-written book with good illustrations, with authentic flavor, I'd recommend this one!

The photographs in this cookbook will make you hungry just looking at them. There are all sorts of real classic dishes in here - like the Sambar and Kootu recipes. Some of the recipes call for dairy products like yogurt or cream but I just replace it with soy yogurt or soy cream and they turn out just fine. The ingredients are all very traditional - using fenugreek, mustard seeds, etc. Some spices I've had trouble finding are things like ash gourd so I've had to leave it out but its still tasty. There are also great rice recipes in here - mango rice, coconut rice, etc. The recipes are pretty straightforward but sometimes include some extra steps like pureeing.

If you follow her instructions exactly, the results taste exactly like my mom's cooking, or my aunts. I go a little slower on the chillies, but that is a personal preference and depends on the type of chilli used. Its perfect in terms of flavor for sambhar, rasam, avial, mor kuzhambu etc. However, the recipes don't include chettinad flavors etc. i.e. I found that her non Rasam type dishes do turn out a little watery. So I would personally be a little more generous with the thuvar dhal(make extra and add to thickness/taste) I would definitely not recommend "Savoring the Spice Coast" from Maya Kaimal like the Berkeley reviewer did. This cookbook uses absolutely the right ingredients, and unlike Maya Kaimal's cookbook, does not treat curry leaves and bay leaves as equivalents. For dosas in the USA even in a California winter, one needs to ferment the batter in a warm oven at least overnight. In Chennai, 4-5 hours at room temp would have done it. And in terms of spiciness, I use more jalapenos than I would serranos, and of course habanero chillis i use sparingly. And with ginger, young ginger is very mild. How fine you chop/grate also makes a difference to the spiciness obtained. I buy this book for friends, and even have a copy for our vacation home since I find it hard not to have on hand. An absolute must if you cook S. Indian. though not quite as comprehensive as the long time staple "cook and see"

I am a single male from North India who loves South Indian food. Bsides I am a vegan who abstains from any animal products. Even though in the vicinity of Berkeley we have lots of Indian restaurants, they are dominated by Mughlai (or Punjabi) cuisine - which include the all-too-familiar tandoori chicken, palak paneer, samosa etc. A few South Indian restaurants recently opened up, but ghee (by popular demand!) seems to be used in almost all dishes. (No wonder Indians have one of the highest rates of heart problems, beer-bellies and lots of other health problems.)Decided that if I wanted to eat good and healthy South Indian food, I had to cook it myself. Bought this book. Am not an expert cook and don't have much time to search around for 1/2 teaspoonful of XYZ. Luckily this book has been good in that respect. Only 5-6 standard Indian spices (all available from Indian grocery stores), with a few specialized spice mixes, will allow one to create authentic dishes like sambar and rasam. Food photos are excellent, and some days, I just look at those pictures to satisfy my hunger for South Indian food!Thus far, have tried a few recipes, and all turned out well. In future, I plan to expand my menu.I hope this book helps to make South Indian food popular among Americans. In my view, South Indian staple food like idli, dosa, sambar, rasam, and various rices are healthy and tasty unlike those overcooked, oily Punjabi food they serve in Indian restaurants. My wish is for the author to come out with a vegan version of this excellent book, because I think veganism is the way to go for all for health, for environment and for compassion. :) Thanks for reading.Quote: Greatness of a country is judged by the way its animals are treated - Gandhi.