Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking

What attracted me primarily was the beautiful photos and the short recipes. Nothing inspires confidence than to see the photographs and not be overwhelmed by a 50 step recipe requiring hours of preparation. The recipes are indeed easy, and the ingredients can be found easily in most major cities. If nothing else, put this book on your coffee table and enjoy flipping through the pages. But do yourself a favor and use it!

We have been searching for a novice's guide to Indian cooking, and have had great luck with this one. After borrowing it from the library for a test drive, I had to buy it. I made the Spicy Grilled Chicken, Smothered Pork and Royal Chicken Cooked in Yogurt. These recipes were easy to prepare and DELICIOUS - and I'm not a very experienced cook. All these recipes were really great on the first try. The recipes are simple in that they don't have lots of steps, and often allow the cook to kick back for a few minutes while something simmers. You have to add lots of spices, but adding a teaspoon of Garam Masala is not a big deal. It seems to be part of the magic in Indian food - if you get the spices right, it tastes right! We also have Jaffrey's "Taste of India" which is of the more time-consuming and complicated style, and appreciate this easier approach. The beautiful photos and descriptions really inspire you to cook. By the way, it seems the Colorado review is inaccurate about the canned vegetables - I looked through the whole cookbook and only found canned tomatoes and coconut milk. Doesn't bother me!

The recipes are simple to understand and great tasting. Suggesting dishes to serve with each recipe help the uninitiated to get started. This is a great cookbook. My favorite - the samosas. Serve it with Tamarind Sauce, Mango Sauce (often found as a pulp in a can) and yoghurt.

I am a graduate student in the United States, by definition of which, I have to economize on both, the time and the money I spend on cooking. Besides, an important factor in keeping a cheerful countenance is tasty (!) food. This is where Ms. Jaffrey steps in. Before I started using "Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking," I relied on a few recipes handed down from my Mom and my sister. Some of Ms. Jaffrey's recipes are refreshing renditions of old favorites (e.g. red lentil `tarka', whole green lentils with cilantro and mint, hard boiled eggs masala,...), and some creative delicacies, like fish in green sauce, and stir fried shrimp in an aromatic tomato cream sauce, simply grilled tomatoes,... ah, the list is seemingly endless! To give a sampling of Ms. Jaffrey's creative prowess in whipping up culinary delights, it is instructive to discuss a recipe that I recently used. `Fish in Green Sauce' (p.69) is a recipe that calls for cooking a green sauce made of onion, garlic, cilantro (the "green"), tomato, ginger, and lemon juice, and then simmering the fish steaks in the sauce. I admit I was skeptical at first. I am a cilantro devotee, and the thought of mixing cilantro and fish never ever occured to me (I guess this is where her creativity comes in). I have just one thing to say about the end result--wow! I think deep down Ms. Jaffrey is a sentimentalist. Her recipes are peppered with such homey, down-earth musings about her childhood memories as, "... I remembered how much I had loved it [fresh green mango chutney] as a child. Memories of breakfasts and lunches with fresh pooris, vegetables, and this chutney came flooding back." This book evokes similar feeings in me, as I flip through it now, wondering what to cook for dinner tonight, of course, not worrying at all that I have my study group meeting in about one hour.