Review:Meena Pathak Celebrates Indian Cooking

Review: The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches

The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches by Susan Russo have in an arond 110 mouth watering sandwich recipes in the book. I have tried myself "The curried chicken and panini and must say they are simply amazing. The author does a great job in explaining the required ingredients and how to make them. the recipes are also accompanied by some amazing pictures of sandwiches which you would like to try. This small book is a really a time -saver and now I don't have to be bothered thinking what am I going to fix for lunch, dinner and especially weekends.

easy chinese stir-fries from helen chen.

Ok, I confess I love chinese very much and this book was an awesome addition to my cooking library.
The recipes in this book are awesome, simple and very few ingredients are required and easily available in any grocery store.She explains in this book the techniques and hints required for cooking these stir-fries. There ia also section to guide you which equipments and ingredients are great to use.
There are recipes like braised pary wings, ground chicken and pine nuts in lettuce wraps, kung pao chicken, coral and jade and many more mouth-watering recipes with pictures. I tried Kung Pao chicken and it was a great hit. I reccomend this book for all chinese eater's or food lover's.

This cook book is a great addition in your library. The author has written this book very well  and will be easy for someone to cook who has never ever cooked.....Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!
About the Author:Helen Chen is the founder of Helen's Asian Kitchen (helensasiankitchen.com), a widely distributed Asian cookware line, and the author of Helen Chen's Chinese Home Cooking and Peking Cuisine. Her mother, Joyce Chen, was a pioneering Chinese restaurateur and entrepreneur, and Helen served as the CEO of her mother's company before launching her own business.

Pros: Great book, with easy to find ingredients, well written and great pictures
Cons:None
Overall:Amazing Book

ISBN:978-0-470-38756-6

Books can be purchased at Amazon or Wiley

Author Bio and Picture copyright Wiley, Thanks for review copy.

xoxo,

Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking

                                               
" Quick & Easy Indian Cooking " by author Madhur Jaffrey has more than 50 delicous recipes from Soup to Sweets which most of it can be prepared in approximately 30 mins. The cookbook gives you recipes with only few ingedients and with substitutions such as some recipes says beef however substitution with lamb or chicken is allowed. The book is going to be favorite with the novice to expert cook because of the easy to follow recipes with basic ingredients. The book talks about the ingredients, utensils and other basic requirement for cookingalong with recipes without feeling intimidated to cooking these Indian recipes.
This book will serve as a great start to Indian cooking book for beginner's.

About the author: Madhur Jaffrey is a cookbook author, TV chef, illustrator, and award-winning actress originally from Delhi, India. She's won the Burt Greene Award for Food Journalism and lives in New York City.


Pros: Easy understanding recipe with few ingredients and substitution.
Cons: This recipes are Indian but not the authentic ones, well that is why you can make them so quick as title says, however not all of them though.
Overall: Nice Book
Book can be purchased at Amazon and Chroniclebooks.com
ISBN 0811859010

ISBN13 9780811859011

Thank you Chronicle Books for review copy. Picture and Author's Bio copyright Chronicle Books
xoxo.

The "I Dont Know How to Cook" Book Mexican

Recently, I was sent couple of books out of which 1 was The : I Dont Know How to Cook" Book Mexican by Linda Rodriguez. I love Mexican food and am always on a lookout for mexican recipes which are quick and easy to fix.
This book has 300 recipes. In the book there are 12 main categories in which each category has recipes for that. The book starts with Introduction which explains everything you need to know to make mexican food. Each recipe in the book is grouped and classified by symbols like E (Easy), M (Medium), H (Hard).
The books has easy and mouth-watering recipe with step by step instruction's for Appetizer's & Salsa's, Soups & Stew's, Salad's, Beef & Pork, Poultry & Eggs, Fish & Sea-food, Vegetables, Rice and Bean Dishes, Fruit, Desserts & Traditional Favorites.

Whether you want to cook for your family or for friend's, This book will definately have something that will be helpful to fix easily.

About the Author: Linda Rodriguez has been cooking Mexican-American meals for family and friends for most of her life. She has fond memories of the feasts of mole and tamales that accompanied every wedding and quinceanera. she still remembers the early days of her marriage when she made six dozen enchiladas, carnitas with chile, and a big pot of pozole for her husband's college graduation party---with only a hot plate and a toaster oven! She resides in Kansas City, MO.

Pro's: Easy and quick recipes
Con's: No pictures of recipes

Overall: Good  Book

Publisher: Adams Media
ISBN:9781598696073


Book can be purchased at : Adamsmediastore.com, Amazon
Copyright of Adams Media: Book cover picture and Author's bio.
Thanks to Adams Media for review copy.

xoxo,

Book Review: Everything Indian Cookbook

"The Everything Indian Cookbook: 300 Tantalizing Recipes is written by Monica Bhide.The book has 15 categories and each includes minimum 10 to maximun 24 recipes in it.

The author has started this book very well explaining the "Basics of Cooking" . She talks about techniques and ingredients required for or used in making these delicious Indian recipes. She explains the terms in both hindi(local indian language) and english so it is easy for all reader's to understand. She talks about basic recipes (masala's) that are used or needed while cooking most of  these dishes. The book has next section  about Starter's or Snacks which includes recipes like Spiced Crunchy Okra to Curried Mixed Nuts. The Drinks/ Soups and Teas includes recipes like Rose-Flavored Yougurt Drink, Ginger Tea, Coconut and Tomato Soup and many more. The next category's in the  book is  followed with recipes for various kinds of Salads, Vegetarian Dishes and  Non-Vegeterian i.e Meat, Poultry and Sea-food recipes. She also has some great recipes on Rice Dishes along with Lentil and Yogurt Dishes. There are also recipes for various kinds of Breads(Roti) and Chutney's(Pickles). At the end of the book she has some great recipes for Indian Sweet Dishes and Royal food.
I really loved this book and tried Nawabi Mutton which turned out great and was easy and quick to make. The book has some great mouth-watering recipes of India. The book also has Glossary section with Hindi-English names for ingredients used or required to make these dishes. The author also has added a section of additional resources of stores where you can shop for these groceries across USA which i thought was great.
I also loved the fact that the author had thanked each and every person who had contributed while writing this book, which i hardly see nowadays.

About the Author's:Monica Bhide (Dunn Loring, VA) is a native of India who has been cooking Indian cuisine for more than twenty years. A graduate of several formal Indian cooking courses, Ms. Bhide is an accomplished caterer and home chef.



Pro's:  A great book with great recipes. Very well explained instructions throught out the book
Con's:  There are no pictures in the book except for the front cover.
Overall:  Great Book

Books can be purchased at Amazon, AdamsMediastore.com
ISBN: 9781593370428
Picture and Author's Bio is Copyright of Adams Media.
Special Thanks to Adams Media for sending this book for review.
xoxo,

There is something cooking up for 2011...

Dear Food Lover's,

Trust everyone had a great New Year Party and had some good food....this year i will be not only be active again posting new recipes but also will be reviewing some cook books for some publishing companies and maybe may have a giveaway too...still working on that.

So are we ready to cook some delicious food and get some review on some great cook books that you would love to know about before you buy.

This week stay tuned as i post Chicken and Dumpling soup(southern style), Sukha(Dry) Mutton with variations.

xoxo,

I am back from vacation and with new recipes

Hello Friends,
I am back from my Vacation....it was just too good and have loads of recipes of authentic konkani food recipes to share.I am uploading the pics and name of the recipes(the names are not in order as pictures) for now and will be posting how to prepare them very soon....
Malabar Spinach Curry, Green Leafy Chavali curry, Shabudana Vada, Nimboo Pani, Mutton Curry 1 & 2, Chicken curry, Prawns Aachar, Eggplant Sabji, Baby Shark Curry.

Japanese Curry

This is a simple japanese curry.All you need to buy is japanese curry powder from Asian Grocery Store. You can prepare this curry with shrimp / chicken or just veggies.
I learnt this curry thanks to Kathy Mom who is from Japan.
Ingredients:
Chicken 1 pound
Veggie: Carrots, Potatoes, Onion, Peas. ( Chop vegetable very finely)
Japanese Curry cube ( Whole Packet)
Oil 1 tbspn
Water approx 2 cups.

Preparation:
In a pan take 1 tbspn oil. Fry onions for 2-3 mins.Add vegetables and fry it for 2-3 more mins.Add chicken and fry for 2-3 mins. Add 1 or 1 and half cup water and let it boil for 10- 12 mins or till veggies /meat is cooked. Add the whole japanese curry powder cubes.Stir frequently till the whole thing dissolve and let it simmer for 2-3 more mins.
Curry is Ready!!!!!!
Serve it with hot rice and it tastes YUMMMMMMM.

Japanese Fried Rice (Veg, Non Veg)

I am sharing this recipe which i learnt from friend Kathy who's mother is from Japan.This is the authentic japanese fried rice recipe.

The recipe below is for 3-4 people.

Ingredients:

Rice 2 cups (Great if you buy rice from japanese or oriental store)

Butter

1/2 cup finely chopped carrot.

1/2 cup peas

1/2 cupp finely chopped onions

1/2 cup thin sliced mushrooms

1 tbspn soy sauce

salt.

Preparation:

Some important tips before planning to make the fried rice:

1. You need to prepare rice as usual however need to keep it in freezer for 24-48 hrs.to make it hard and then night before remove from freezer and keep it in refrigerator.The day you want to prepare keep it out 2-3 hrs before the preparation.

2. When i say finely chopped i mean really finely chopped.

In a big pan heat butter ( remember butter needs to be added generously as that brings the taste) and fry the thin slices of mushroom till they turn light brown. Remove it on paper towel and keep it aside.

Next add carrots in the same pan and fry till they are tender not too soft, add salt and chopped onions (remember to chk if there is enough butter in the pan while frying) and fry till it is soft.Add peas and fry very lightly by being careful trying not to squeeze the peas. Once that is done move these vegetable at the side of the pan.Add more butter and put the rice, wait till the rice absorbs the heat from the pan and becomes warm as it becomes easier to break it and mix it with butter, fry rice for 3-5 mins in butter. Then add soy sauce, and mix the vegetable with the rice ( best to use 2 spoons in both hands to mix it) including the fried mushrooms.Mix the rice and vegetables for 2-3 mins more.....and your japanese fried rice is ready.

Goes really well with shrimp or vegetable tempura (recipe which i will post next).

P.S. You can also add shrimp and chicken in fried rice but you need to cook it before adding it to pan.

Hope you enjoy this authentic fried rice too...my friends and we surely did!!!!!!!

Chicken Xacutti....the best goan dish which i love to eat and make.

Ingredients:
Chicken 1 pound (Cleaned and cut into pieces)
1 Big onion, chopped finely.
1 cup grated coconut
5-6 Garlic flakes
Oil
Salt
Water
Masala: Grind these dry masala for Xaccutti Masala
2-3 Red chillies
1 piece of cinnamon
2 green cardamom pods
2 cloves
1/4 tspn Javatri or nutmeg powder
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp aniseed
3/4 tsp black pepper powder
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds

Preparation:
In a pan take 1 tbspn oil and fry grated coconut till it turns light brown. Keep aside and once it cool, in a grinder add the coconut and garlic flakes and make a fine paste.

In the same pan add oil and start frying onions till they turn golden brown, once the onion is golden brown add this grinded coconut-garlic paste to the onion, add chicken and salt and fry it for 3-5minutes.Now add the dry masala powder which you prepared earlier and mix it well with the chicken, fry it for 5- 10 mins. Add water as per your desired consistency.
Cover it with the lid and keep checking frequently till you are sure the chicken is cooked.

Once the chicken is cooked the Chicken Xaccutti is Ready!!!!!
Serve it with hot rice.....as you would find in goa and trust me you would want to make this curry again.
P.S. You can increase the dry masala quantity if you want to prepare the masala to use it next time
Enjoy and let me know how you liked it...i am sure you will love it.

Quick Mutton/Chicken Recipe..(Jhatpat Murg/Ghosht Saalan)

Quick Mutton recipe my mother had seen it or read about it somewhere,It has amazing taste and one of the quickest and easiest recipes.

Ingredients:

1 pound Mutton/ Chicken

2 large Onion chopped

2 large Tomato chopped

1 tbspn Ginger-Garlic paste

2 tbspn oil

1 cup water( add more if you want)

1 tspn each Chilli, coriander-cummin powder

1/2 tspn Turmeric powder

Whole garam masala

Salt to taste

Handful of chopped coriander/cilantro for garnishing.

Green Masala Preparation:

1 bunch of coriander leaves

1/4 cup of mint leaves

5-6 Garlic pods

1 tspn Cummin Seeds

Preparation:

Wash mutton/ chicken and apply ginger/garlic & salt and keep it for 1 hour.

Grind green chillies, coriander leaves, mint leaves, garlic and cumin seeds to a paste.

Heat oil, put the marinated mutton / chicken and fry the for some time.

Then put cut onions (2), tomatoes(2), whole garam masala (cinnamon, cloves, tej patta, green cardamom, black cardamom & peppercorns), chilly powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder, green masala paste.. mix well and add 1 cup of water.

Cook until done and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve it with Roti ,Bread or with hot rice.

Malvani Chicken Curry..(Curry prepared in Konkan Region of India

This is a chicken recipe and usually prepared in Maharashtra.People who have lived in Maharshtra could not have missed enjoying this curry.

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken
3 Onions chopped finely
1 cup grated coconut
4 tspn Malvani Masala (How to prepare this masala given in post above)
1 tspn Turmeric powder
1/2 tspn Garam masala
1 tbspn Ginger Garlic paste
2 Green chillies finely chopped
Chopped Cilantro for Garnishing.
Salt to taste
2 tbspn Oil
Water as needed. Preparation Method:

Clean Chicken and marinade it with ginger-garlic, turmeric, malvani and garam masala powder.Keep aside for an hour.

In a pan heat oil and fry onions till they are slightly brown keep half of the onions aside and add grated coconut to other half and fry till that is slightly brown too.Make a fine paste in mixer.

In pan heat oil and add marinated chicken and fried onions and green chillies and saute for 5-7 mins.Then add the coconut-onion paste and mix it well. Add salt and water as required and cover it with the lid to cook for 8-10 mins or until chicken cooked.

Add chopped cilantro for garnishing.

Chicken Malvani is ready to be served with hot bed of rice or Roti's.

Chicken Biryani...dish prepared in India with Chicken and Rice

This chicken biryani prepartion is what i use and my family and friends love the way it taste.Hope you like it too...Happy Cooking.

Ingredients :

2 pound Boneless Chicken
2 Cup Rice
1 cup Curd
2 Medium size onions ( Cut in to thin long strips)
1/2 tbsp lemon Juice
1 tbspn ginger-garlic paste
Salt to taste
3 tbspn Oil

Dry Masala Powder:
1 tspn Chilli, coriander and Cumin powder
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
1 tspn Chicken Biryani masala(optional)

Whole Gram Masala:
1 black Cardamom
4-5 Green cardamom
4-5 Bay leaves
1 inch piece of Cinnamon
3-4 Cloves
3-4 black peppercorns
1 tbspn ginger-garlic paste

Green masala:
7-8 Mint leaves
2 Green Chillies
1/2 bunch of Coriander Leaves



Marination for chicken:

Grind green chillies, mint , coriander leaves to a fine paste.

Cut, clean and wash chicken, apply the above green masala paste along with ginger garlic paste.Add red chilli, turmeric, coriander-cumin and chicken biryani masala powder.Add curd and lemon juice with 1 tspn oil.Mix it well with chicken and marinade for atleast 2 hrs.

Remove it from refrigerator 1/2 hour before preparing the curry.

Preparation Method of rice:

2 Cup Rice (soaked in luke warm water for 45 mins before preparing ,drain out the water after 45 mins and let the rice dry).

In a pan boil atleast 4 cups of water adding 1 tspn oil, green cardamons, 1-2 cloves,bayleaf and pinch of salt.When the water is boiled add the previously soaked rice.

Keep checking regularly and drain water and when the rice is 95% done drain water and spread it out in a tray.

Preparation method for Curry:

In a pan fry Onions till they turn golden brown,keep aside half of fried onions for garnishing.

In another pan add remaining oil, add other half of fried onions, reamining whole garam masala and fry for 2-3 mins.Then add the marinated chicken and mix well.Add 1 cup of water,cover and let it cook for 5-10 mins.Remove the lid and now let it cook for 5-10 mins.Make sure the chicken is cooked and the gravy is not too watery.

Now take cooker /pan with a tight lid and start to do layering by spreading out rice and then chicken,again rice and chicken on top.Add the fried onions kept aside previously.

Keep it on gas for 5-6 mins (dont use whistle if using cooker).

Chicken Biryani is then ready to be served.

Goes well with Raita.(Recipe of raita is posted above).

Chicken Sukha- dish prepared with chicken cooked in lot of spices.

Ingredients:

2 lbs Chicken
1 number Cocounut-Shredded
4 number Black Pepper
1 piece Cinnamon
4 piece Cloves
1 cup Coriander leaves
1 tsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Fennel seeds
1 tsp Fenugreek seeds
5-6 piece Garlic
1/2 tsp Khus Khus
3 number Onions
5 number Red chillies
Salt to taste
Small pinch of Asefoetida


Cooking Method:

Step 1: Take a pan and roast coconut until it turns light brown....keep it aside

Step 2: In another pan take 1 tbsp oil and fry all other ingredients except onions.

Step 3: Grind coconut and these fried ingredients with water.

Step 4: Now take a pan and add oil,onions and a pinch of asefoetida(saute onions till they are slightly brown),then add chicken pieces and cover it with lid and let the chicken cook in steam.Once the chicken is half done add the masala...cook it till chicken is soft and ready.

Step 5: Sprinkle coriander leaves and serve.

Goes well with hot rice or Chappati(Bread).