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.

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.

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.

Mutton Shank ( Payya ) Curry.

This is one of my favorite recipes which i have learnt from my dad who also cooks well...i hope you enjoy this curry as much as i always do.

Ingredients:

2 Pounds Mutton or Lamb
4 Large size Onions chopped
3 Tomatoes chopped
2-3 Green chillies chopped
1 bunch of coriander/cilantro chopped
1 cup Mint leaves chopped
2 tbspn Ginger- Garlic paste
2-3 tbspn Oil
3-4 cups Water
Salt to taste

Whole Garam Masala:
2-3 Bay leaves
2 inch cinnamon stick
3-4 black peppercorns
3-4 cloves

Masala powder:
1 tspn Red chilli powder
1/2 tspn Turmeric powder
1/2 tspn Garam Masala powder
1 tspn Coriander-cummin powder
Mix these masala in 1 cup of water and keep it aside

Preparation Method:
Clean Mutton Payya or Lamb chops very well and keep aside.

In pressure cooker pour oil, once the oil is hot add whole garam masala.Add 3/4th of chopped onions and saute till brown.Add ginger-garlic paste,then add tomatoes and fry till they become soft.Add the Masala powder liquid and fry till you get nice aroma.Add coriander and mint leaves and fry.Now add paaya and mix it well in the gravy and leave it for 3-5 mins.Add remaining onions ,water and cover it with cooker lid.

You need to cook it atleast for 6-7 whistle, may take longer if meat is not tender.

Open the cooker lid and check the consistency of curry, if you want to add water let it cook on gas for 5 more mins otherwise your Mutton payya is ready to be served.

Goes well with hot rice, can drink it like soup too.

Mutton payya is considered to be very healthy.