Favorite edition to my cookbook collection

This is a must have cookbook. I own hundreds of cookbooks and this is truly one that I use over and over again. The recipes are easy to follow and so delicious with the many layers of flavors each dish provides. I love the beautiful photographs of the recipes throughout the cookbook. I also enjoy the personal notes and bits of Indian culture that accompany most of the recipes. Due to this cookbook my entire family have become fans of Indian cuisine. As a Dietician I recognize the health benefits these recipes provide for my family. I was very fortunate to meet Suvir at a cooking class that I attended at SurLaTable in Richmond, Virginia. He is not only a talented chef but, very entertaining and a superb instructor. The recipes he prepared from his cookbook at the cooking class were raved about and enjoyed by all that attended the class. I sure look forward to another cookbook by this great chef.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

A Must Have

I discovered Suvir Saran's 'Indian Home Cooking' when I was listening to National Public Radio recently. My husband and I absolutely love this cookbook. The recipes we've tried so far are delicious. Our favorites include corn curry, Gael's tandoori lamb chops and our children love the Bombay chicken curry with coriander and coconut milk. I personally liked the various rasam recipes that were included in the soup section of the cookbook. So, thank you to Suvir Saran and Stephanie Lyness for creating such a beautiful cookbook. This cookbook is looked at and used quite often in our house.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Finally, True Indian Home Cooking

My husband and I got this book as we had heard far too many mentions of this book in different publications and also on radio and television. Then we had friends who had dined at Saran's restaurant in NYC and come back raving about the absolute best Indian meal of their lifetime. They bought the book soon after and encouraged us to do the same. The book arrived and immediately had us turning its pages. The dishes were those we had grown up with and never find in restaurants or cookbooks. It was exciting that finally we were going to be able to replicate the simple treasures that we miss from India. We tried out the rice first. Even something as simple as cooking rice has been made into an experience that is simple, but practical and clear. We now cook rice like the version Saran's chef made for his father. We are happy having less starch in the rice and still keeping each grain separate. In fact the grains are so much happier for that. The Lamb Biryaani with orange is wonderful. The chapatis and parathas were so well explained, that I made my first chapatis after reading the book and getting courage from seeing the photographs that accompanied the recipe. Mine came out puffy like moms. And I used a mix of whole wheat flour and regular flour bought at the local grocery. No atta. The grape raita and the zucchini raita are terrific and actually outstanding. Raita which in many homes in India are treated as the step child, in this book become dishes that celebrate India's great way with spicing. I have to slowly cook my way through the other raitas. I am intrigued by all. The Dal recipes in Indian Home Cooking bring India back into my kitchen as nothing is more satisfying to my family than good tasty dal and chaawal (rice). The flavors of each of the dal recipes, since I have already made them all, are fresh, bold and authentic. They also are perfectly seasoned and as in all recipes, the amount of water and lentil, is so well tested that the dals have the consistency my family has always loved. Sour Chickpeas (cholas) were like what mom and grandma made in India and what my in-laws serve in their home. Sour, spiced correctly and delicious with rice and pooris. The lobia (black eyed peas) recipe was divine. My husband grew up with the exact recipe. He was amazed at how the recipe was actually identical to his own mothers. The sabzis (lentils), are delicious. A treasure trove that makes this book so unique. Whilst the recipes are known to us Indians, they are not the generic boring oily stuff that people outside of India have come to understand as Indian. In fact, these are the kind of vegetarian dishes that make Indian home cooking a cuisine leaps and bounds beyond any other. Suvir Saran has taken pains to include recipes from many varied regions of India and his headnotes are special, informative and good reading. They introduce the recipe, cultural subtleties and flavor variances that define the different dishes. The carrots, the saag paneer and matar paneer are so authentic and well tested, they will become the hallmark against which future recipes will be compared. I know cookbook authors will copy these recipes and use for their books in the future. The Rassams and the lentil soup in the soups chapter make my winter here in the US seem so much more fun. The rassams have the same flavor, intensity and aroma that I miss from homes of friends and family in the South of India. What is even better is that they are explained so easily and with such clarity that the mystery behind them is gone. It is not a surprise then that Arthur Paes (venerated reporter for India Abroad, who is Southern Indian) marvels at their taste and simplicity of recipe. The fish recipes make eating fish with Indian recipes become quick, easy and tasty. What I loved most about the t

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Indian Home Cooking: A Fresh Introduction to Indian Food, with More Than 150 Recipes

Indian Home Cooking will fill a much vacuous niche in the world of Indian cookery. At once functional and beautiful, it does what few ethnic cookbooks have been able to. It has made Indian cooking familiar, easy and approachable. The recipes are clear, precise and most all easy to prepare with ingredients from our pantries. The photographs have taken Indian food into the same level as French and contemporary American. The photographs make you hungry even before you ever begin cooking.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great Recipes

Suvir Saran has great recipes in this book i tried every single 1 i loved everything i am waiting to go to the new restaurant Devi i am sure it will better than his recipes

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Indian Home Cooking: A Fresh Introduction to Indian Food, with More Than 150 Recipes

Recieved my copy Wednesday. The cover made me expedite my travel plans for India and to confirm our tickets. The colors, photographs, anecdotes that precede each recipe and the easy instruction make this book a first of its kind. The introduction mentioned the authors mother loving fuss free cooking and this book delivers just that. I shall cook from it this weekend. Want to thank the library journal for their review. Helped me in so many ways.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Wonderful

Indian Home Cooking finally brings Indian cuisine into the world of the greater culinary traditions of the world. This book as also the latest book by Madhur Jaffrey, together set the stage for a Indian food revolution. Indian Home Cooking and its author have made the food world in India and the US come alive in a new way. I was amazed as an Indian living here in the US to see this book and the author Suvir Saran find noteworthy mention in both India Toady and Newsweek Magazine in the same week. Forbes Magazine has listed him as one of the top ten cooking teachers of the world. Times of India has called him Gautam Buddha and then the writer speaks about the tasty recipes she created from this Indian cookbook from America. What I was impressed as I opened my copy of the book was the honest, simple and homey list of recipes. They are not the usual fare found in Indian restaurants across the US. These are recipes that celebrate what is simple, tasty and special about our culture and country. The simple flavors that are at once earnest and also enticing and soothing. The photographs in the book are superb. The food stylist must love India and food. Few cookbooks can have such brilliant images. Especially when dealing with food such as Indian, Italian or Thai. The recipes never seem to frustrate you, they always have every little detail that can make a busy person happy. No detail is kept hidden. The author has used time and effort to make Indian food accessible to the people of this generation and time. Friends have cooked from this book and loved it. Another friend is seeing amazing food come to her table, even as it is prepared by an Eastern European nanny with no past knowledge of Indian cooking. I find myself enjoying making chapatis and parathas for the first time. The vegetable recipes (peas, cauliflower and butternut squash) are amazing and easy. The party cauliflower was a winner at my table this last Sunday. The Indian Fruit Punch was loved by all. The rice pudding was just as good as that made by mom and our chefs back home. The Lentil Soup from Lebanon and the mothers tomato soup are both very delicious and great for those with kids. Mine seem to love them. They are also both very easy to make. The simple dal recipe and those that follow it are just like the dals you grew up with, or perhaps better, since the tarka is so delicious. Again, the recipes are always simple, it is the flavor that is complex and a celebration and revelation for a cookbook to have. These are dishes that we ate in India and celebrated in India. if you want to learn how to cook real Indian HOME cooking, then Buy this book. Or as the back cover of the book quotes Rozanne Gold as saying 'With warmth, charm, and formidable expertise, Suvir and Stephanie beckon you into their kitchen and teach your taste buds to dance'. As a busy working mother with craving for good Indian cooking, I highly recommend this book for one and all. It will be called the bible for the novice, encouragement for the one with desire and finishing for those that are already in the know. The recipes are fresh, simple, authentic, easy and more importantly pragmatic. The book is totally accessible and in fact, once you but it, if you are as curious as me, you will find yourself reading it into the night, as a novel. The chapter introductions and the recipe stories bring India alive into your mind and you will not rest till you have cooked from this book.

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