Product Description

The premise is simple: with five common spices and a few basic ingredients, home cooks can create fifty mouthwatering Indian dishes, as diverse as they are delicious. Cooking teacher Ruta Kahate has chosen easy-to-find spices coriander, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper, and turmeric to create authentic, accessible Indian dishes everyone will love. Roasted Lamb with Burnt Onions uses just two spices and three steps resulting in a meltingly tender roast. Steamed Cauliflower with a Spicy Tomato Sauce and Curried Mushrooms and Peas share the same three spices, but each tastes completely different. Suggested menus offer inspiration for entire Indian dinners. For quick and easy Indian meals, keep it simple with 5 Spices, 50 Dishes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3096 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 132 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780811853422
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Ruta Kahate teaches regional Indian cooking from her home-based school in Oakland, California, which has been featured on the Fine Living Network.

Susie Cushner is a Boston-based photographer whose work can be found in many cookbooks, including Martha's Vineyard Table and The New England Table.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant Indian Home Cooking
This is a great book. It's premise is simple, but not simplistic - take 5 spices combined in various ways and produce a variety of Indian dishes for any occasion. Everything I've made from it has succeeded, and I will certainly make again. The coverplate (chickpeas with dill) is total comfort food, and uses dill as a vegetable in a new and surprising way. I've also made and enjoyed the Cabbage Salad (a fresh take on slaw), Indian Fried fish (tasty and savory), Sweet Potato with Ginger and Lemon, Corn with Mustard Seeds, and the fantastic Mussels in a Green Curry. And anyone who thinks they don't like okra NEEDS to try the Okra Raita - my favorite of all favorites in the book.

Recipes are well-presented, clear and easy to follow. I cook a lot of Indian food, but in no way felt that these recipes were dumbed-down at all. Kahate wisely confines her recipes to simple, practical ones with accessible ingredients. Does Indian food offer complex biriyanis with 15 spices and many ingredients? Sure. But that's not what is offered here. This is fresh home cooking, bursting with flavor, yet able to be cooked quickly. The flavors of the ingredients is prominent. And Kahate is a good guide to ingredients and techniques.

Highly recommended. Mine is already stained from much use!

Easy Recipes and Delicious Results
I have made several recipes from this book and have been delighted with all so far. I cook a lot of Indian food, and am a fan of the books of Mahadur Jaffrey and Julie Sahni, but this book is going to be used as much as their books. The premise is simple but not simplistic. The recipes are easy to follow and the results are delicious. Particular raves at my house go to the carrot raita, with it's inclusion of walnut pieces and raisins, (I used dried cranberries.) And the Goan eggplant and shrimp curry is a winner, although I used a little more shrimp and eggplant than called for in the recipe and used a full can of coconut milk instead of the cup of water and cup of coconut milk called for. This is a worthy addition to anyone's collection of cookbooks.

Indian Cooking Made Accessible
I love to cook but am intimidated by many ethnic recipes as they seem complicated and require far too much work given my crazy schedule. This book is different. I love the fact that I'm not buying millions of ingredients that I'll only use once and I've found it helpful to have a picture of what the dish should resemble. Oh, and most importantly, the end results are delicious!! It doesn't hurt that this is a gorgeous cookbook - the photos are mouthwatering. Enjoy!