Recipe Reviews for Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey

For the holidays in 2006, I asked my parents for a Indian cookbook (and gave them a number of choices of books I've heard recommended). They bought me:

Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey 2003 edition Barron's Buy from: Amazon

Below are the dishes I've cooked so far by star rating (out of five). I plan to group dishes into categories after I've cooked more of them. Within each star rating, the ordering is arbitrary -- it doesn't mean anything. Click on the dish's name for a review. A list of what I've cooked most recently appears on the right side of the blog under the heading "Recent Dishes."

Chicken & Meat & Seafood

Picture	Name	Rating
	Red Lamb or Beef Stew (Rogan josh)	5 stars
	Lemony Chicken with Cilantro (Hare masale wali murghi)	4.5 stars
	Shrimp with Zucchini (Jhinga aur ghia)	4 stars
	Chicken with Tomatoes and Garam Masala (Timatar murghi)	4 stars
	Delicious Cocktail Koftas (Chhote kofte)	4 stars (optimistically)
	Tandoori-Style Chicken (Tandoori murghi)	3.5 stars (maybe 4)
	Chicken in a Fried Onion Sauce (Murghi rasedar)	3.5 stars

Pulses (Dals)

Picture	Name	Rating
	Red Split Lentils with Cabbage (Masoor dal aur band gobi)	4.5 stars
	Whole Green Lentils with Spinach and Ginger	4 stars
	Small Yellow Split Peas (Chana dal)	4 stars
	Sour Chick-Peas (Khate chhole)	4 stars
	Red Split Lentils with Cumin Seeds (Masoor dal)	4 stars
	Black-Eyed Beans with Mushrooms (Lohbia aur khumbi)	3 stars
	Red Kidney Beans (Punjabi rajma)	3 stars

Vegetables

Picture	Name	Rating
	Gujerati-Style Green Beans (Gujerati sem)	5 stars
	Cauliflower with Cumin and Asafetida (Heeng zeere ki gobi)	4.5 stars
	Carrots, Peas, and Potatoes Flavored with Cumin (Gajar, matar, aur aloo ki bhaji)	4.5 stars
	Cauliflower With Potatoes (Phool gobi aur aloo ki bhaji)	4.5 stars (likely, if made with less salt)
	Frozen Spinach With Potatoes (Saag aloo)	4 stars
	Cauliflower with Onion and Tomato (Phool gobi ki bhaji)	4 stars
	Cabbage with Peas (Bund gobi aur matar)	4 stars
	Beets With Onions (Shorvedar chukander)	4 stars (maybe 3.5)
	Gujerati-Style Cabbage With Carrots (Sambhara)	3 stars

Desserts

Picture	Name	Rating
	Carrot Halva (Gajar ka halva)	5 stars
	Semolina Halva (Sooji ka halva)	4 stars
	Drunken Orange Slices (Sharabi narangi)	3.5 stars

Misc

Picture	Name	Rating
	Yogurt with Eggplant (Baigan ka raita)	4 stars
	Gujerati Carrot Salad (Gajar ka salad)	3 stars
	Carrot and Onion Salad (Gajar aur pyaz ka salad)	2 stars

Questions? Comments? Thoughts? Post a comment to the relevant page for the particular recipe (or this page itself) or e-mail me: my first initial followed by pearson42 AT yahoo.com. My name is Mark. Additional keywords: review, reactions, thoughts, changes, revisions, change, revision, descriptions, kitchen, cook, cooking, recipes, Indian food.

Cauliflower with Cumin and Asafetida (Heeng zeere ki gobi) Review

4.5 stars? 5 stars? (on a 5 star scale) p. 145 A very good dish that's both easy to prepare and fast to cook. Some notes on the ingredients:

• I skipped the "generous pinch" of asafetida because I didn't have any.
• I used one fresh hot green chili, with seeds. (The recipe recommended 1/2 - 1 chili.)
• I skipped the 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander because I didn't have any. Though I didn't miss it / didn't think it would add anything, my friend says she would've liked it.
• I used 1/4 teaspoon cayenne. (The recipe recommended 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon.)
• I skipped the lemon juice because I didn't have any. Both of us eating this dish thought it would've added a nice touch (for next time).

Some notes on cooking:

• I used only two tablespoons of oil (rather than the three recommended) to apparently no ill effect.
• I added the recommended 1/2 cup water. I think this was too much; I needed to cook the cauliflower at medium/medium-high heat (rather than low) for twice the recommended length of time (12 minutes compared to 5-7) in order for most of the water to be gone. Next time add less water.

Shrimp with Zucchini (Jhinga aur ghia) Review

4 stars (on a 5 star scale) p. 118 Decent/good. My dinner companions really liked this dish, saying I was under-rating it. A quick one-pot meal (when served with rice). Cooking is fast after you start, so chop and measure everything beforehand! I changed the recipe slightly to apparently no ill effect. (I didn't bother sweating the zucchini, and I used about half the recommended oil.) The sauce was too liquidy in my opinion, as is typical for this cookbook. Note: Sorry for the shoddy picture; I made this at a dinner party where it was inappropriate to spend time posing the dish to be photographed.

Gujerati Carrot Salad (Gajar ka salad) Review

3 stars (on a 5 star scale) p. 217 Not particularly good. In fact, the first time I cooked it, I burnt the mustard seeds (it's impossible to tell visually, but I could taste it) and the dish was so bad (though still edible) (2 stars) that I vowed to give it another try. I tried it again and didn't burn the mustard seeds. The flavor combination was interesting--lemon, carrot, and mustard seeds--and a bit better than before but still not something I'd make again. I tried both attempts at room temperature and chilled. The recipe is easy and fast. Grating the carrots takes the most time, but that's not much. Regarding the pictures, because both were of servings from the bottom of the bowl, they show more mustard seeds than the other servings. close-up

Carrots, Peas, and Potatoes Flavored with Cumin (Gajar, matar, aur aloo ki bhaji) Review

4.5 stars (on a 5 star scale) p. 147 A fresh-tasting dish that feels (and is) healthy. It's surprisingly good for such a simple recipe and doesn't take too long, assuming you boil the potatoes ahead of time. The dish is onion heavy, which is good for me because I like onions. Some notes on the ingredients:

• I substituted canola oil for the mustard oil, as the recipe said was reasonable.
• I used only two tablespoons of oil (rather than the three recommended) to apparently no ill effect. I possibly could've used less: the vegetables were slick, though not unappealingly so.
• I used dried arbol chilies for the dried hot red chilies called for by the recipe. Yes, I know they're Mexican, but they're what I had available.

By the way, 1.5 pounds of English peas makes 1.5 cups of shelled peas. Addendum: One time that I cooked this later, I used frozen peas rather than fresh to apparently no ill effect. Maybe next time I'll use a bag of frozen peas and carrots to further cut down on the prep time. close-up prep: shelled peas, peeled and diced carrots, cumin seeds, and hot, dried red chilies prep: chopped onions, boiled and chopped potatoes, and sliced green onions completed dish

Cauliflower With Potatoes (Phool gobi aur aloo ki bhaji) Review

4.5 stars (likely, if made with less salt) (on a 5 star scale) p. 144 Solidly good but not great. The dish is definitely too salty, but otherwise I like the spicing. Also, it's easy to cook, even counting taking the time to roast and grind the cumin seeds. Some notes on the ingredients:

• I used four small potatoes instead of two medium ones.
• I used half the recommended oil.
• I ran out of ground coriander, thus using about 1/3 of a teaspoon rather than the 1/2 of a teaspoon the recipe calls for.
• I used a whole jalapeno after seeding it (versus the 1/2 to 1 hot green chili called for by the recipe).

close-up

Beets With Onions (Shorvedar chukander) Review

4 stars (or maybe 3.5) (on a 5 star scale) p. 139 An easy recipe for a satisfying dish with a tomato tang. It's more like soup without much broth (i.e., mostly the soup solids, not much liquid) rather than a stew, if that makes any sense. The tomatoes practically visually disappear into the soup because they're cut so small (as instructed). I liked the dish better chilled than warm. Some notes on the ingredients:

• I cut the oil in half, using only two tablespoons.
• I used 1/4 of a teaspoon cayenne (versus the 1/8 to 1/2 recommended by the recipe).

By the way, a beet weighs roughly 1/4 of a pound. Thus, this recipe uses three beets. Note to self: I used my smaller saucepan; it just barely fit.

Carrot Halva (Gajar ka halva) Review

5 stars (on a 5 star scale) p. 230 A pretty good Indian dessert tasting mainly of sweetened carrots. It's good warm and at room temperature. It tastes like traditional, moist Indian sweets, though in this case the flavor is carrot. There's a ghee flavor there too, but it isn't too strong. Also, leftovers smelled strongly of ghee, but they didn't taste any more strongly of it than the fresh dish. Some notes on the ingredients:

• I used incredibly sweet, fresh, farmers-market carrots--maybe that's part of what makes this so good. They're delicious alone.
• I used only 4 tablespoons of ghee, not the recommended 5. This turned out well, as 4 left me with extra ghee that wasn't absorbed by the carrots.
• I used currants instead of golden raisins because that's what I had at hand. (Yes, I know golden raisins would make the dish look prettier.)
• I skipped the pistachios because I couldn't easily acquire any.
• I declined to add the optional cream.

Some notes on the preparation:

• It took about an hour to boil off all the liquid. (The recipe estimated 30+ minutes.) It's easier to boil when there's less liquid in pot--I found myself gradually turning down the burner to keep the amount of boiling constant and not scorch the carrots or the milk.
• The recipe suggested 10-15 minutes of frying at medium-low should turn the carrots a "rich, reddish color" and make them "no longer have a wet, milky look." I found I needed medium heat to get anything to change color. Despite this, I never managed to turn anything red, though the carrots did get a bit darker. Furthermore, after 20 minutes, the carrots still had a wet look. (I thought that was enough frying so I stopped around then.)

close-up

Delicious Cocktail Koftas (Chhote kofte) Review

4 stars (on a 5 star scale) p. 47 Perhaps because the meatballs were slightly overcooked / a little dry inside, I liked the sauce better than the meatballs. This worked out fine, as there was lots of sauce--barely any liquid boiled off. This surprised me, as the recipe implied that most, if not all, the liquid would boil off, and that the sauce would be thick, not thin. Because the dish came out looking so different from what was intended, I'm tempted to try making it again. In this instance, this wasn't a four star dish, but I have high hopes the sauce will be thicker and the meatballs not overcooked next time. As for the preparation, there are many things to do, but the steps aren't hard. The only confusion I ran into was that the recipe said that after adding the paste, to cook until browned. But everything's already brown! Regarding leftovers, the leftover sauce wasn't as good, but it was still decent. Also, the refrigerated leftovers had a layer of congealed fat on top of the dish. (I don't recall what I did with it when I reheated the dish to eat.) sauce before adding meatballs meatballs before cooking after adding meatballs (no flash) meatballs and sauce after simmering (with flash). (i.e., completed dish)

Sour Chick-Peas (Khate chhole) Review

4 stars (on a 5 star scale) p. 173 A nicely sour, fragrant, flavorful dish. Although I like it, I must admit it's so sour one can't eat too much of it once, implying it must be a side dish, not a main dish. Sometimes I'm inclined to describe the broth as rich, but given that it's light and lacks cream, I think what I really mean is rich in flavor and that the sourness gives it a sense of fullness. I like it warm or cold better than lukewarm. (I only mention this because the cookbook suggests lukewarm might be good.) It smells really potent (but good) as it cooks. Some note on the preparation:

• Rather than cooking chickpeas from scratch, I used canned chickpeas. Two 15-ounce cans yielded 2.75 cups of chickpea, half a cup more than the recipe calls for. Also, these two cans yielded 1 7/8ths cups of chickpea water, a slight bit more than the 1.75 cups the recipe calls for. I don't know if the canned liquid is a higher or lower percent chickpea juice than that made by cooking the chickpeas the standard way.
• I used half the recommended oil.
• It takes a while to cut all the vegetables!
• It takes a lot of ginger to make one tablespoon of very finely grated ginger.