Notes about Recipes in this book

• Okra fries (Tali bhindi)

  • MelMM on March 08, 2015

    Brilliant recipe, that will be a repeat in my house. The only thing I would change is to add salt to the chickpea flour/spice mixture, and then more salt when the okra slivers come out of the fryer.

• Pan-grilled courgettes with a spicy tomato sauce (Tala hua courgette)

  • kgrainger on July 12, 2019

    Made the spicy tomato sauce with 2 fresh tomatoes from the CSA and one canned fire roasted diced tomatoes. Added pan grilled zucchini and chickpeas to the sauce and ate with naan on the side. It is a great base for a quick curry.

• Stir-fried cabbage (Bandh gobi ki sabzi)

  • etcjm on March 08, 2021

    Perfectly good side. I used fresh red chillies. Always enjoy cabbage and there are quite a few recipes just like this one out there.

• Roasted cauliflower with Punjabi seasonings (Oven ki gobi)

  • MelMM on March 08, 2015

    Didn't thrill me. This recipe somehow lacked a certain depth of flavor. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great.

• Mynah Pemmaiah's simple Kodava mushroom curry (Kumme curry)

  • rionafaith on January 20, 2018

    Good flavor but needs some tweaks with the liquid component. I used chicken stock instead of water since I had it, but 3/4 cup was waaaay too much and I ended up simmering with the cover off for quite a while longer to try to reduce everything so it wouldn't be so watery. Next time I would only add 1/4 cup liquid. Coconut milk would also be great instead of water/stock!

• Peas & potatoes cooked in a Bihari style (Matar ki ghugni)

  • MelMM on March 08, 2015

    Rather bland. I think this would be better if the onions were cooked longer, until they start to brown, rather than just soften. This would be more like 20 minutes instead of the 5 minutes specified in the recipe. Also, like every single recipe in this book I've tried, it needed more salt.

• Vinita Pittie's stir-fried potatoes with chaat masala (Chaat masalay walay aloo)

  • VineTomato on April 19, 2020

    Not the best, however I didn't follow the method precisely. Madhur calls for you to fry the spices and then remove and grind them - ugh - grinding spices that have been fried in oil, that seems like an unnecessary mission. Especially as most of the spices are already ground, and there is no huge spices. So I just added the potatoes and fried them with the spice. As I say not the best. Won't be making these again.

• Chana dal with spinach & tomato (Saag-tamatar wali chana dal)

  • SugarFree_Vegan on May 16, 2015

    pg 120 - I used much less oil (I used Coconut) to fry the spices and veggies for this delicious Dal. I also cooked my lentils in my InstantPot pressure cooker for 6 mins with a 10 min natural release, I'd soaked the dal for an hour prior to cooking and then tipped the lentils into the pan that I'd cooked the veggies in and then let it all bubble together for about 30 mins before adding the spinach.

  • etcjm on October 03, 2020

    Lovely. I had got into a bit of a rut with various dhals so looked quickly for an alternative. Enjoyed and will do again.

• Mixed dal, Delhi style (Dilli ki mili jhuli dal)

  • MelMM on March 08, 2015

    Yet another recipe that was too bland from this book. It's becoming a theme. There was no need to mash the dal with a potato masher - after 45 minutes, it was already cooked to mush. The picture of the spices being fried on the previous page clearly shows turmeric in the oil, but the only turmeric in the recipe was added to the simmering dal, not to the oil. Annoying. The dish wasn't bad, but it wasn't particularly exciting either.

• Whole red lentils with cumin & shallots (Sabut masoor)

  • anniecc on August 04, 2022

    This is my family’s favourite dal, although I normally cook it with split red lentils for speed. It’s not too spicy and the shallots add an amazing savoury flavour.

  • etcjm on March 08, 2021

    Very simple to knock this up as a side - or even a lunch (which is what leftovers will be tomorrow). Not spicy, so adjust up if it's heat you are after. Took longer than an hour to cook the lentils down, so account for this. I will do this one again when feeding more people. Was lovely with peshwari naan.

• Rita D'Souza's rice flour pancakes (Rice flour dosas)

  • VineTomato on April 19, 2020

    There is an error in the recipe, the method refers to spices that are not listed in ingredients. These were very hard to cook. I first tried on my dosa pan - complete failure and then had little success in a non stick skillet. There were hardly any edible dosas by the end, but I was starting to get the hang of it. Two reflections: heat is good, they don't appear to burn easily and the timing of 2 min per side was accurate.

• Fresh Indian cheese in a butter tomato sauce (Paneer makhani)

  • fealachan on December 01, 2019

    Very easy recipe. I substitute sour cream for the cream and lemon juice. The recipe works well with chicken instead of the paneer as a cheat's butter chicken.

• Spinach with fresh Indian cheese (Saag paneer)

  • Avcount on January 03, 2022

    Love this recipe and make it frequently. Even better when using halloumi instead of paneer (though reduce the amount of salt).

• Simple seasoned yoghurt North Indian style (Dahi ka saada raita)

  • MelMM on March 08, 2015

    Very simple. Just yoghurt, ground red chiles, ground cumin, and salt. I doubled the salt, which made it about right. This was a nice condiment to serve with the other dishes I made from the book, and added a lot to their flavor.