1,000 Indian Recipes

by Neelam Batra

Delve into the fascinating flavors and variety of Indian cuisine with this unrivaled recipe collection You'll discover delicious choices for dishes that make Indian food crispy fritters; tangy pickles; chaat snacks and salads; refreshing yogurt raitas; richly flavored curries; comforting legume (dal) dishes; creative vegetable and meat main courses and side dishes; decadent desserts; and exotic drinks. To guide your cooking, Neelam Batra provides time-and labor-saving methods, ingredient substitutions, and menu suggestions, and addresses modern health concerns without sacrificing flavor. This is a book Indian food lovers—and health-conscious eaters and vegetarians, too—can turn to for everyday meals and special occasions for years to come!

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Indian Literature, Reference, India

704 pages, Hardcover

First published September 24, 2002

Reviews

[Ljubica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've owned this cookbook for many years now, and it is my go-to for authentic Indian cuisine. Like all things, cooking Indian food takes practice; however, the advice and techniques contained within this book will expedite your success ten-fold! Make sure you read all of the initial information first before attempting recipes. Indian cooking is all about huge batches of spice mixes, pastes, and long cook time (hello slow cooker, pressure cooker, or dutch oven set to 300F for 5 hours!). If you have those on hand at any given time, weeknight meals can take as little as 15-25 minutes to prep and then the rest is up to the cooking method you choose. I work from home, so I typically use a dutch oven to "process" the food aka cook it on low for a long period of time, like a beef stew.

Cooking "Indian style" curries (aka stews) via this book's advice has actually given me the techniques I need to make even better North American flavored stews and dishes. I love cookbooks that teach technique and base "mixes" over ones that are recipe-based only. Oftentimes, I skip over the recipes entirely and just make sure I have the spices and pastes I need to create "use up all the ingredients in your fridge" scratch curries. If my house were ever on fire, I would grab this cookbook first and then the rest can burn. Haha. Seriously, it is the BEST cookbook ever.

[TLP · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to understand some of the basics of indian cooking... multiple examples of the same recipe with different ingredients helps to give a better understanding of the techniques and how to apply them without a recipe. It also helps with an understanding of how to pair different recipes for a full meal.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A major difficulty in wrapping one's arms (and head) around the whole of East Indian cooking is its diversity. The country is large. The political divisions are many. The religions are plural. The ethnicities are numerous. The geography is varied. There are simply too many foodways to be easily mastered. Neelam Batra needed 690 pages to set forth a thousand recipes appropriately descriptive of the whole of India. She admits that the coverage is not exhaustive. One of the early sections -- devoted to seasoning -- may be the most valuable part of the book. The chapter introduces each individual spice and then teaches one how to compound them to produce innumerable nuances. Master this chapter and one never needs to buy a jar marked "curry powder" again. The recipe selection is largely vegetarian but not fanatically so. Many of the dishes which include meat also offer vegetarian alternatives. Batra also offers both the hard (traditional) way and the easy (Westernized) way to produce many dishes, e.g. kulfi (East Indian ice cream) made from rabdi (milk pudding) or more quickly and simply from canned condensed milk and Cool Whip. The author is a native of New Dehli but has lived in California for two decades. There is a bit of "fusion" in some of her recipes, e.g. the one that calls for pepper jack cheese. Despite its several limitations, this is now my "go to" East Indian cookbook.

[Deodand · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to review a cookbook this large without spending a great deal of time with it. The handful of recipes I have cooked from it have all turned out exactly the way they should, so I am excited to continue cooking from this classic. I have little trouble getting ingredients, since I live in a large metro area with a big Asian population, but it is a consideration for those less lucky in this regard.

I am glad that there aren't many sub suggestions in this book. I've read the other books that take Indian cooking and try to make it really simple for North Americans - now I want to delve a little deeper and this is a great place to start.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, authentic recipes from all over India. Because I live near a wonderful international farmers market and one of the best Indian groceries in the state, I can find all the ingredients in the book. However, if I lived anywhere more remote, I would find this cookbook frustrating. The ingredients would be hard to find and the author provides very few substitution ideas.

[Steven Phelps · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author clearly and simply describes what it takes to create phenomenal Indian food dishes at home. Incorporating a wide variety of classic recipes, personal favorites and great menu ideas, its hard to go wrong. If you're looking for a single resource that you want to keep in your kitchen for the next 60 years, buy this book.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

New vistas, weirder spices. Favorites: peach-ginger curry, smashed potatoes with pomegranate seeds, mushrooms in almond-poppy seed sauce.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is fun! Demystifies Indian food and makes it accessible.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've like the recipes I've tried -- quite a lot of variety.

[Anthony Mancuso]

Aarti Sequiera recommended it on her You Tube show... I'm learning so much about Indian cuisine... excited to make many of her recipes!

[Nazia Khatri]

I wana read

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am glad I decided to add this book to my collection. I have been making a few dishes for a while but wanted to try to add more variety and authenticity to my repertoire.