The Essential Madhur Jaffrey

Author: Madhur Jaffrey

Review

Madhur Jaffrey dominates the world of Indian cookbooks and this is a relatively slim volume of her most popular recipes.

For those coming to Indian cooking for the first time, this would be an excellent primer. The book is divided by food types and the individual chapters are:

• Soups, snacks and appetisers
• Fish and Shellfish
• Meat
• Poultry
• Vegetables
• Rice
• Dals
• Eggs, Yoghurt and Paneer
• Breads
• Chutneys, Pickles and Relishes
• Desserts

Some of the dishes are not necessarily simple to make (although quite a few need less than 15 minutes total preparation and cooking time) but they are an excellent introduction to the huge variety of Indian food that is on offer beyond the narrow spectrum offered by the majority of Indian restaurants. Jaffrey explores food from across the Indian subcontinent and there is a huge variety of flavours to explore.

The recipe for grilled chicken strips, which has become a favourite in our household, is well worth the price of the book alone and although the 16 ingredients for a marinade may seem excessive, the end result is well worth it. Other favourites include pyazwale sookhe aloo (‘dry’ potatoes with onions), chickpeas with garlic and ginger, fresh green chutney with coriander leaves and yoghurt and fresh mint chutney with fruit.

Publisher

Ebury Press, 1996, £10, 224 pages (paperback)

Reviewer

Joe Saumarez Smith (11 April, 2007)