Poor Richard’s Almanac

Silence Dogood here. Summer means plenty of fresh vegetables, and I know of no cuisine that can do more with vegetables than the many cuisines of India. So I was thrilled to see an article in my local paper this morning announcing the publication of a new Indian cookbook, Modern Spice: Inspired Indian Flavors for the Contemporary Kitchen, by Monica Bhide (Simon & Schuster, 2009, $25). Needless to say, it’s now on the Silence Birthday List. (Are you reading this, Ben?!!)

This of course sent me running to my own cookbook collection to see what I have on the shelves. My own Indian cookbook collection is eccentric and not necessarily representative, since it’s simply the cookbooks (used and new) I’ve been unable to resist over the years, or have been given by far better cooks than I am. But I love them all, so I thought I’d share them with you in case you’d like to check them out and maybe start an Indian cookbook collection of your own! Note that I’m omitting my many cookbooks that include sections of Indian recipes. The ones in this list are all India, all the time:

Lord Krishna’s Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking (Yamuna Devi, Bala Books, 1987, $29.95 hardcover). This massive tome does for Indian cooking what Mastering the Art of French Cooking did for French cuisine: It makes it accessible to American cooks. With more than 500 recipes, it’s really the Bible of Indian cooking. But it’s illustrated, so there aren’t any mouthwatering photos to inspire you, and its scope is so vast you might find it intimidating if you’re not already into Indian cooking. Rest assured, though, the tone is friendly, upbeat, and helpful.

Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cooking (Barron’s, 1995, $25 hardcover). This is my friend Huma’s favorite Indian cookbook, and she gave me a copy so I could enjoy preparing some of her favorite dishes as well. I grew up cooking with Madhur Jaffrey’s World of the East Vegetarian Cooking, which appeared in the glorious era of The Vegetarian Epicure, Laurel’s Kitchen, and The Moosewood Cookbook, but was unaware of this (definitely not vegetarian!) cookbook until Huma gave it to me. Luscious color photos and illustrations inspire and instruct, and with 130 recipes, the scope is a bit more manageable if you find huge cookbooks intimidating.

Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India (Chandra Padmanabhan, Periplus, 1994, $21.95 softcover). This is actually my favorite Indian cookbook. The photos of everything look so good, you just want to cry because you’re not eating it all right now. The regional focus allows the author to present all sorts of variations on each dish, and to give a whole chapter to the delicious Indian snacks eaten at tiffin (sort of Indian tea time). If only we had street vendors selling them here!!! The language can be a bit confusing, as when I read one recipe that called for 4-5 drumsticks (Hey! I thought this was a vegetarian cookbook, and last time I looked, chickens weren’t vegetables!), only to find out from a glossary in back that drumsticks are a type of Indian squash, or when the author uses “curd” to refer to yogurt rather than cottage cheese or tofu (bean curd). But these are minor inconveniences in a book that’s this mouthwatering.

Good Cooking from India (Shahnaz Mehta with Joan Korenblit, Rodale Press, 1981, $14.95 hardcover).  This long out-of-print book may still be lurking in used bookstores near you or on Amazon. It’s classic granola-era Rodale, with no salt or sugar and only whole grains, such as brown rice, something I have never seen eaten or served by Indians anywhere, so its authenticity leaves a bit to be desired. But Rodale was early to see the health benefits of eating Indian-style, so if your family’s health matters more to you than recreating authentic recipes, and if you’d like to introduce your family to Indian cuisine without overpowering them with hot spices, this might be a good place to start. Not vegetarian.

Indian Vegetarian Cooking (Sumana Ray, The Apple Press, 1984, $15 hardcover). The over-the-top subtitle of this book, “The New All-Colour Guide to Delicious and Exotic Vegetarian Dishes of the Mysterious East,” is so screamingly bad that it might keep you from buying this out-of-print classic, even if you could find it. But don’t be put off. The beauty of this book is in the simplicity of its recipes. If you’d like to try Indian cuisine without spending hours at the stove, this is the book. It’s British, and has a few puzzlers for us Americans (calling paneer, the Indian cheese, cottage cheese, when it has no curds, for example), but mercifully it gives measurements in ounces and tablespoons, etc., as well as grams, so even if you’re metrically illiterate like me you can make the recipes with confidence.

Royal Indian Cookery: A Taste of Palace Life (Manju Shivraj Singh, McGraw-Hill, 1987, $18.95 hardcover). At the opposite end of the spectrum is another out-of-print book. You definitely get the idea that you’re not in Kansas anymore when you see “Foreword by Her Highness the Raj Mata of Jaipur,” and sure enough, the author grew up in the City Palace of Jaipur and participated in her royal family’s lavish lifestyle. This book celebrates the cuisine of Jaipur and Rajasthan at its finest, and it’s a delight to read. You’ll find recipes here that I, at least, have never seen elsewhere, such as Wild Boar or Pork Pickle (“In Rajasthan, this pickle would be made in the winter after a boar hunt”) and Partridge Curry. The description of the Wedding Feast alone is worth the price of the book!

Well, it wouldn’t be fair to tempt you with all these Indian delights and not give you even one recipe, would it? Some Indian curry mixtures and garam masalas can be quite complex. But this classic Bengali spice mix, called Panch Puran, is incredibly easy, since you’re just combining equal parts of whole spices.  It’s traditionally used to flavor vegetable dishes, and it’s heated in the butter, ghee (clarified butter), or oil before adding the vegetables so the spices can release their flavor.

To make Panch Puran, mix equal parts whole seeds of cumin, black mustardseed, fennel, fenugreek, and nigella (that’s love-in-a-mist for all you gardeners). You may have to find an Indian or Asian market or go online to get nigella seeds for cooking instead of planting, and black mustardseed can be a bit challenging, too, though I can find it locally at Echo Hill, a whole-foods bulk market. I use black mustardseeds all the time, so I wouldn’t want to skip them, but if you can’t find nigella seed and aren’t tied to tradition, you could always replace it with a fifth spice of your choosing, such as ground cardamom or turmeric. I say, experiment and find what you (and your family) like!

And please, if you have favorite Indian cookbooks, let me know what they are. There’s always more room on my birthday list!

           ‘Til next time,

                   Silence