Curried Favors: Family Recipes from South India

by Maya Kaimal Macmillan

Book Overview

Challenging the stereotypes that Indian curries are rich and heavy, difficult to prepare, and made with hard-to-find ingredients, this book introduces the light, tropical tastes of south India with accessible ingredients and simple methods. Adapting these south Indian recipes for the average kitchen, the author familiarizes the home cook with this lesser-known cuisine.

An abundance of coconut and seafood, along with a host of exotic fruits...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0789206285
• ISBN13: 9780789206282
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Abbeville Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 1.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Looking to get started in Indian Cooking?

I was searching for an Indian Cookbook and a friend of mine recommended "Curried Favors". She had treated a group of fellow Indian food lovers including me to dinner and her dishes came from this book, so finally I ordered it a few weeks ago myself. So I went shopping for ingredients and set myself in the kitchen to prepare Chicken Biriyani, Potatoes and Tomatoes, Eggplant and Tomatoes (both are vegetable curries), and Raita. They were awesome dishes and best of all, easy to follow recipes that even the novice cook can make. I have really enjoyed this book, and would recommend as an introduction to Indian cooking.

My Favorite Indian Cookbook!...........

...........This cookbook, filled with recipes from Southern India, is an absolute treasure! Maya Kaimal MacMillan shares her family recipes, the evolution of her own interest in cooking, and the influences on Indian and Southern Indian cooking (particularly from the Kerala region) in this cookbook that contains numerous pictures of mouth-watering dishes. She also includes a handy guide to finding ingredients, useful kitchen equipment, a guide to menu planning, and intersperses pictures of Southern Indian life throughout her cookbook, making it a wonderful and thorough experience in discovering this cherished cuisine.Some recipes we've tried and found outstanding include: Rava Masala Dosa (with Potatoes and Onions), Split Pea Vada, Baji, Samosas with Tamarind Chutney, Stir-Fried Okra, Tandoori Chicken, Egg Masala, Spinach Lamb, Rogan Josh, Gulab Jamun, Spiced Tea, and Mango Lassi. We are eager to try so many more of the more than 100 recipes in this book that Mac Millan has divided into chapters such as: Light Meals and Snacks, Soups, Salads and Chutneys, Dhals and Vegetables, Fish and Shrimp, Chicken and Eggs, Lamb, Beef and Pork, Rice and Breads, Desserts and Beverages, and Spice Blends. So very many of the recipes look tempting and not very difficult to prepare. Overall, I highly recommend this cookbook which, so far, has produced steady no -fail recipes!

Easy, accessible recipies with great results

I do a lot of cooking, and this book enables me to produce more flavorful, interesting results for a given -- modest -- amount of work than just about any other book on my shelf. And you don't have to love or even know anything about Indian food to love the results.What makes it so terrific? First, the recipes are clear and easy to follow, from the crisp ingredient lists to the step-by-step instructions that give just the right amount of detail to keep you confidently on track. No more guessing about how brown the onions should be; she tells you.Next, while the ingredient lists can be long, half tend to be spices you simply throw together before you start, and just about everything can be found in the average American supermarket. (Yes, really.) Third, from a technique perspective its demands are modest -- chop, saute, simmer -- so even novice or unconfident cooks can produce good results. And, most recipes take the same basic steps in the same order so the more you use the book the more you grow in speed and confidence. The only thing that's a pain is she sometimes calls for a meat which is hard to find off the bone, e.g., chicken thighs. Sometimes I bone... and sometimes I substitute boneless chicken breasts. Either works just fine.Lastly, the meat recipes come with accompaniment suggestions -- veg, rice -- which is very helpful for those not well versed in Indian cuisine.All in all, this book is now one of few dependable staples I take down every other week to do my menu planning and shopping lists. And it will be for you, too.

The closest to home-town receipes ever found!!

The book is well written and demonstrated with color photos. This makes it very impressive. The receipes are easy to follow. I gave this book as a gift to my son, since he always asks me the receipes for some of the Kerala food. Every time I give him the receipes, he loses it or complaints that the measurment is not easy to follow. Then I found this book and I was really excited. This is the best Kerala receipe book that I have ever found that is close to my home town cooking. Thanks to Maya.

Amazing Indian Food, Easy to Follow Recipes

My recipe for success: After you receive this book, make a list of all the spices and cooking stuff (like Tamarind Paste) that you don't have. Go shopping. Come home and start making the best Indian food you have ever tasted. Begin inviting your friends over for the best Indian food they have ever tasted. Enjoy.This wonderful cookbook is a treat in many ways. There are beautiful pictures, clear explanations of techniques, detailed descriptions of products you need (and substitutions if you can't find curry leaves, like me!), and accurate estimates of time needed for preparation and cooking. And that doesn't even take into account the marvelous food that you will rather effortlessly produce! Indian food is really starting to become popular in the US, and in Europe South Indian food (the kind featured in this book) is the trendiest wave of Indian cuisine. I find the cuisine of South India less heavy and "brighter" than many Mughal dishes, and I think that even those of you who haven't particularly liked Indian food in the past will gobble up the food in this book. Some of my favorites include Shrimp Thiyal (yummy coconut-shrimp curry), Lamb Korma (admittedly a Mughal dish, and you can easily substitute chicken), and the spinach Dhal (green split peas with spinach and flakes of coconut).