BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

A word about this section:

This website is based on the Bengali language cook book "Begum-er Mussalmani Ranna" written by Mrs. Monira Begum ( my mom  ). However, all the copies are sold out, and it is now out of market. One of my friends stole my copy as well! While you enjoy translated english versions of the recipes on this site, nothing should stop you from enjoying recipes from other books. So see my recommendations below. Since I am recommending them, you can be sure they must be good (in fact on this site that is the definition of 'good' - 'that which is recommended by me').

If you are an author, and would like your book reviewed by me, sorry, I decide what to review. I will not be influenced by any one. Of course if you bribe me, then it changes e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Feel free to bribe me, its an ancient Indian tradition :)

No matter how high or low I rate the books, all the books reviewed below are exceptionally good books. I rank them based on their relative strengths. Feel free to send me your comments.

Home Chefs of the world: Rice and Rice-based Recipes: Compiled By Inderjeet K. Virmani

Rating: ***

For a change, this review is not purely about Indian food, but sort of closely related. Rice is said to have been originated in India and is a staple diet in many parts of the world. I really had no idea how many parts or how widespread was its use globally. This book is about rice recipes from all over the world. Its a wonderful compilation of recipes ranging from Asia, Middle East, to Australia and North America. Read on for the full review, and you will find a pleasant surprise at the end :)

As most of my readers know, I am very curious about not just a food, but also about the little stories behind it. On that account this book does not dissapoint. Before listing the recipes, it gives a short story of how it is used in the region. Example "Brazilians like soft, nonsticky, and aromatic rice. They cook rice in various ways. In one  special method, dried rice grains are fried with onions and chopped tomatoes, and then cooked in salted water on low fire."

Some of the recipes you will find in the book are Reisauflauf (Rice Pudding) from Germany, Texas Hash from USA, Caramelized Rice from Peru, Pineapple Fried Rice from Thailand, and Fish Pulao/Pilaf from India. I can really go on and on. This book is literally a goldmine of rice and rice related recipes. It has been sponsored by the International Rice Research Institute in Phillipines.

All the recipes are very simple to follow, and carry the names of cooks who have contributed the recipes. Note that these are home recipes, not restuarant recipes, which is why I am reviewing it here.

From what I've told you so far, it would have been sufficient, but no, the compilation goes even further to include desserts, beverages, and side dishes to be used with the rice items. This allows you have a complete meal course without trying to figure out "what side dish would go with this?". Of source some of the desserts and beverages are itself made from rice - all the better. From Passion Julius, a beverage from USA, to Erwtensoep (Dutch Pea Soup) from, you guessed it, Holland.

Technically speaking, this book is an all-in-one recipe book for those who love, or flirt, with rice.

Now why did I give it a rating of 3 star and not more? Its because it has no pictures. At least a couple of them would be nice. No matter who is reading this book, due to its global nature, they will find many unfamiliar dishes. Having a photo might be the push one needs to take the plunge and decide to execute the recipe. Without photos, it remains an interesting read, but misses the gut factor which give someone that urge to cook one of the recipes.

Now for the nice surprise I promised :-) You don't have to buy it! Having published it as far back in 1991, IRRI has now allowed free distribution of electronic copies of the book. So that's exactly what I am doing! Here's the free ebook for your guilt free downloading and adventurous cooking.

Link 1

Link 2 (Alternative)

Still want the hardcopy? Here's where to find it (you have to buy a used copy though).

Find it at your local Library (USA) -->  Home Chefs of the world

Buy it Online (USA) -->  Home Chefs of the world (Amazon.com $32.95)

Buy it Online (India) -->  Sorry, no Indian site found for this book :(

Ajanta: By Lachu Moorjani

Rating: ***1/2

I was apprehensive about the book, knowing that the author, Lachu Moorjani, runs a restaurant in California. Having spent almost 8 years in US, I believe 99% of Indian restaurants in US serve bland and uninteresting food, to cater to a western audience (or maybe they just hire bad cooks, I don't know).

This book too seems geared for a wider audience, including western cooks (as hinted by a section on wine selection for Indian food). However, after reading through it, I realized that it makes no compromises and cuts no corner. Too many writers and chefs dumb down Indian cooking to appeal to western readers. Not this guy. This is no 'Indian cooking for dummies'; it probably is the real deal.

Mr. Moorjani is not a cruel guy. He provides a soft landing to hardcore Indian cooking, with a well-written introduction to Indian cooking, spices, techniques, tips, etc. As such this book is a great book for inexperienced Indians cooks as well. In fact the introductory chapters are one of the best I've seen in an Indian cookbook so far.

The recipes are arranged by regions of India. As we Indians know, there is no such thing as 'Indian food', just like there is no answer to 'what color is the rainbow?’ He presents the diversity of Indian cooking traditions clearly.

Each region gets a set of recipes for a complete meal ("Feast from Rajasthan", "Feast from Bengal", etc), comprising appetizer, main dish, dessert, etc. Of course the concept of phases, like appetizers, then food, then dessert, is essentially an Arabian practice that spread to the rest of the world. Anyway, that diversion aside, this is a neat way to arrange recipes. At the end there are additional recipes as well.

There are popular dishes like tandoori chicken, and samosa, and also less well-known dishes like Kolhapuri gosht and Lotus root cake.

The photographs are not too glossy/professional as you see in western magazines. Instead they have an earthy feeling to them and are mouth watering. It doesn't make you say 'what a beautiful photo'; it makes you say 'I want to eat that, right now!!!’ The Achari Baingun photo almost made me like vegetables (yeah, I hate eating vegetables!). I'm sure veggies will like love this item.

Are the recipes authentic? Almost. Some are more authentic than others. There is a bit of fusion as well (e.g. scallop tikki). That doesn't however take anything away, Indian food with its influence the world over, is an example of the heights that can be achieved by fusion (see my article on world influences on Indian food for more).

Now lets get to the negatives. Yes, being negative is a must. If you argue with me, I’ll say something about ying and yang stuff to confuse you. So don’t get negative on me, for being negative. I hate the 'be positive' cult which makes cult members act like zombies and 'like' everything in the world. I know who started the fad, but it would be out of place to go in to details here. There are negative things in this world, and wishful thinking won't make it go away.

I take offence that he listed Rasgulla under Rajasthani. Hey Mr. Moorjani, it is 'Rosogolla' okay, and it is a Bengali/Oriya sweet. The Oriyas created rosogolla, centuries ago, and Bengalis made it popular. Oriya brothers and sisters (I actually do have a cousin who is half Oriya), please take my side on this one.

The recipes arranged in sets of regional feasts, is fine in theory, but lets face it, I'm not going to follow that. I'll just pick and choose and cook what I want. It is good to know what region it is from, but is practically irrelevant to me. Besides after he messed up with Rasgulla, doubts have crept in my mind if rest of the items is accurate as well. What's the difference between 'North Indian feast' and 'Uttar Pradesh feast'? Isn't Uttar Pradesh part of North India; it literally means Northern State.

I did not like the Chicken Biryani recipe (what? no nutmeg and no mace??). I don't like this recipe (I know I already said that). Try my Mutton Biryani recipe (its a Bengali style Biryani).

Now for the final verdict.
I like this book. Its sophisticated, and balanced. It assumes you are a good cook, but will not leave you in the lurch if you aren't. Overall it is a 'good to have', though not 'must have'. I’m still upset about his ‘rasgulla’ faux pas!

I also think the book is overpriced, specially in India. Compared with Malabar Muslim Cookery, this comes out even more pricey. I recommend borrowing it from library first, then deciding if you want to buy it.

Find it at your local Library (USA) -->  Ajanta

I wish we had a library search like this in India :(

Buy it Online (USA) -->  Ajanta (Amazon.com $22.99)

Buy it Online (India) -->  Ajanta Rs 1,578 (Man! its expensive!!)

The volume and quality of her work is impressive. There are lots of recipes, from puri, to biryani to pickle, as also vegetables and sweets.

Here's an example of a recipe from the book, to illustrate its simplicity.

Erachi Porichathu

Mutton 250 gm                                             Garlic 1 pod

Chilli Powder 2 tbsp                                     Salt To taste

Turmeric Powder 1/2 tsp                                Oil for frying

Aniseed 2 tsp

Clean, cut and wash the mutton, Grind the Aniseed and Garlic. Cook the mutton with all ingredients in just sufficient water till the mutton is tender and water is absorbed. Heat the oil. Add the mutton and fry on a low heat till the mutton is brown and oil comes out.

(I hope no one accuses me of copyright violation. I'm actually recommending the book.)

As you know (its fine if you don't know, I was going to say it anyway!) Malabar muslims are not related to the north Indian persio-mughal culture. They are descendants of Arab sailors and traders (most likely from Yemen), and their presence predates muslim invasions of North India. The Malabar muslims are also known as Moopla or Mopilla. The food is unrelated to mughlai cuisine, as you will instantly notice when you read this book. However, there are some North Indian influences (I know biryani has no connection with ancient arab sailors). And I'm sure like mughlai cuisine, Malabar Muslim cuisine has also evolved since its original arab roots (example: use of tomatoes, which is a Portugese import).

What is also interesting is the widespread use of aniseed, which is of Greek/Roman origin. It is a sweet and very aromatic spice. So the dishes would come out with a beautiful aroma. In India practically speaking we don't distinguish between aniseed and saunf (mouri in Bengali, fennel in english), though they are different. Technically saunf is called 'patli saunf' and aniseed is called 'vilayati saunf'.

By the way, just a small trivia - did you know that the Malabar Muslims had developed an Arabic-Malayalam language, which was basically Malayalam in Arabic script. Vast body of literature was created in this combined language. Another trivia - The Jumma mosque in Kerala is the 2nd oldest mosque in the world (2nd only to mosque built by Prophet Muhammad in Medina).

I'm giving this book a high rating of ****1/2 for its depth and quality of the recipes, and also for the rarity of good books in this unique and less widely known cuisine of India (Malabar Muslim cuisine). Why not a 5 star? because some (just some, not all) of the instructions assume a certain level of experience of the cook. For example see the recipe above. I'm sure the less experienced cooks will wonder just how much is "just sufficient water"?? So you may need multiple attempts to get it right.

Unfortunately this book is hard to find in stores. Why bookshelves are full of fancy Tarla Dalal books and not gems like this one, really upsets me. Anyway, I hope I am correcting the situation in my own little way by recommending it on this site.

Here are some links to sites where you can buy the book (YES BUY IT!). No they don't pay me a damn cent or paisa, even though I'm indirectly promoting their sites! Amazon does, but they don't have half the Indian recipe books I want! This is so unfair! I'm using too many exclamation marks, which is not good as well!. Okay I'm going to get even, by putting the library search link before the buy links.

Library catalog search (USA) --> Malabar Muslim Cuisine

 

USA Buy --->  Malabar Muslim Cookery - $11.75

 

India Buy --->  Malabar Muslim Cookery - Rs. 85

A delightful english translation, by Persian scholar and food lover Salma Husain, of the original Persian recipe book from Shah Jahan's kitchen. Reading this book is not just a culinary journey but also a journey in time. It contains pulao recipes, ranging from familiar ones like Murg pulao, interesting ones like narangi pulao, to bizarre ones like samosa pulao. Discovered this book with mom when I went to India on vacation. Highly recommended to add to your collection of cookbooks (no I'm not claiming that this site is all you need!).

I give it *** rating and not higher because of the narrow scope of the book - it only has pulao recipes and nothing else. It gets tedious after a while. The quantities are also diffcult to follow as you have to constantly refer to a separate table to understand what is a 'ser', 'maund' and other arcane measurements, which have been translated literally.

I'm also giving links to where you can buy or borrow from library. So no excuse to not get them whether you're in India or USA.

USA buy --->  

India buy --->   Nuskha-e-shahjahani  by Husain Salma Price: Rs. 395

Library catalog search (USA) --> Nuskha-e-shahjahani