Don't knock Indian buffet restaurants, dear Rusdies, because few restaurants of any cuisine actually duplicate home-cooking, and the Indian buffets make an amazingly tasty meal. Better than most meals you can grab for under $15. I did buy Sameen Rushdie's book while visiting England in the 1990s and noticed the striking resemblance she bore to Salman from her picture on the front cover. No mention was made in the text of her being Salman's sister but I was quite sure she was and was all the more intrigued by the recipes, which are very good. I still refer to the book all these years later for inspiration.
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After reading this article I put this book in my Amazon cart to buy on a rainy day. Today while looking for a Vietnamese cookbook in my cupboard, I stumbled onto the original Sameen Rushdie Indian Cookery book from 1988. I must have kept it when cleaning out my parents’ home. My Mom, a Muslim doctor from Pune, was an exceptional cook and I have many of her recipes in my handwritten, falling-apart cookbook. I am so excited to start cooking with Sameen’s book knowing that my Mom May have used it. I may cave a buy the new one with photos and foreword by Salman.
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I would not dismiss this book as elitist, though upper class, the Rushdies certainly are. Of the myriad Indian cuisines, aristocratic, North Indian Muslim cuisine, is the most fabled. Its interesting to see how its done at home, after all, the Bangladeshis actually tried to recreate this particular experience in their hole in the wall kitchens.Most generic Indian restaurants abroad, try and approximate this cuisine. I would not eat calf brain, but bheja fry is a popular delicacy in the streets of Mumbai during Ramadan. Yes, the Rushdie family recipes would worth looking up, as an authentic slice of family history.
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For those who think "Indian cooking" is greasy or unrelievedly spicy: you have unfortunately run into restaurants equivalent to US 1950's Chinese or Italian before there were enough potential patrons who could appreciate well-made, regionally diverse cooking.
Also, in the earliest Indian restaurants in the US, even in NYC, many of the cooks were never trained as cooks-- neither professionally, nor under the equally valid, lengthy mentorship of a female family member.
In NYC in the 1970s, E. 6th st in the East Village was literally wall-to-wall cheap "Indian" restaurants. I learned that the first ones were started by young Indian men who had come to the US for college, were homesick for home food, and trying to approximate it. But they had not been raised to expect to cook for themselves, so they hadn't gotten home culinary education, nor later formal training. Their profession before becoming a cook? Engineering, usually, or accounting, or business. (As a regular,I often chatted with them about our lives, on slow nights.)
When I finally found a terrific South Indian place* that became my family's go-to, I asked the owner/chef what his profession had been back in Indian.
Looking slightly surprised, he said "Culinary Institute back in Mumbai." I realized-- of course he's so much better; he's been trained.
SO: don't let initial bad experiences turn you off to great Indian cuisineS, plural.
*His restaurant had a long run, finally closed by rocketing rents. Try Queens.
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The population of India is over 1.3 billion or nearly four times that of the US. Not surprising that Indian regional foods would find their way into the nation of hamburger eaters with ketchup and tasteless vegetables.
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I would definitely look up the cookbook. I loved that the famous name did not distract from the argument being made about the need to debunk the stereotypes surrounding Indian food. I also love that the article portrays Ms Rushdie as a working mother who published in the UK and now, when she finds the time is more ripe, republishes it here in the US. I don't see her as an opportunist. She must have absorbed quite a few influences in her cooking through her marriage to an East Indian, and her experiences in UK and USA. That is so emblematic of the diversity of Indian food and lives- that movement, and absorption of influences. I do agree with all the comments that the article should have discussed whether the cookbook adapts to an American audience, but then I wonder with google how hard is it to convert the units? I do drink wine with my home cooked Indian food- as do many people in India these days. The very diverse middle classes are not that averse to enjoying alcohol with their meals as many think. Bravo Ms Rushdie!
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Nine years after opening, Chai Pani is still a very popular place for superbly creative Indian food. Bravo, Meherwan, Molly and all working there. The thick Mango Lassi is a pucca dessert ...and don't miss anything else on their unusual menu, featuring many street food dishes. This is where you can eat them SAFELY!!!
My friend Amrit Irani came from India to train the kitchen staff, and she did a great job which Meherwan, her son has continued, in every way.
She's related to a well known person but does the cookbook add anything to what is already out there? The article unfortunately does not address this -- and there is so much more now available now than there was thirty years ago i am dubious that this book is much of a contribution to what is out there now as compared with 30 years ago.
Try Patel Bros. MDH ground spices. It took us a while but we learned that these spice mixes were equal to or better than hand made at home.
Most Indian recipes including Sameen's stress the assembly of the spices—not necessary—the pre-ground ones are actually better and you can cut down the time. We've been able to make restaurant quality biryani with pre ground ones.
It's also really easy to make Raan using sous vide.
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I don't know about London in the late 80s, but I've been eating at Indian (and Pakistani, etc.) restaurants in Houston since the mid-seventies. Some are upscale, with subtle and delicious food, and some are "cheap lunch buffets". Having backpacked across Nepal, north India and Pakistan, well, a while back, those buffets are pretty much what the locals ate. Most Americans can't afford to eat at fancy restaurants on a regular basis, either.
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Let no one Indian cook define Indian food for you. Indian food is what's cooked in millions of Indian homes, with all its myriad regional flavors, produce, handed down recipes, secret ingredients, age-old methods, and more. A million books wouldn't do it justice.
I've been cooking Indian food for 26 years, and am still learning new recipes. What gets me salivating are the dozens of great cooking blogs by Indian home cooks who just want to share with the world the food their Mom made!
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an indian cookbook without a recipe for vindaloo oe the word 'curry' in the index. Pass.
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Richard, Vindaloo is not a northern Indian dish, so it wouldn't be there.
"Curry" is a pretty generic term, applied indiscriminately by Westerners to the food of a large part of the world.
I can't speak to the usefulness of this cookbook, but I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand, particularly for the reasons you cite.
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The word, "curry", in the West, is usually a Western bastardization of the complexities of Indian cuisine. It's like mixing powdered thyme, rosemary, oregano, parsley, bay leaf, sage and garlic, and putting it in everything "European" that you cook.
Vindaloo is a Goan interpretation of a Portuguese dish of meat and vinegar. It's great stuff, but would you complain if an "American" cookbook didn't have a recipe for tacos al carbon?
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wow... I look forward to this.
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One need not buy an expensive book from a so called famous last name author - go to youtube and search for the thousands of great Indian cooks and hobby cooks showing off their skills and improvise and learn. This person is hawking her book to make a few $ - the cooking is mediocre and the food is elitist - this is not traditional Indian cuisine. (how come other famous books on India cuisine never make it to these pages ever?)
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Perhaps SR would post the titles of some of those famous books on Indian cuisine? Please? We would appreciate it!!
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Thinking I owned this book, I went to my book shelf and pulled out "Indian Cookery," by...Dharamjit Singh published in 1970. I think this book is being pushed because of her hip brother.
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I agree it's elitist and very particular to her Indian family. Indian food is many things but hardly any Indian families cook an entire rack of lamb at home or calf's brains.
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Wine with Indian food?
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Would not recommend any red with Indian food. My go-to whites: Riesling (the drier ones); Gewurztraminer; Txakoli. And bubbles go very well, although I would avoid vintage champagnes; instead, Cava. Although to be frank, wine in my opinion should be put away and beer served instead.
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NYT, you are finally beginning to see the richness and complexity of India beyond the "Jewel in the Crown" bromides.
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I just found an on-line preview of this reissued book and it appears to be a reproduction of the original--that is, with no glossy photos. The book doesn't officially release until May 29, so the on-line preview may not be identical to the final release, though I suspect it is because the on-line disclaimer states: "This view is of the Hardcover edition (2018) from Picador."
As far as usability quotient goes, the recipes shown in the preview already use both in pounds and kilos, ounces and grams, as well as tsp, tbsp, etc., so Americans won't have to do the math to convert, though the book does have a page of conversion tables.
As far as I can tell, the reissue is made up of photo-reproductions of the original pages, plus a few new pages of Salman Rushdie's foreword, publisher's introduction, etc. In short, I am not sure that this book has been in any way modified from the original or or in some way made more suitable for Americans.
I hope the publisher/author will comment on this.
2
I just found an on-line preview of this reissued book and it appears to be a reproduction of the original--that is, with no glossy photos. The book doesn't officially release until May 29, so the on-line preview I saw may not be identical to the final release, though I suspect it is because the on-line disclaimer states: "This view is of the Hardcover edition (2018) from Picador."
As far as usability quotient goes, the recipes shown in the preview use pounds and kilos, ounces and grams, as well as tsp, tbsp, etc., so Americans won't have to do the math to convert, though the book does have a page of conversion tables.
As far as I can tell, the reissue is made up of photo-reproductions of the original pages, plus a few new pages of Salman Rushdie's foreword, publisher's introduction, etc.
I've eaten at Mr. Irani's Chai Pani restaurant in Decatur, Georgia. The food was absolutely delicious, the prices reasonable, and the space comfortable. I highly recommend the catfish sandwich and some of the snacks. A real treat!!
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We eat at Irani's Asheville restaurant. We enjoyed the screening of his documentary which he made when he went to India with some of his staff: http://www.cuttingchaimovie.com
This is an entertaining video about eating street food in India - so good!
1
While I'll look forward to this book, I can't help but take exception to the comment that in 1988, Indian food was poorly represented in New York City. Now, 1977 was another story, a time when all of the food wherever one went in midtown tasted as though there were a giant underground cauldron pipe-lining the same greasy curries to every location. But very shortly after that, change began to be felt in Manhattan, quickly spreading to other outposts like Cambridge. MA and even Providence, RI.
1
Regarding the "greasy" and "spicy" issues mentioned by several commenters:
1. Spicy. When you go to an Indian restaurant and ask for your meal to be "spicy," it usually means to be hot/burning/like a hot pepper. So, Indian food can be spicy in the sense of being "hot." However, Indian food typically has a mix of several spices, not merely two or three, so in that sense Indian food is also "spicy" (i.e., spice-laden). To avoid misunderstandings when ordering in an Indian restaurant, ask for "spicy" only if you want "hot" food. I always use ground hot red pepper when called for in my Indian recipes, though I usually have to use less than what is called for out of deference to my sensitive Western palate.
I live an hour's drive from a city large enough to have an Indian grocery, so my main difficulty with Indian cooking is lack of easy accessibility to the many fresh Indian spices and herbs that give Indian food its unique appeal.
2. Many Indian cookbooks, including this reissue of Sameen Rushdie's book, call for using generous amounts of cooking oil or, frequently, ghee (clarified butter). However, using too much oil or ghee will inevitably lead to small or large dots or pools of oil or ghee on the surface of the food; this can be controlled somewhat by using less ghee or oil.
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I have a very good Indian restaurant a quarter mile from my home, so I won't be doing a lot of cooking myself. It's mostly Punjabi, but very good, and I used to go to another one in Hempstead, LI, NY, which had equally excellent Indian food. But aside from food, I used to bicycle up the road to Malabar Hill in Mumbai (then Bombay) in the 50s and pass in front of the Rushdie's house. They weren't famous, then; in fact, they probably weren't born yet. But my memory of the bicycle rides is as vivid as that of my meals at "Akbar," a famous restaurant in Mumbai, with my family.
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My first Indian cookbook was Madhur Jaffrey's; I usually cook off the cuff but I realized I needed to understand Indian spicing better. Turned out I was using way too little. I cooked sabut raan for an Indian dinner party and it was a hit.
I lived in Silicon Valley for years, a haven for Indian workers, so it was such a pleasure to always get good, authentic Indian food.
Now I am in Colorado, and darn it, it's much harder to find. And I don't know what is up with the pakoras; they are very different from what I had in California.
Anyway, I will look up this cookbook.
4
The article is right on the money...good Indian food need not be greasy or served in an unpalatable slurry of a cocktail of spices. Each region has its own excellent examples of specialized cuisine.
I was born Kashmiri, and we have a huge variety of delectable meat based dishes, served and prepared by a professional cook or 'waza'. These are a must in all marriage ceremonies and served by the one of the wazas from the very pot they were cooked in, one after another in a dizzying sequence of flavors and aromas and eaten over a huge bed of rice in a large plate shared by four people.
Interestingly, Kashmiri Hindus, who are all of the mostly vegetarian Brahman caste, also are hearty meat eaters and their dishes are incredibly flavorful as well and happen to be my personal favorite.
Due to the longstanding cultural mix that was Kashmir, Muslims in Kashmir used to avoid eating beef and Hindus in Kashmir never ate pork, though correspondingly there was no specific religious diktat to do so.
I will surely buy this book and try the sabut raan, though I personally prefer to leave some of the fat on for more richness of taste. Thank you for the week written article.
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Hey, thanks for the cultural background. Very interesting.
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I was surprised to find that a nice dry riesling (emphasis on dry) is a good pairing with many Indian dishes. I can't remember where I heard this but it works for me. There is an inexpensive Chateau St. Michelle that has just the right balance.
I am looking forward to Sameen's new book!
I am still attached to Madhur Jaffrey's 1986 "A Taste of India" which is her most authentic Indian recipe book. Imagine sauteed tart green apples with eggplant! It has skads of amazing and non-romanticised large colored photographs of Indian cities and markets. It's actually worth seeing just for the photos. Her memoir "Climbing the Mango Trees" offers a striking look at her early childhood large compound of relatives living together as well her young womanhood which is surprisingly feminist leaning--I highly recommend this book that doesn't date and is elegantly written. Try to find it somewhere!
I agree, starting out this article mentioning the sauteed brains Ms. Rushdie's father liked would have some people wondering if this was indeed an updated book (reminds me of my grandfather's love of jellied headcheese) but I will still go to the bookstore and have a look. There are bound to be some recipes that will get my attention!
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The only 'Rushdie' i knew till today was Salman Rushdie.
When i first glanced at this, i did read it as "When Salman Rushdie was a child in India..." and i thought ... man! he's gone to great extents to not be recognizable..
Then, when i came to the pronoun 'she', i knew i was mistaken..
Later i was pleasantly surprised to know they are related..
But anyway, bottom line - time to get a new number for my spectacles.. :-)
14
California has folks from all parts of India. When you share an office with Indians they share food with you. The cuisine can be specific to a region so there is a lot of variety in home cooked meals. I certainly wouldn’t use the authors wine list since he managed to leave out California suggestions. I prefer beer so will stick to my local brewery.
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Maybe I missed it, but did she include glossy photos in this one?
2
I am not sure it was such a great idea to mention the recipes for a whole leg of lamb and calf's brains; this might turn off some folks who are not already fans of this wonderful food.
I am a great fan, and not a bad cook, of Indian food, and I have lots of great Indian cookbooks. For someone who does not live in a big city, my biggest problem is not deciding what to cook but finding fresh Indian herbs and spices (yes, some are available from on-line sources).
I look forward to skimming the table of contents, index and recipes of this new cookbook and might even buy it; however, I can't help wondering if it would have been revived and updated if the author were not Salman Rushdie's sister.
3
It has a long history in the UK, and people talked more about him twenty years ago than they do now. So, no, I don’t think she is riding on her brother’s fame. Rather, her cookbook is finally being recognized outside of the UK.
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If the author is not, as you put it, "riding on her brother's fame," why is his name featured on the book's cover: "Foreword by Salman Rushdie"?
1
Ironically, the mention of those two recipes are what piqued my interest. Sweetbreads! Lamb? Life is good!
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Looking forward to this book. i can't agree more with the comment by Ms. Rushdie about Indian food being presented as spicy and greasy. Where I work, we have potlucks, and over the last 20 years i have tasted some wonderful Indian food that was not spicy,greasy, nor made you sick. My grandmother who was familiar and cooked Mexican food from her native Oxaca, also made wonderful dishes that did not need spice or grease to have flavor.
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When offering reviews of new editions of cookbooks, it would be helpful to include a description of what changed since the last edition. As this is intended for a US audience, have the measurements and temperatures been updated, or do we need to translate "gas mark 3" into contemporary terms? Have the recipes been updated given that we have access to many more ingredients 30 years since the original was made?
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@ Paul Santa Fe, NM
Wholly agree with you. The British ruled the Indian Subcontinent for nearly 200 years, and their attachment to the Indian cuisine is well understandable. One sees the same in the elements of the East Indies' (today's Indonesia) cuisine in the Netherlands, and the North African foods in France.
Surprisingly, one reads nothing of the influence of native South American foods in Spain and Portugal, and of the aboriginal food on the Australian table.
6
How lovely - can't wait to have a look at the book. With regards to the wine recommendation - personally, I think Indian food is best enjoyed with a good cocktail or a King Fisher lager...it is refreshing and crisp and allows the food to shine.
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