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660 Curries | 
 enlarge | Author: Raghavan Iyer
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $11.60
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Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 20817
Media: Paperback
Pages: 809
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 7.9 x 1.7
ISBN: 0761137874
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5954
EAN: 9780761137870
ASIN: 0761137874
Publication Date: March 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Curry is Salmon with Garlic and Turmeric. Curry is Grilled Chicken with Cashew-Tomato Sauce. Curry is Asparagus with Tomato and Crumbled Paneer. Curry is Lamb with Yellow Split Peas, Chunky Potatoes with Spinach, Tamarind Shrimp with Coconut Milk, Baby Back Ribs with a Sweet-Sour Glaze and Vinegar Sauce, Basmati Rice with Fragrant Curry Leaves. Curry is vivid flavors, seasonal ingredients, a kaleidoscope of spices and unexpected combinations. And 660 Curries is the gateway to the world of Indian cooking, demystifying one of the world's great cuisines.
Presented by the IACP award–winning Cooking Teacher of the Year (2004), Raghavan Iyer, 660 Curries is a joyous food-lover's extravaganza. Mr. Iyer first grounds us in the building blocks of Indian flavors—the interplay of sour (like tomatoes or yogurt), salty, sweet, pungent (peppercorns, chiles), bitter, and the quality of unami (seeds, coconuts, and the like). Then, from this basic palette, he unveils an infinite art. There are appetizers—Spinach Fritters, Lentil Dumplings in a Buttermilk Coconut Sauce—and main courses—Chicken with Lemongrass and Kaffir-Lime Leaves, Lamb Loin Chops with an Apricot Sauce. Cheese dishes—Pan-Fried Cheese with Cauliflower and Cilantro; bean dishes—Lentil Stew with Cumin and Cayenne. And hundreds of vegetable dishes—Sweet Corn with Cumin and Chiles, Chunky Potatoes with Golden Raisins, Baby Eggplant Stuffed with Cashew Nuts and Spices. There are traditional, regional curries from around the subcontinent and contemporary curries. Plus all the extras: biryanis, breads, rice dishes, raitas, spice pastes and blends, and rubs.
curry, n.—any dish that consists of either meat, fish, poultry, legumes, vegetables, or fruits, simmered in or covered with a sauce, gravy, or other liquid that is redolent with any number of freshly ground and very fragrant spices and/or herbs.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
Curry and spice and 660 things nice! May 22, 2008
Heather Fenyk (New Brunswick, NJ)
22 out of 22 found this review helpful
I've had lots of fun with Raghavan Iyer's near-encyclopedic tome of Indian curries since receiving it as a gift two months ago. The recipes are relatively easy, and most of the ingredients are stocked in our local Whole Foods and Stop-and-Shop. Approximately 2/3 of the recipes are suitable for vegetarians. My biggest quibble is the lack of preparation and cooking time estimates -- something I've come to expect in recent cookbook publications. The final chapter "Curry Cohorts" (flatbread, pancake and rice accompaniments) is also rather thin. But these drawbacks are relatively insignificant in the face of so many wonderful recipes.
While I'm not new to Indian cooking (I've worked through cookbooks like Padmanabhan's exquisite Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from Southern India), this book has certainly added to my repertoire. I'm especially pleased with the scope of the recipes. Not only are the cuisines of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka represented, but also included are recipes for several of the more "common" everyday dishes you might find at roadside food stands (e.g. a simple and delicious recipe for spiced mustard and fenugreek greens).
NOTE: The first chapter, "The Curry Quest," is perhaps the most important and should not be skipped -- especially by someone new to Indian cooking. In it Iyer describes what he calls the different "elements" of a curry (bitter, sour, salty, sweet, umami, pungent, astringent and aromatic). He then uses his background as a chemist to describe the processes of "building" the recipes using those elements. Perhaps it is Iyer's ability to simplify the "how" of the chemistry of Indian cooking that make the recipes work so well at home!
660 Curries - The Gateway to Indian Cooking May 6, 2008
Myra in Carmel, CA
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
The book 660Curries - The Gateway to Indian Cooking arrived in the mail just as I was trying to decide on some meals to make for the coming week and feeling in a bit of a rut. This very big and beautiful book immediately drew me into another world and mesmerized me. Exotic combinations and flavors that made my mouth water...ingredients I rarely feature that suddenly take center stage. I spent a semester in college living in India and I grew to adore Indian food, but I never make it. I know too much to feel comfortable using pre-mixed curry from a jar, but too little to start from scratch with all those exotic spices. With this book, I am both inspired and confident that I can become a competent creator of Indian food. The book makes cooking curries easy to understand. It starts with recipes for spice blends and pastes that are the base for almost all the recipes. From my first wandering through this book of more than 660 recipes (amazing!), these are the six that are on the top of my list to make:
Ginger Chicken with Peanuts and Coconut
Yogurt-Marinated Lamb with Ginger and Garlic
Brown Lentils with Chunky Onions and Chilis
Cayenne-Spiked Cauliflower with an Onion-Tomato Sauce
Sweet Potato and Plantain in a sauce of fresh and roasted coconut
Chili-Spiked Eggplant with Lemongrass & Scallions
I'll create a shopping list and head to the store so I can begin on some of these ASAP!
Raghavan does it again!!! April 16, 2008
Palostella (North Carolina, USA)
8 out of 13 found this review helpful
Raghavan Iyer has once again brought the Indian subcontinent to the western kitchen. His recipes are rooted in his heritage and that of his culture yet they push the edges bordering Indian cuisine and other world cuisines. Raghavan's dishes are both authentic and creative, and this book is a treasure!
This is an incredible cookbook! May 31, 2008
Elaerina
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is an addictive cookbook. My kitchen now smells of curry leaves and mustard seeds, and all of my Tupperware is stained turmeric yellow. The book also contains recipes for all of the breads, desserts and side-dishes you could want, as well as information about the style of curry and/or the region of India from which the recipe originates. It is well-written, the recipes are quite easy to follow - and they are delicious!
660 curries June 23, 2008
Chauceriangirl (North Richland Hills, TX USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Whether you're a novice or expert at Indian cooking, you're bound to love this thick cookbook that just bursts with flavour. Raghavan Iyer describes his first attempt at cooking with the generic American spice called "curry powder," and his subsequent disappointment at its failure to evoke the spicy heritage of his home. His book 660 Curries is both an homage to the great foods of India and a guide to making those foods for people who have perhaps always thought of curry as something blazing hot that's seasoned with a can of curry powder.
But just what is curry? If you had asked me before I read this cookbook, I'd have responded that it's a dish consisting of vegetables, perhaps meat, cooked in a fiery sauce and served with rice. Very nondescriptive. Here's what Iyer says about curry:
In England and the rest of the world, "curry" describes anything Indian that is mottled with hot spices, with or without a sauce, and "curry powder" is the blend that delivers it. In keeping with my culture, I define a curry as any dish that consists of meat, fish, poultry, legumes, vegetables, or fruits, simmered in or covered with a sauce, gravy, or other liquid that is redolent of spices and/or herbs (p. 3).
I remember once making a curry for dinner, and later meeting up with a friend. "You had curry for dinner tonight, didn't you?" she asked me, and I stared blankly at her, wondering if my telltale breath had given it away. It turned out that she had already seen my husband, who told her the news. That curry, like every other curry I've ever prepared, was seasoned with a curry powder blend that I purchased at the grocery store. Now, however, thanks to Iyer, I'll be preparing my own blends. He gives you a variety to work with, tells you where to find ingredients that may not be readily available at your grocery store, tells you the best ways to prepare and store them, and a variety of useful tips.
Many of the recipes in the book relate back to the section about "spice blends and pastes," as those are the essential ingredients in preparing the other dishes. Iyer recommends-and I wholeheartedly agree with him-that you carefully read the entire recipe before you begin preparation, and make sure you have everything in place and at hand. If your recipe includes a spice blend found on page 28 (Sesame-Flavored Blend with peanuts and coconut-Maharashtrian Garam Masala), prepare the blend, if you haven't already, and make sure it's ready for use.
This book has curries and side dishes to tempt any appetite, including appetizer curries (did you ever think of having a curry dish as an appetizer?), meat curries, paneer curries, legume curries, vegetable curries, contemporary curries, and biryani curries. There is also a section on curry cohorts, in case you were wondering what to serve with the Cauliflower and Potatoes in a blackened red chile sauce (Alur Phulkopir Jhol) on page 481, for example. I like a good naan, and on page 729 there is a recipe for Salt-Crusted Grilled Flatbread with ghee (Naan) that I will be trying out before I get very much older.
The recipes are laid out step-by-step so that they can be easily followed, and tips about techniques, alternatives, etc., frequently follow the recipes. The recipe section is followed up with a very useful guide that includes metric conversion charts, a thorough glossary of ingredients, the basic elements of curry, mail-order sources for spices and lgumes, and a good bibliography for the chef who wants to learn more.
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