Indian Food Made Easy

The recipes make delicious food,but the print is very small so I could not give it 5 stars. After trying this cookbook I purchased another copy for my adult daughter.

Indian cuisine made easy & understandable without sacrificing exquisite flavors & tastes.Highly recommend especially as an intro to great Indian cuisine.

Like it says on the cover, this makes Indian food easy. It's easy to follow simple recipes produce tasty dishes.I was so impressed I bought another copy for my daughter-in-law.

All the ad promo said CHICKEN MEAT FISH AND SEAFOOD But not true Should have said CHICKEN LAMB ETC Thus her best dishfrom series PORK VINDALOO was missing. MEAT IS PLURAL. (beef,lamb,pork,goat)Book below parr as a result. The publishers really should have known better. Or was it an attempt to be politically correct on Pork. Shame on you if it was Foodies dont need religious biggotry

This book delivers exactly what it promises--easy Indian food. I have other books, and I never use them because the recipes are daunting and have unpredictable results. I will be using Anand's book regularly.The paneer is a snap to make. I've never made cheese before, and it came out perfectly the first time. Admittedly, by itself it is too bland for my taste (although my husband loves it just the way it is). But when it's mixed into the spinach dish, it is wonderful. It holds its shape nicely and soaks up the flavor of the dish.The spinach dish is likewise astonishingly easy to make and is far more flavorful and fresh-tasting than the saag paneer served at any of the many local Indian restaurants.Another thing that I like about this book is Anand's forthrightness. When she's taking a shortcut that could be viewed as sacrificing authenticity, she is upfront about it. She also explains that she recognizes it is better for people to take a few shortcuts if it means they will actually end up using the recipes. While I'm willing to spend hours baking, I'm rarely willing to spend the same time on making dinner, because the results just aren't worth it. With Anand's book, the results are worth it, and you don't have to spend hours to have a great meal. I'm recommending this book to all of my friends.

I live in Mumbai now and have been watching Anjum's program on Discovery Travel and Living. Watching her make the recipes looked so easy, and since I am already in India, I figured finding the ingredients would be no sweat (it wasn't).Anjum also lightens up the recipes (i.e. Potato and Pea Samosas made in Filo pastry dough and then baked) and the desserts at the end look divine--especially the kilfi (Indian style ice-cream). Anjum Anand is in London, so all the ingredients can be found in the west if you only take the time to look for them.So far, I've made the Himalayan Lamb and Yoghurt Curry (page 50)and today made the North Indian Lamb Curry (page 54). Both times I used mutton on the bone as lamb is hard to come by in India!Both were outstanding curries, but the North Indian recipe (from Punjab) turned out so well, I was compelled to write a review of the book. The paneer recipe is so simple that once I get myself a cheese cloth, I'll be making my own cheese from now on. Milk + lemon juice or yoghurt? How easy is that?This is an outstanding book and the recipes are laid out in a simple, novice friendly way. There are gorgeous pictures of almost every recipe and there are a few glossaries to help those unfamiliar with Indian spices or terminology. I highly suggest making your garlic/ginger paste from scratch and not try to find any store bought. It makes all the difference!

I bought this book on sale, and it's my first Indian cook book ever, so I was excited at the beautiful pictures and easy instructions. I made a list of Indian Spices and went to my local Indian grocery store to stock up. Here are the results of the four dishes I've tried so far:*Home made paneer [cheese] - first try was a disaster - tasteless, bland, overly dry, unappealing crumbly white block - but I looked up methods online and the second attempt was much, much better after tweaking the recipe by adding a pinch of salt and sugar to the paneer, and kneading it before you let it sit with a weight on top to draw out excess moisture. It was a bit soft, though, but much more flavorful.*Spinach and paneer - Deee-licous. The only small drawback was my paneer was too soft, maybe?, because it melted into the spinach instead of keeping it's shape, but otherwise, the flavor and texture were awesome.*Spinach and Tomatoes - Another winner. The spinach is wilted, but retains it fresh flavor. The tomato puree and spices give it so much more flavor. Very tasty. And so easy to make!*Chicken curry dish - I know, this doesn't help identify which chicken curry, but it was a lot of work, and the end product was -- just okay. It was good, mind you, but not good enough to be memorable, or for me to even try it again.The book itself is in a clear, concise format. The recipes are easy, even if in some cases there are a lot of ingredients, and the author gives advice and tidbits of information to help you along in making the dishes. Beautiful pictures abound. Good explanation of all the spices used in the book. Overall, I am pleased with the book, even if my first attempts were not what I expected they would be.I won't give up on the book, though; I'll keep trying more recipes, so my initial rating will probably change - I am hopeful and optimistic future attempts will be successful so I'll be able to revise my rating by adding more stars but for now, all I can give is 3 stars because 2 of the 4 dishes were a bit of a disappointment.

I picked this book up at B&N for cheap and boy am I glad I did. It has great pictures, easy recipes and the author is great. She writes as if you were a friend who asked for a recipe so there are hints and suggestions for changes and variations. If you like Indian food I suggest this one.

Amazing recipes, truly lovely food. If you like Indian food you'll like this book. The recipes have an authentic feel as she makes everything from scratch, using dry spices and pastes. The dishes are lighter than you'd get in curry houses as they use very little ghee, but the flavours are really robust. I like how she talks a little about the background of the recipes and how they'd be cooked in the various regions of India, then adapts them for the UK so it's easier to get ingredients. Speaking of ingredients, if you're new to cooking curries you might have a long shopping list at first but a) dry spices keep for months, b) most supermarkets stock the basics such as cumin seeds and turmeric, and c) there are various online stockists where you can get everything else. I look forward to weekends when I have the time to potter about in the kitchen concocting one of these delights. There's also a handy section at the beginning where she explains and expands on some of the requirements of the recipes. Love it.

While I am unimpressed with Ms Anand as a TV presenter, as I feel she lacks warmth, I was interested in the recipes presented and bought the book. Upon looking into it, I am better pleased with it than I thought I would be at first glance as layout is bland and a bit 80s...a quibble, but there it is. The biggest drawback is a serious one: the comments are in much larger type than the recipes method, which is not helpful. Also, many of the recipes are squashed together 3 to a page, making the smaller type that much harder to read. Poor planning, or did the author not expect people to really use the book? However when you get into the recipes I see a lot of things I wanted: good veggie and fish recipes, a simple recipe for homemade paneer, and several recipes for toor dal and urad dal. I wish they had put the explanation of ingredient names in the front rather than the back, but other than that it looks like a good book, and a bargain at 7 quid for a hardback.This book may not be for people of Indian background, but they can always turn to the Web for the many blogs written by and for experienced Indian cooks. For beginners like myself who want simple, clear explanations and recipes in what is for us new territory, I recommend this book and the Hairy Bikers Great Curries.

We love Anjum Annand however this book is a really poor effort that to us suggests she didn’t have much to do with the book presentation.You’ll do far better by downloading her recipes for free online.

Some good stuff here. Had delivery problems, my fault for mis-addressing the order. Impossible to change the address after half an hour so it was a bit of a 'faff' getting in touch with our delivery, but all solved.

This has some good recipes though my disappointment was that it does not link to the tv series of the same name as much as I had assumed. I mention this in case anyone else is drawn here due to the tv series. If you like Indian food this is not a bad addition to your cookbook library.