Cooking with Rinku

This question is actually much harder to answer than you think, there are several amazing cookbooks that are out there, and therefore it does really depend on what you are looking for. To get started it is worth looking at two very different cookbooks, there books are spaced in time and style but what both have in common is a good collection of very well written recipes.

A starter book in Indian cooking should offer you an overview of the food with some idea of familiarity and concise descriptions so that you can get used to working with the different spices. The book that I think fits this category is Madhur Jaffrey’s book simply labeled Indian Cooking. The book was produced as a companion to her BBC series on Indian Cooking. The title of the book actually leads you onto to what you can expect through the rest of the book. Unpretentious, clear and a small collection of classic recipes! I inherited my first copy of this book from my husband who wanted a guide to help him when he was single and a cooking novice. Those were also the days when his work days were exceptionally long. This book offers you a great start to Indian Cooking. The book has simple recipes for Garam Masala, Tandoori Chicken and a basic collection of rice, lentil and bread dishes.

The second book that is definitely worth picking up is 660 Curries by celebrity chef Raghavan Iyer. This book serves your need if you are looking for a good all exhaustive Indian cookbook that you can keep on your shelf and work through for many days or actually that matter many weeks. The book is intense and might take some leafing through to get used to the sheer richness and diversity of recipes covered in the book. The author’s approach is intense, but detailed and meticulous. There are plenty of recipes that are labeled as basic and beginner that offer a good starting point, following which the reader can work through the other recipes to get a good knowledge of the intricacies of Indian cooking. Raghavan’s writing is very interesting and makes reading the head notes and text as much fun as the recipes.