Indian Cookery Books

[curryqueen]

Hi All,  Has anyone come across "The Restaurant Menu" book by Sonia Allison and "100 Best Balti Curries" by Mike Davidson and Diane Low?  Much appreciate any feedback if any!  They both look good books.   

[Mark J]

Hi All,? Has anyone come across "The Restaurant Menu" book by Sonia Allison and "100 Best Balti Curries" by Mike Davidson and Diane Low?? Much appreciate any feedback if any!? They both look good books.? ?

Ive got the balti book and its quite good, you can get it cheap on ebay these days

[pete]

Hi Curryqueen.
I got "The Restaurant Menu" book by Sonia Allison and it is basically indian home cooking and not like a restaurant would do.
The book has a menu at the start which is laid out just like a restauarant's.
It then gives the page you will find this meal on.
That part of the book is well thought out.
The recipes generally don't use any kind of curry gravy.
The spices are not like a curry house would use.
For instance the vindaloo uses
2 onions,2 cloves garlic,2 1/2 inch ginger,pork?,6 cardomons?,cinnamon,cloves?,nutmeg?,mace?,cummin,chilli,turmeric,vinegar?,
tomato puree,water,salt and potato.
I'm sure it would give a tasty meal but it wouldn't be like anything you'd recognise.

[curryqueen]

Hi Mark,  Have just looked on ebay and it appears that there is one for sale, the only thing is that they want ?127 for it!  Can you believe that?

[curryqueen]

Hi Pete,  Thankyou for your never ending knowledge - you have just saved me some money.  I has pre-ordered the book on Amazon and have now cancelled it.  Thankyou again.

[curryqueen]

Sorry Mark, I meant Amazon not Ebay.

[curryqueen]

   Hi Mark J!  Can't seem to find the 100 Best Balti Curries anywhere at all reasonable.  Any ideas as I am not about to pay ?127 for it?  You couldn't possibly post a balti gravy and perhaps a prawn balti recipe for me, I would be eternally grateful.  Thanks.

[Muttley]

?127 is an absurd price.

No matter what anyone tells you, there is no 'secret' to producing curries, balti or otherwise. It's extremely unlikely that the results produced by following this book will enable you to produce something that is a clone of a dish from your favourite balti resturaunt.

You can get about a million recipies for nothing from the net, and there is plenty of good advice available here and on uk.food+drink.indian.

Save your money for ingredients to practice on.

[Mark J]

I partially agree with Mutley, you wont find a book that gives you all the secrets, to be honest this site is the best resource for BIR cooking.

Most recipes You will tend to find on the net though are rubbish IMHO with respect to reproducing a BIR curry.

My missus now assures me that the currys I cook are as good as my local BIR, and its the best I have found