Reddit reviews Vij's: Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine
We found 6 Reddit comments about Vij's: Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Used Book in Good Condition
I won't be much help with this, but Indian food is insanely varied. It's not just as simple as "North Indian/South Indian" or "Vegetarian/Meat". I think one of the challenges with finding great "authentic" Indian recipes, is that each family has their own adaptation, and these are passed down through each generation through sharing the love and need to cook quality food in the home.
I guess what I'm saying, is that regional authentic dishes often don't make it onto paper.
I've had great success making Vikram Vij's recipes, he's from Vancouver, BC.
https://www.amazon.com/Vijs-Elegant-Inspired-Indian-Cuisine/dp/1553651847/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510071514&sr=1-1&keywords=vikram+vij&dpID=41J5kSp1EuL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
A local Indian chef here, Vikram Vij, has produced a couple of cookbooks with his wife. I really like this one: https://www.amazon.ca/Vijs-Elegant-Inspired-Indian-Cuisine/dp/1553651847
Vikram Vij's cookbook is excellent, there are a ton of super easy curries easily made with spices that are available in most North American supermarkets. There's one made with eggplant and green onions, and another that combines chicken thighs cooked in coconut milk with a raw cilantro, onion, garlic, ginger chutney at the end...spectacular! Can't recommend this one enough!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1553651847/ref=nosim/librarythin08-20
I have been doing the same thing (I am into the better part of the learning curve now :)
I highly recommend this cookbook by Vikram Vij. Everything in it I have cooked has been dynamite. What I think is more important is that there is much information about the various methods (for example how to make ghee, garam massala etc) and a lot of insightful suggestions in the recipes themselves about certain pitfalls to avoid etc.
http://www.amazon.com/Vijs-Elegant-Inspired-Indian-Cuisine/dp/1553651847/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451415907&sr=8-1&keywords=vijs
I came here to say the same thing. Here is the other one. Vijs-Elegant-Inspired-Indian-Cuisine
> the most flavorful cuts of meat are the ones that scare you and you'll never purchase them
This. In some of my favorite recipe books, several potentially great meals are skipped because they're calling for unorthodox cuts that scare the shit out of me. Half the time it takes days to find a place where I can get it. Two butchers will tell me they don't sell that, one will tell me they can get one for Thursday. With some luck I can find a frozen specimen. Truly, it feels like I'm hunting for some piece of extraterrestrial belly.
Bones, fuck even bones can be complicated to get. Lamb bones for stock. Sorry, we throw them away unless a customer asks, come by Thursday. No problem, please cut them in 3 inch pieces, I'm making stock, not a marimba, thanks! As for what body part or appendage those bones from are (legs, ribs, shoulders) I never dared to ask.
Fish, I hate shopping for fish. Hello, do you have sable fish? No we rarely do, except sometimes at the end of the season. Well thanks good sir, how can I subscribe to your newsletter? I'd feel like an ass to call and ask what fresh fish they're carrying today so I can select a recipe accordingly BEFORE going out shopping. The short shelf life of fish creates an egg or chicken dilemma: do I choose a recipe and hope to find the fish, or go get some fish and go back home to find a recipe and again back to the store to get other ingredients.
> most (not all) restaurant cookbooks dumb down recipes for you
That's strange, my best cookbooks are from restaurants. I find that most non-restaurant cookbooks (rachel ray stuff, cooking the italian way) contains a multitude of beginner meals I don't care about. If I want to mix pasta and pancetta with some vegetables, I can do it myself thanks. And thai cookbooks that calls for "store-bought green curry paste" goes directly to the trash. Googling recipes works just as well.
On the opposite side, you you have the classical hardcore style "French Cooking" stuff that calls for killing and brining a living rooster in every other recipe. That sounds fantastically rewarding, but I have a day job.
For fine, modern, complex and layered yet approachable recipes, locally oriented & world-inspired restaurants seems to be where it's at. I'm not sure how dumbed down those recipes are from the real thing (as I've never been to them), but those 2 from Vancouver have provided quite fantastic culinary learning and experiences for me:
If anyone has recommendation of great restaurant cookbooks, I'd love to hear them.