Top products from r/IndianFood
We found 58 product mentions on r/IndianFood. We ranked the 170 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
2. Kitchens of India Paste, Butter Chicken Curry, 3.5-Ounces, Pack of 1 (6 count)
Sentiment score: 4
Number of reviews: 5
Rich, mildly spiced tomato, onion, and garlic gravyAncient recipes handcrafted by Master Chefs of ITC Hotels100% all-natural and preservative freeKosher Approved and gluten freeProduct of India
5. Preethi Eco Twin Jar Mixer Grinder, 550-Watt
Sentiment score: 3
Number of reviews: 4
Eco Twin' comes with powerful 550 Watts motor that operates at 110v and makes grinding faster and simplerThe Jars and Blades are made of rust-proof stainless steel material. Product type-Stand mixer1.50 liter jar with detachable multi-purpose blade, converts to 1.00 liter jar with the flexi lid0.50 ...
6. Preethi Eco Plus Mixer Grinder
Sentiment score: 2
Number of reviews: 3
The Preethi ECO PLUS MG-138 Mixer Grinder features 550 Watt motor. The mixer comes with 100% stainless steel jars with flow breakers for fine grinding.The steel blades of the mixer grinder are machine ground and polished for maximum grinding efficiency. Super extractor - easy removal of pulp.It has...
7. Aarti Paarti: An American Kitchen with an Indian Soul
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 2
Aarti Paarti An American Kitchen with an Indian Soul
8. The Indian Cooking Course: Techniques - Masterclasses - Ingredients - 300 Recipes
Sentiment score: 2
Number of reviews: 2
Kyle Cathie Limited
9. Indian Instant Pot® Cookbook: Traditional Indian Dishes Made Easy and Fast
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 2
10. Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 2
Periplus Editions HK ltd
12. Cuisinart SG-10 Electric Spice-and-Nut Grinder, Stainless/Black
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 2
Electric spice-and-nut grinder with durable stainless-steel bladesHeavy-duty motor; push-top lid for simple on/off controlBowl holds 90 grams; extra storage space in lid; nonslip rubber feetDishwasher-safe lid and bowl; instruction manual with recipes includedProduct Built to North American Electric...
13. Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work: A Cookbook
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Clarkson Potter Publishers
14. The Essential Indian Instant Pot Cookbook: Authentic Flavors and Modern Recipes for Your Electric Pressure Cooker
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
15. An Invitation to Indian Cooking
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
Knopf Publishing Group
16. The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Little Brown and Company
17. Essential Marathi Cookbook
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
MARATHI COOK BOOKINDIAN COOK BOOK
19. Essential Andhra Cookbook with Hyderabadi and....
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
20. ComSaf Airtight Glass Canister Set of 3 with Lids 78oz Food Storage Jar Square - Storage Container with Clear Preserving Seal Wire Clip Fastening for Kitchen Canning Cereal,Pasta,Sugar,Beans,Spice
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
🎯 [Airtight Food Storage Jar] ComSaf storage jar is made of food-graded glass which is non-toxic, odorless and 100% BPA free. Each glass container is well sealed, equipped with a silicone gasket and a stainless steel locking clamp to make sure your food stay clean, fresh and safe while in sto...
I have the answer for you. Yes, a lot of cookbooks and videos will attempt to give you the "authentic" kind; I myself was consistently disappointed until I found the key. Or keys, actually. A few things they tend to do wrong:
The only recipe I have found to match the stuff you find in restaurants is an ebook by a British cook named Julian Voigt: The Secret to That Takeway Curry Taste. It's amazing. (I'm not affiliated with the author, just a happy customer.)
Voigt runs a small "BIR"-style (British Indian Restaurant, pretty much what you associate with Indian food in the West) takeout place in England. His own recipes come from recipes he learned by working in Indian restaurants before he started his own. And unlike many recipes which claim to be "authentic", they truly are. The book is charmingly amateurishly put together and completely unpretentious.
Voigt's recipe is basically a three-step process, from memory:
The whole book is made from the perspective of a restaurant chef, so everything is scaled to large batches. That's why the sauce bases are separate. The nice thing is that you can make 5 liters of onion base and freeze what you don't need; the onion base can be used for all sorts of dishes since it's pretty flavour-neutral.
I highly recommend the book.
Edit: Didn't read the Guardian recipe until now. Yeah, they make those mistakes. The author knows about ginger-garlic paste, but uses a can of tomatoes and doesn't sweat the onions.
I've been very happy with my Preethi Eco Twin (available on Amazon) so far. I will say that even the smallest jar with the downsizing inverted lid is still a little big for very small quantities of spices (they tend to just sort of splay out onto the sides pretty quickly), but anything over a tablespoon or two is usually alright.
I'm a little hesitant about throwing very large, hard spices (e.g., nutmegs, dried turmeric, even big cassia cinnamon bark) into it with the normal plastic lid. I broke the plastic lid of my little old Coffee grinder (from a defunct brand many years old) with that stuff :(. The "downsizing" lid on the Preethi is rubber, I think (it's kinda hard though), so maybe it will be safe.
The benefit is that it's also great fur chutneys, wet-dry pastes, and things like idly/dosa batter. The main 1.5 liter jar is pretty sizable for most purposes, but they recommend not running a ton of heavier things like wet urad dal through it--work in batches. You need some heavy duty industrial equipment (or one of those awesome spinning grinding-stone machines) to handle that sort of stuff more than a cup or so at a time.
Anyway, it was this one: http://www.amazon.com/Preethi-Twin-Mixer-Grinder-550-Watt/dp/B007T0CIVS
Trust me. Buy this: https://www.amazon.com/Kitchens-India-Butter-Chicken-3-5-Ounce/dp/B000V17MLS/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1487172075&sr=8-1&keywords=kitchens+of+india+butter+chicken
Trust me... I've been trying to make curries at home for the last 10 years. I've tried many recipes, from scratch fresh ground spices, to boxed spices, and even other pastes. This brand has become a staple for me now. I can whip up a dish in 30 minutes and it's better than a lot of restaurants around me. My favorite paste they sell is the chicken curry, tastes like an authentic dhaba style curry you can get in India.
ps) I have fond memories of helping my dad make "chicken" (usually this meant desi style curry) growing up and it wasn't until I became older that I appriciated how much I enjoyed that.
Its kind of cheating but the best butter chicken I've been able to make comes from a packet. Using [this] (https://www.amazon.com/Kitchens-India-Butter-Chicken-3-5-Ounce/dp/B000V17MLS?th=1) with some boneless thighs is fantastic and super easy.
As for rice I just throw jasmine rice in my rice cooker. While neither the curry or rice are authentic they taste good.
Big fan of Aarti Paarti, a definite mix of recipes with some nice fusions. You get the best of traditional Indian and delicious new dishes! Certainly won't get bored, best of all there's great info on spices, cooking techniques, and the works. https://smile.amazon.com/Aarti-Paarti-American-Kitchen-Indian/dp/1455545414/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483194802&sr=8-1&keywords=aarti+paarti
You can't go wrong with Raghavan's "660 Curries". It's where I started, 4 years ago. Since then I've probably only cooked ~20-25 of the recipes but every. single. one. has been amazing and incredibly authentic. I'm Caucasian and I've had Indian friends tell me I put their mothers to shame.
I was a little unsure of the quality available when you throw 660 curries into one book - but the quality is there. More importantly however, the book goes over how to cook and prepare each and every type of ingredient. There are huuuuge chapters catering to legumes of all varieties, your chickpea craving will be easily fixed. You're close to an international food market so you'll be in heaven.
Regarding not being able to stock a full indian / us / thai pantry. Know that stocking most spices required for Indian food is incredibly cheap. For ~$20 (provided your store is fairly priced), you should be able to stock 1 packet of each commonly used spice (go big on Cumin and Coriander seeds, they're used a lot). I've had some of the same spices for close to 18 months now as they're used infrequently. So do not fear cost, once you've outlaid for the starter spices, you'll be very low on cost.
Without further delay: http://www.amazon.com/660-Curries-Raghavan-Iyer/dp/0761137874/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406560477&sr=8-1&keywords=660+curries
And here happens to be two curries I cooked from the book this weekend! Stewed duck with Black Cardamon and Cherries, with Curried Eggs. The onions in the back (katta salan) are from vahrehvah.com, another great resource although the recipes can be difficult to follow as they're a little scattered.
The ability to improvise comes with time, observation and willingness to experiment. Onions can add different texture and flavor to a dish depending on preparation. From crunchy, sulfurous, raw onions to sweet, soft, caramelized onions the spectrum of possibilities is quite broad. Use them raw, gently sautéed in oil, caramelized, fried, dried, pickled; cut lengthwise, crosswise, diced; etc. and build up a mental library of the results. I love reading about food, food history, preparation and food science but nothing beats actually getting hands-on with food.
That said, there are some books about flavor combinations and it might help if the concern is wasting food due to impractical experimentation. I own and enjoy Niki Segnit's The Flavor Thesaurus. It's not a mathematical table of A+B=C, but it gives classic and inventive combinations of various flavors. I can't vouch for these, but maybe read through the reviews and see if they sound interesting to you: one and two. I follow the blog of the latter two authors and it's quite interesting even if it is sometimes beyond the scope of home cookery.
that sounds wonderful. I have seen and liked the ones by Madhur Jaffery. She almost holds your hand and guides you in the kitchen in her books on Indian cuisine. And the curries turn out great too.
Edit: Is this the book you are referring to?
Got one Asian store and one Indian resto in this burg. The store's pretty good, and the resto survives because -- only one in town.
Here's what I did:
Shop online, and learn how to make a base gravy like THIS BLOKE does and take it from there into the higher orders of Indian cooking. It's BIR, not Mumbai, but you take what you can get and BIR ain't exactly chump change for Small Town, USA.
You can order just about any of the basics for Indian cooking, and cooking appliances (karai for example), online.
Indians are fantastic at blogging and putting up YouTube videos; there's a real opportunity to learn from that as opposed to when this older Redditor was expanding horizons.
The online purchases won't be cheap, but when you have a craving for quality food, you have the budget to get it.
I think this one from Preethi is about the cheapest and yet most durable one you would still want to buy. I bought a similar model 8 months ago, and I love it!
https://www.amazon.com/Preethi-Eco-Plus-Mixer-Grinder/dp/B004A2ECZI/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1485612009&sr=1-3&keywords=preethi+mixer
I have spoken to several of my Indian friends and they have said that going with anything cheaper will burn out the mortor or a bearing in the cups after a year. These things are great, and will liquify/paste-ify just about anything you need.
There isn't one Indian cuisine. There's a few dozen, at least.
For a somewhat US focused book:
http://www.amazon.com/660-Curries-Raghavan-Iyer/dp/0761137874
For a somewhat worse printing, with better recipes: http://www.amazon.com/India-Cookbook-Pushpesh-Pant/dp/0714859028
Reading the reviews will probably help.
I like the "Essential Cookbook" series from Penguin. These are definitely closer to what I would eat at home than the recipes in the more popular cookbooks.
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Kerala-Cookbook-Vijayan-Kannampilly/dp/0143029509
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Marathi-Cookbook-Kaumudi-Marathe/dp/0143068024
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Andhra-Cookbook-Hyderabadi-Bilkees/dp/0140271848
http://www.amazon.com/The-Pondicherry-Kitchen-Lourdes-Tirouvanziam-Louis/dp/9381626995
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Sindhi-Cookbook-Aroona-Reejhsinghani/dp/0143032011
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Cookbook-Maria-Teresa-Menezes/dp/0141000872
http://www.amazon.com/The-Essential-North-East-Cookbook/dp/0143030272
http://www.amazon.com/Saraswat-Mahila-Rasachandrika-Second-Paperback/dp/B00RWSJ7M0
SAMAITHU PAR (vol 1-4) is a book aimed at Tamil Iyer vegetarian cooking.
If you want authors more aimed at an occidental cook, I would suggest Madhur Jaffrey, Sanjeev Kapoor, Tarla Dalal, Vikas Khanna and Julie Sawhney
Probably my favorite:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0761137874/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511546773&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=660+curries+by+raghavan+iyer
Easy, delicious recipes and after cooking a number of them, you won't even need a cookbook anymore!!
I'm no expert in Indian cuisine, but I have this book and I really like it. Great variety in the recipes and tons of pictures. I think it represents most of the regions cuisines.
https://www.amazon.com/India-Cookbook-Pushpesh-Pant/dp/0714859028
660 curries is fantastic. The author is a James Beard winner as well.
When looking for inspiration for Indian food I always reach for Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries or Monisha Bharadwaj's The Indian Cooking Course.
The latter has become a house favourite. We ended up buying 5 extra copies to gift friends and family.
Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India is an incredible cookbook and will give you all the tools to make top-knotch meals! It also happens to be the most beautiful cookbook in my collection. There have been times where I've just flipped through the thing just to enjoy the food photography.
I have a Preethi Eco Twin courtesy of my Indian MIL, used during her last visit. Comes with a smaller cup to grind spices and a larger one for dosa/idly batters. My kitchen makes good use out of the appliance :)
Mixed Indian / American family here. I make an instant pot biryani that both my picky kids like to eat, and it’s an easy recipe. It’s from the Indian Instant Pot Cookbook: Traditional Indian Dishes Made Easy and Fast https://www.amazon.com/dp/1939754542/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_0sjYBbP061MRF
Glad I can help! Like I said, if you decide on a specific recipe and want some tips, I can help more - I just don't know your or his food preferences, or if he'll eat garlic - which isn't used in some forms of Brahmin vegetarian cooking - etc. Otherwise I could drop a few more specifics.
From a historical perspective, it's interesting how Indian cooking benefited from/was influenced by the Columbian exchange. Pre-contact dishes were apparently primarily flavored with pepper and tamarind - the tomatoes and chilis came with the exchange.
A few good kitchen staples which will let you cook a large number of dishes from this part of the subcontinent are whole mustard seeds, urad dal (split black lentils - which are actually white), curry leaves, tamarind, garam masala, turmeric powder, coriander powder, chili powder, garlic and ginger (whole or in pastes). Some recipes will also call for cumin powder, cashews, dried red chilis, or ground coconut. 660 Curries is written by a Tamil Brahmin which might be a decent place to start - I personally don't put coconut in all my curries, but that's the style of some communities. Also, he cooks his meat, puts it aside, and then cooks the spices, mixing in the meat at the end - I'd personally cook the spices, and then cook the meat in the spices so it absorbs the flavors.
Just got this one: Rasika: Flavors of India and it's pretty great, though maybe not "authentic." Rasika (and Rasika West End) are world-class restaurants here in DC. Made for an epic Thanksgiving...and one totally destroyed kitchen. :)
this is what i was talking about.
http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-SG-10-Electric-Spice-and-Nut-Grinder/dp/B001C2GWTI
It's awesome. Much better than a coffee grinder for large amounts, I can grind 500g of sugar in about 15 minutes.
So a few people have recommended this book to you: http://www.amazon.com/Secret-That-Takeway-Curry-Taste-ebook/dp/B008N2B0OC
Well, you're in luck, because I've found a couple of videos on Youtube made by the author of that book that explain how to make Tikka Masala.
Here's the video showing how to make the sauce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLfhMF2WaZw
And here is the video showing how to cook the dish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1wjyOdNdSw
Some of my favourites:
Note: The authors are all British-Indians.
Hello! Do you mind me asking, is it [this] (https://www.amazon.com/Taste-India-Butter-Chicken-Sauce/dp/B00E1FSKOS) or this ?? If neither, can you direct me to the amazon link? Thanks in advance!
I recommend this book
Indian Instant Pot® Cookbook: Traditional Indian Dishes Made Easy and Fast https://www.amazon.com/dp/1939754542/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ZaIYCbCBB8CRA
This is the cookbook I've been using, with great success... https://www.amazon.ca/Essential-Indian-Instant-Pot-Cookbook/dp/0399582630/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=3OZXTAEIOK20D&keywords=instant+pot+indian+cookbook&qid=1556772976&s=gateway&sprefix=Instant+Pot+Indian+&sr=8-3
The dahl mahkani is awesome and the chicken korma, well, wars have been fought over lesser things.
There are so many! Here are some more to add to the great list of books from others.
Lord Krishna's Kitchen - Yamuna Devi
Tasting India - Chris Manfield: Has recipes from different states across India
Dakshin - Chandra Padmanabhan: Focuses on South Indian food
I'm a big fan of 660 Curries. Not sure how closely that matches your parameters but its good IMO.
Best butter chicken recipe I have, that gets me closest to restaurant is the Taste of India Butter Chicken Paste... I usually add a can of coconut cream and a 1/3 cup of water to it.
I know you asked for a recipe, but I swear this stuff is really good. And it's less than $3 USD per package w/ about 3-4 servings each.
http://www.amazon.com/Kitchens-India-Butter-Chicken-3-5-Ounce/dp/B000V17MLS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422721518&sr=8-1&keywords=butter+chicken
the chefs from Rasika wrote a cookbook! It's pretty!
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In short...NO.
You are better off getting one of those sumeet/preeti mixers from amazon. I got one of those fancy venturist ones...doesn't do half the stuff my sisters ninja and indian mixers do. Even when we tried the dosa batters...nope...chutney....nope... my vitamix is gathering dust and I ended up getting one of these
This is what a lot of the South Indians I know in North America recommended: https://www.amazon.com/Preethi-Eco-Plus-Mixer-Grinder/dp/B004A2ECZI/. It works well for dosa batter, chutneys, ginger-garlic paste, etc. I don't use it for dry spices because I was already using this: https://www.amazon.com/KRUPS-Electric-Grinder-Stainless-3-Ounce/dp/B00004SPEU/.
https://www.amazon.com/Aarti-Paarti-American-Kitchen-Indian/dp/1455545414 is a good book too..
I actually got a Preeti mixie blender from Amazon. The ones that you get in India. They're retrofitted with motors that work with US standards and plug sockets. Tbh, this is the only thing that worked for me when I wanted to grind hard spices. :)
Unfortunately, I paid about 90$ for it shipped. On Amazon.
Its 115$ right now and on prime. Amazon Link
660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer is comprehensive. You can also try Indian Cooking Unfolded by him but it has only 100 recipes.
I decided to buy it because it was $4 on Amazon the 2nd book is $3
http://www.amazon.com/Secret-That-Takeaway-Curry-Taste-ebook/dp/B008N2B0OC?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o00_
These work well, although the rubber seals they come with eventually start to disintegrate, but can be replaced with after market silicon ones.
https://www.amazon.com/ComSaf-Airtight-Canister-Storage-Square/dp/B07QXC72NK
Similarly, an Invitation to Indian Cooking by the same author is what taught me a lot of what I know. That, and watching vahchef. I've never made a bad recipe from this book. I read once that some think she is a little light on spices, but I have not found that to be the case.
http://www.amazon.com/Invitation-Indian-Cooking-Madhur-Jaffrey/dp/0375712119
I think you mean "definitive".
https://www.amazon.com/Secret-That-Takeaway-Curry-Taste-ebook/dp/B008N2B0OC
This is an oven-adapted and expanded from the recipe in Pushpesh Pant's India: The Cookbook. It's a common deep-menu item in westernized restaurants, very tasty. Sweet and aromatic. As I mention in the post, I don't recommend hand-mashing the eggplant; it's a pain.
I'd suggest the book 660 curries - Raghavan Iyer as it covers all of the "spice blends" as well as having many many dishes that do not include mustard seeds in the blends. For those that do simply omitting them should suffice. He also has a section in the back where it explains the purpose of various spices, bitter, sweet, umami, etc. so you might be able to locate substitutes for mustard seeds as they are there to impart bitter.