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Summary: My Favorite Indian Cookbook!...........
Review: ...........This cookbook, filled with recipes from Southern India, is an absolute treasure! Maya Kaimal MacMillan shares her family recipes, the evolution of her own interest in cooking, and the influences on Indian and Southern Indian cooking (particularly from the Kerala region) in this cookbook that contains numerous pictures of mouth-watering dishes. She also includes a handy guide to finding ingredients, useful kitchen equipment, a guide to menu planning, and intersperses pictures of Southern Indian life throughout her cookbook, making it a wonderful and thorough experience in discovering this cherished cuisine.Some recipes we've tried and found outstanding include: Rava Masala Dosa (with Potatoes and Onions), Split Pea Vada, Baji, Samosas with Tamarind Chutney, Stir-Fried Okra, Tandoori Chicken, Egg Masala, Spinach Lamb, Rogan Josh, Gulab Jamun, Spiced Tea, and Mango Lassi. We are eager to try so many more of the more than 100 recipes in this book that Mac Millan has divided into chapters such as: Light Meals and Snacks, Soups, Salads and Chutneys, Dhals and Vegetables, Fish and Shrimp, Chicken and Eggs, Lamb, Beef and Pork, Rice and Breads, Desserts and Beverages, and Spice Blends. So very many of the recipes look tempting and not very difficult to prepare. Overall, I highly recommend this cookbook which, so far, has produced steady no -fail recipes!
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Summary: On the Button Everytime
Review: An excellent book. Clear, concise and to the point. I am from Kerala and for a long time relied on recipes from family and friends. But this book has now become my favorite and I rely on it for everyday cooking. ..takes me back home each time I prepare a new dish. By far the best book on Kerala cooking I've read.
Rating:
Summary: On the Button Everytime
Review: An excellent book. Clear, concise and to the point. I am from Kerala and for a long time relied on recipes from family and friends. But this book has now become my favorite and I rely on it for everyday cooking. ..takes me back home each time I prepare a new dish. By far the best book on Kerala cooking I've read.
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Summary: Curried Favors is Hot Stuff!
Review: Curried Favors is a magic carpet ride to mysterious India. Ms. MacMillan's clear, simple directions make it easy to prepare exciting dishes of complex flavor, subtle nuance, and varying temperature. After a dinner of Shrimp Vindaloo with the appropriate side dishes, I sighed with contentment and threw out the imported curry powder. What a delight!
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Summary: delicious food, simple & straightforward recipes
Review: Every single recipe we have tried has been delicious and beautiful. Even our 4 year old grand daughter, previously known to eat only smoked salmon, couldn't resist.
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Summary: Great food, great book
Review: I bought this book with little knowledge of Indian cooking. The recipies, however, are well explained and easy to follow. The dishes I've prepared have been wonderful tastes on the palette. It's hard to figure out which recipie is the best -- they're all so great! The tandoori chicken and chicken vindaloo were incredible. The coconut rice a treat to eat. The vegetables tangy and a pleasure to eat. If you like to cook and you like spicy food flavoured with a hint of coconut and other exotic spices -- it's a must! Great presentation style and an informative introduction to each of the ingredients and where you can find them makes this book a winner from the novice to the expert chef
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Summary: Incredibly good food.
Review: I bought this cookbook after a cookbook specialty store owner said a native of southern India raved that the recipes were very authentic. While I cannot claim I know real from fake (except compared to the Indian fare I can get here in Philadelphia), this book is wonderful. Just tonight we ate the lamb korma (substituting chicken), chickpeas and mushrooms and coconut rice. I am so glad to have leftovers! I am just beginning to recognize the subtleties of curry (NOT the store-bought spice, but genuine mixes of spices like coriander, cumin, turmeric and more). I can't wait to make the rest of the meals.
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Summary: food on a par with the best Indian restaurants in NYC
Review: I do a lot of cooking, and this book enables me to produce more flavorful, interesting results for a given -- modest -- amount of work than just about any other book on my shelf. And you don't have to love or even know anything about Indian food to love the results. What makes it so terrific? First, the recipes are clear and easy to follow, from the crisp ingredient lists to the step-by-step instructions that give just the right amount of detail to keep you confidently on track. No more guessing about how brown the onions should be; she tells you. Next, while the ingredient lists can be long, half tend to be spices you simply throw together before you start, and just about everything can be found in the average American supermarket. (Yes, really.) Third, from a technique perspective its demands are modest -- chop, saute, simmer -- so even novice or unconfident cooks can produce good results. And, most recipes take the same basic steps in the same order so the more you use the book the more you grow in speed and confidence. The only thing that's a pain is she sometimes calls for a meat which is hard to find off the bone, e.g., chicken thighs. Sometimes I bone... and sometimes I substitute boneless chicken breasts. Either works just fine. Lastly, the meat recipes come with accompaniment suggestions -- veg, rice -- which is very helpful for those not well versed in Indian cuisine. All in all, this book is now one of few dependable staples I take down every other week to do my menu planning and shopping lists. And it will be for you, too.
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Summary: Easy, accessible recipies with great results
Review: I do a lot of cooking, and this book enables me to produce more flavorful, interesting results for a given -- modest -- amount of work than just about any other book on my shelf. And you don't have to love or even know anything about Indian food to love the results. What makes it so terrific? First, the recipes are clear and easy to follow, from the crisp ingredient lists to the step-by-step instructions that give just the right amount of detail to keep you confidently on track. No more guessing about how brown the onions should be; she tells you. Next, while the ingredient lists can be long, half tend to be spices you simply throw together before you start, and just about everything can be found in the average American supermarket. (Yes, really.) Third, from a technique perspective its demands are modest -- chop, saute, simmer -- so even novice or unconfident cooks can produce good results. And, most recipes take the same basic steps in the same order so the more you use the book the more you grow in speed and confidence. The only thing that's a pain is she sometimes calls for a meat which is hard to find off the bone, e.g., chicken thighs. Sometimes I bone... and sometimes I substitute boneless chicken breasts. Either works just fine. Lastly, the meat recipes come with accompaniment suggestions -- veg, rice -- which is very helpful for those not well versed in Indian cuisine. All in all, this book is now one of few dependable staples I take down every other week to do my menu planning and shopping lists. And it will be for you, too.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best books on Kerala cooking
Review: I first read about it in LA Times Food section. Since we cook Indian food a lot, one of our favorite recipes is "Konju Pappas" - shrimp in a coconut milk broth from Kerala. When this book appeared, I bought it as a gift for my wife. She has cooked a number of recipes from this. All of them have turned out to be wonderful. Kerala is somewhat similar to Bengal in the orchestration of flavors in its recipes, so we find this book very useful. While the book does not have as many pictures as the standard cookbook, the recipes are very clearly laid out and easy to follow in a North American kitchen. I would recommend this book highly for people looking to explore the vegetarian cuisine of South India.
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