We absolutely love Indian curries of all kinds and could probably come up with a reason to eat them morning, noon, and night. To feed our addiction, we've started attempting some simple curries in our kitchen and are slowly gaining confidence with all the spices and steps.
So Evan Kleiman's interview last week with Raghavan Iyer was right up our alley! Iyer has been teaching Indian cooking to folks like us for years and is the author of a new cookbook, 660 Curries: The Gateway to Indian Cooking.
Iyer first clarifies that the term "curry" doesn't mean any particular dish or blend of spices, and actually isn't a word from any of the languages spoken in India. There are a lot of phonetically similar words, all of which refer to any dish with a sauce.
He goes on to explain that a good curry will hit the seven Asian taste elements: hot, sweet, sour, salty, bitter, astringent, and umami. The astringent flavor is most typified in Indian cooking by turmeric, which Iyer says gives curry a "nasaly, chalky flavor" or, as Kleiman adds, "an earthy bottom."
There's a curry for every level of time, interest, an ability. Iyer describes a type of East Indian "bottle masala" that can have upwards of 75 different spices, but then goes on to give a recipe for a simple curry with eggplant that calls for just a few ingredients available at any American supermarket.
If Iyer's book is anything like his personality during the interview, this is one we need to put on our reading list. Iyer was warm, welcoming, and encouraging of anyone who wants to learn.
What's your favorite kind of curry?!
To hear the entire interview, visit the Good Food website.
Raghavan Iyer's book, 660 Curries: The Gateway to Indian Cooking, is available for $15.61 on Amazon.com.
Related: How to Make Curry
(Image via Amazon.com)
I reviewed this book on my blog last week. A cursory read-through of the book led me to give it a pretty good review. But then I tried out a few recipes and I've had to change my review. I posted one recipe from it, and I've made a total of 5 dishes from the book so far - none of them were good. Some required serious fixes and some were irreparable. I consider myself to be an accomplished home chef and I know Indian food very well (I was raised on it) so I'm quite sure that the poor results were not due to my inability in the kitchen or my unfamiliarity with Indian flavors.
I had high hopes for this book but unfortunately it's not as good as it seems :(
view raspberry eggplant's profile
we bought this book and reviewed it.
http://jugalbandi.info/2008/05/660-curries-and-some-cohorts/
it's a great addition to our collection and we have tried nearly a dozen dishes from it. it is well-researched and does justice to the myriad regional cuisines of india (where we are from).
bee and jai
(http://jugalbandi.info)
view bee and jai's profile
Wow, thanks for your mini-reviews and the links, both of you! Has anyone else tried recipes from this book?
view EmmaC's profile
I am personally thrilled about this book because one of my mom's recipes is included in there! It's one I haven't dared tried because she always talks about how complicated it is, but with this book, maybe I will.
view inothernews's profile
P.S. My favorite kind of curry is my dad's chicken curry. An easy substitute for me: I use Patak's hot curry paste. Oil, onions, tomatoes and cilantro/coriander, chicken legs and thighs (to soak up the flavor better), Pataks and then Yogurt. Cover and let cook.
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