Should have been called Indian Food made Cheaply! (Indian Food Made Easy - Anjum Anand)

Member Name: jenmck

Product:	Indian Food Made Easy - Anjum Anand
Date:	20/11/08 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Don't need strange and exotic spices.

Disadvantages: Disappointed with a fish curry.

I loved the BBC2 series and I was really looking forward to the book, and I wasn't disappointed. The curries she makes are excellent, full of flavour but not necessarily hot. I have made most of the chicken and meat (lamb) curries in the book, pilau rice and even naan bread (which was really easy!)

Often you find that with most indian cookbooks you need a vast array of herbs and spices. Not so with this book. Most of the herbs and spices used are ones most cooks would already have in the store cupboard. (Garlic, ginger, garam masala, coriander, tomatoes) So if you stuck for something to eat one night you can quickly make up a curry (only thing i don't often have is fresh coriander). This makes a curry a cheap meal which you could eat everyday, without too much impact on your wallet. Great in these credit crunch days.

The other plus is most of these currys can be made quite quickly, within 30- 45 mins. A couple need to the meat to be marinated but can be done without.

I have learnt to make good pilau rice which doesn't stick together, and naan bread which is so quick, easy and cheap you wonder why it costs so much to buy in a supermarket.

The only disappointment was one of the fish dishes which was a complete disaster. So I haven't tried to do it again.

The pictures are great, and you get a brief introduction to each dish explaining where it's come from etc Nicely structured, and easy to find the recipe you want, or just to flick through for inspiration.

Summary: Great meat curries, very easy to make