50 Great Curries of India

by Camellia Panjabi

50 Great Curries of India Panjabi, Camellia

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Reference, Food and Drink, India

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

Camellia Panjabi is the author of the world's best-selling book on curry, 50 Great Curries of India (Kyle Cathie 2006). It has sold over 800,000 copies and has been described as 'the definitive guide to Indian cooking'.

Born in Mumbai, Camellia read Economics at Cambridge and went on to become the Marketing Director of Taj Hotels, India's most prestigious hotel group. With a lifelong passion for food, Camellia helped create several restaurants for these premier hotels, featuring little-known regional dishes.

Camellia opened the Bombay Brasserie in London, in 1982, introducing regional Indian cooking to the UK for the first time, and changing the way Indian cuisine is perceived in Britain.

In 2001, she joined her family's restaurant company, Masala World, owner of Chutney Mary, Veeraswamy, Masala Zone and Amaya.

Reviews

[Mandie Lowe]

This is without a doubt the best recipe book for Indian dishes that I have ever encountered.

I first saw this book on a passionate cook's bookshelf and asked him about it. He highly recommended it, so I took a photo of one of the recipes (Lamb Korma Pilaf) and tried it at home. It was so incredibly good that I immediately went online and ordered a copy of the book for my own collection.

I have a strong preference for lamb curries, so I have returned to the Lamb Korma Pilaf several times now, each time with excellent results. I have also made the Mutton Curry (Andhra style), Lamb Curry (Madras style) and the Lamb with Spinach (palak gosht). To be honest, these lamb curries were all so good, that I've neglected the other recipes and made these over and over again!

Tonight I made the Lamb with Spinach again and decided that I had to recommend this book on Goodreads. Paging through the book, so many other recipes caught my eye, that I've decided to cook a different dish from this book at least once a week.

The book is extremely thorough, discussing the historical background of Indian cuisine, detailing all the ingredients and the different names, explaining what curry is and how it is made in modern India. Indian home cooks tend to be just as pressed for time as the rest of us, so they can't exactly spend hours grinding spices and cooking up a storm. Luckily, their shortcuts are shared here, along with a base recipe for quick curries. The book covers all the regions in India, so you will find dishes from Kerala and Goa, from Andhra and Punjab, all the way up along the map to Kashmir.

The photographs accompanying the recipes are lovely and show exactly what the finished dish will look like. It's difficult to make curry dishes look pretty, so I take my hat off to the food stylist and photographer!

A word of warning to inexperienced or hasty cooks. Read the recipes well in advance. Many require several hours, waiting for meat to marinate in sauces. Also, don't skip mise en place - make sure all the ingredients are prepped and ready to go. For most of the recipes, a lot of spices are required, so it's easier to measure them out before you start cooking than to try and get everything together while the onions are browning. I admit that I don't always follow my own advice (tonight I was supposed to soak the meat in milk for 15 minutes - nope! Mise en place? Nah, just shake out spices over steaming pots...), but I find the cooking process infinitely more enjoyable when I do it properly.

If you enjoy Indian food, get this book and get yourself to a spice shop, because you are in for a treat.

[Zanna]

I never cooked from this book, but I did read it from cover to cover before I learned to cook, and its passionate narration bears some responsibility for my obsession with food, recipes and cookbooks, even though it features few vegetarian dishes.

[Deena Sangeetha]

Picked up this book by chance at an airport stall, no idea it was so popular until I tried to find out about the author. Every single recipe in this book comes out like a dream. I don't find them watered down to suit a Western palate. Panjabi has taken pride in the authentic taste of India. Trying a recipe from this book is the ultimate stress buster. Please write another cook book!

[Jackie Wu]

learned a lot about indian cooking and spices, excited to try it soon

[Jess d'Artagnan]

11/8/2020: this is such a good cookbook. Panjabi provides an insightful and in-depth explanation of the basics of Indian cooking. I'm convinced there isn't a more complex, varied, and intricate cuisine on the planet. I've made one recipe from the book so far and it was fantastic. I'm looking forward to cooking my way through the rest of the recipes having read the book cover-to-cover. I may pop back in as I cook through the book with comments and thoughts on individual recipes. Stay tuned.

[Christine]

If you love Indian food, but have never tried making it at home, this is a fabulous book. The author not only provides recipes, she details all the components of a curry and explains their function, so you learn how a good curry is constructed and why all the ingredients are important. These are great Indian home-cooking recipes.

[Brian]

This is the first book I'm reviewing here where I didn't actually read it cover to cover. I think it did it one better, though, since I did what I'd call a playtest review if this were an RPG. Over the course of a year and change, my wife cooked every one of the fifty curries in this book and we ate them. And overall it turned out pretty well.

As my wife did the cooking, I'll open with some thoughts from her:

I have read this book pretty much cover to cover and overall, it's great book with many combinations I wouldn't have tried. I did have two issues with it. 1.) Sometimes the recipe wasn't laid out to be easily understood. It would seem like key steps or substitutions were buried and even with careful reading they were still easy to miss. Perhaps it's my odd need for precision that made me want exact amounts on some counts (also I got frustrated that sometimes ingredients would be in weight, other times in measures. I should have just sucked it up and bought a food scale). 2.) I wish there had been a substitution index in the book. We're lucky enough to live near a major Indian and Pakistani neighborhood so we were just too lazy to catch the bus that way, but I can imagine it being harder if you lived somewhere where getting say, Kashmiri chilies, was difficult. We even struggled with getting curry leaves. Suggested substitutions were sometimes presented in the recipe but many times they were not. I understand wanting to be faithful but giving readers who don't live in major cities options would have been helpful.

I really love curry, and I definitely agree that the main advantage of 50 Great Curries of India was convincing me to try things I would have ordinarily turned up my nose at. Sometimes, like the eggplant curry, I was right and I didn't like it, whereas sometimes, like the creamy potato curry, it turned out really well and I'm glad an external reason to eat it, because I never would have pushed myself to do so otherwise. There were a few stinkers in here--I don't know what the author was thinking with chicken dopiaza, for example; everyone we told about it thought that nine whole onions had to be a typo, and it was truly abysmal--but the biggest sin most of the recipes committed was that of being boring. And there were some truly excellent recipes as well, like lamb korma pilaf. If it didn't take my wife two hours to make, I'd be requesting it for dinner a lot more often.

The substitution index my wife mentioned would have been better for more than one reason. We ended up doing a lot of substitutions during the seafood section because of all the shellfish, and while there were occasionally notes in the recipe intros about alternate ways to make the food, there was no standard section for it.

Those are really the only complaints I have, though. I'm only familiar with South Asian cuisine through restaurants, so I can't speak to how authentic 50 Great Curries of India is. But I can say that it's very tasty and that it's highly-rated for a reason. I think no matter what your palate, you'll find something in here that you'll love.

[Ambar]

A friend in UK recommended this book as a truly authentic Indian Home Curry collection. Good introduction and philosophy behind the kitchen, ingredients and methods into Ayurveda concept. Camilla successfully brought understanding about spices and the meaning and usage of each ingredients including the masterpiece in each region of India. Since move in USA, there are lack of great curry around. Luckily there is speciality shops around that furnish herbs and spices use on this book (caraway seeds and black mustards seeds need determination to find). This anniversary book edition came in handy size, very easy to flip around. Photos illustration are beyond expectation. Enhancing the knowledge and make you want to try recipe now.

[Arpita K]

This book is great for the beginners. It has vast details of what to use when, what the items are called and what flavour it gives. This all is at the introduction and later it explains the recipes of 50 great curries of all type of genre. Worth giving it a try .

[Peter Rainer]

The first 65 pages of this book are valuable for any aspiring Indian food cook because they explain the philosophy of Indian cooking and how to use the different ingredients. The book is well laid out with excellent pics and workable recipes. The crab curry (Konkan Coast) had the most delicious flavors from a well blended selection of spices.

[Michael Harry]

I liked the beginning part where she goes through all possible ingredients and their purposes and best ways to use them. Rather than the actual follow along recipies, this section encourages experimentation and understanding. Ive been cooking various curries forever but I liked the science behind things here.

[Mark]

One of my favorite Indian cookbooks. We love it so much that we are on our second copy since the first fell apart. Must try the Palak Gosht, Goan Crab Curry and White Chicken Korma. She also gives some simple but interesting background and a good list of Indian spices and what they do.

[Andy Hemingway]

I’ve been using this since I bought it on publication in 1994.
It’s the best Indian cook book I’ve ever found.
Not for the recipes, good though they are, but for the extensive sections at the start of the book on ingredients, techniques, and the philosophy of the cuisine.

Essential.

[Jamie]

Didn't find any exciting recipes here but the watermelon curry has me intrigued!

[Aasinathena]

Seems valuable. But doesn't cover all most all of the curries in Indian Cuisine.

[Ulf Sthamer]

Best book about curries as it teaches you the basics and what to do if things go wrong, instead of just recipes. Cooking with it for 10 years now.

[Elspeth Devine]

If you only buy one curry cookbook make it this one. The recipes are detailed ( and Tasty) and the background information on the regional variations is enthralling

[Lindy]

Yum

[Joy Ramlogan]

mouth-watering, delicious recipes!

[Anand Ganapathy]

Must have in every kitchen - tried the Pineapple curry and Sindhi Kadhi and they were loved by everyone at home ..

[Lindsey Duncan]

I had no expectations of this book, purchased from the bargain stack at Barnes and Noble. I was pleasantly surprised to find a well-written, food lover's guide to Indian cuisine, highlighting different regions and offering unusual curries and flavor combinations. The introductory section explains the ingredients and the reasoning behind when they are added. This section even includes a discussion of the religious philosophy that influences the cuisine. There's a wide section of main ingredients here, from chicken and fish curries to vegetable curries ... to a few fruit curries and even an omelette curry.

The only reason this book doesn't get top marks from me is that I felt the secondary recipes - the rices, breads, etc - were something of a throwaway.

[Kamal]

It is worth digging up a copy of this book from an on-line seller or a used bookstore. Sadly, it is out of print, but since it has been reprinted many times (it is more or less the same book as 50 Great Curries of India also by Panjabi, which is still in print), there is hope that it may appear again under a new title. There are no bad recipes in this book. Not one. It's astonishing. Each recipe is authentic and the author doesn't make substitution for ingredients that are hard to find outside of India. No curry leaves stocked at your local grocer? Too bad. You may find this frustrating, but it really does underscore the fact that the recipes are the real deal and not watered down for Western readership.

[Valda Rubio]

This is the best Indian cookbook I’ve ever used for a couple of reasons. If you follow the directions, the results are outstanding. There is no tweaking required. The recipes are just perfect and idiot prof. Just do exactly what she says. Secondly, the recipes are just delicious. I’ve tried many and not one has disappointed. I love the pineapple curries, the chutneys are incredible as are all the chicken dishes. I can not recommend this book highly enough. I’ve had mine for 10 years and while cooking from scratch is labour intensive, frozen grated coconut From the Indian grocer, the blender, the hand stick blender all make the work quicker and easier.

[Maria]

This book appealed to me through its authentic style and the description of Currys which were traditionally cooked, involving a lot of time and care.
Unfortunately, I seem to be unable to get the result of all this cooking into my kitchen. I tried the "simple curry", recommended by the author to start with, so you may get an idea of how to cook an original indian curry. It was awful - maybe we´re not used to original indian cuisine or I failed completely.
However, I still love this book for the respect it creates towards indian cooking.

[Roger Harris]

This is a perfect introduction to Indian cuisine. It has useful background info on ingredients, and emphasizing that good ingredients are a key to success. The book has a wide range of recipes for seafood, meat (except beef), poultry and vegetable curries. Each recipe is given a background with historical and geographic context, representing all the main regional cuisines of India. There are a couple of minor errors but these did not detract at all from the recipes. Buyer beware: if you buy this book, you will be committing to a lifetime of delicious Indian cooking!

[Philip]

This book looks tantalising and offers great promise and I like that it tells you about the region each one comes from. Some wonderfully evocative dishes to choose from.

Unfortunately, for me, there are disappointing mistakes and omissions in many of the recipes I have attempted that serve to spoil the overall experience. It is almost as if the recipes themselves have not been proof-read before publishing. It is very tempting to use and I will persevere a little longer but I may not forgive another recipe typo/blunder to keep it on the "active" shelf.

[EchoHouseLibrary]

This is much more than a book of recipes...the beginning has history, details on each spice and other ingredients, information on Ayurveda, regional styles of cooking etc...and each recipe has a blip on it's origin etc along with a gorgeously style photo of very tasty looking food. I have only used some simple recipes and guidelines so far and am happy...I hope the recipes hold up to my expectations!

[Marinus Hoogendoorn]

This must be about the best Asian cookbook I have read and tested.
Well research recipes, they work one by one, which is rare in cookbooks.

Only comment I have is that the base ingredients cooking times are sometimes a bit long, you need to be familiar with Indian cooking to fry onions for 10 minutes without burning.

Best Indian curry cookbook you can find.

The form asks me when I finished the book, answer never!!

[Nathanael Coyne]

No off-the-shelf curry pastes here, this is from-scratch authentic Indian cooking covering variations from north to south, east to west. Only problem is the small size of the book which makes it hard to follow while cooking - you might want to transcribe, or if you think you can remember the measures of 8 spices, memorise the recipes.

[Tony]

The strength of his book is that you quickly pick up the techniques in an easy manner. My favourite recipe is malabar prawn curry, which I first ate at Veeraswammys in London. Wonderful infusion of curry leaf, mustard seed, ginger and hot spices, soured with tamarind and tempered with coconut.

Many of the recipes are for mutton or goat, so if you don't like mutton, you may wish to steer clear.