Indian cookbook - recommendations please.

[posey]

That's it really! I want to make proper curries, with proper spices (not just curry powder!). Can anyone recommend me a good, preferably fail-safe, book.
Thanks

Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible.

Is great, loads of recipes, some are very quick, others a bit more time-consuming. Mine copy is like a scratch-and-sniff book as the pages with my favourites on are very spattered!

Anjum's New Indian is also very good - I thought I was rubbish at curry but everything I've tried from her book has turned out really well! Plus most of the recipes are quite healthy and don't involve loads of ghee or cream or anything like that.

I like both Madhur Jaffrey and Anjum Anand. If you buy Madhur's book then be aware that she loves garlic beyond all reason, I tend to use about a quarter the amount of garlic that she has in her recipes.

cooking with mummyji, by vicky bhogal

Mridula Bajlekar's 'Curry Lover's Cookbook' here is the definitive Indian cookbook for me.

I do an Indian themed blog here, but its South Indian food mainly, so may not be the usual style of Brit curries :-)

Thank you very much all. Am getting all hungry at the very thought

aha. too slow. I came on to recommend madhur too...

I like a book called cooking with my indian mother in law.

Cooking with my Indian Mother in Law

The mother in law is from the same part of India as my family originates from and all the recipes are very familiar. Everything recipe I've tried works perfectly and tastes just like my mother makes it!

Only thing is that a lot of recipes are not what you would expect. It's not about curry house vindaloos but more the kind of food that Indian people eat at home all the time. So lots of vegetables and pulses and a few meat curries. Most of the ingredients are fairly easy to find but there are a few where you may need to go to an Indian grocers.

I'd second Cooking with Mummyji. I've made fantastic samosas using that!

Thanks for the further ideas. Have got a birthday and Christmas ahead and people asking me what I want. Now I can tell them!

Curries of India by Camellia Panjabi. At least I think it's called that, something similar anyway.

My copy of this book is a complete state as I use it all the time - i cook curry about 3 times a week and all my recipes are from this book, with a few tweaks here and there. My favoruitres from this book are Lamb Shank Korma, Gujerati Bori curry and Vindaloo. Lots of info also about spices and ingredients, and history of Indian cookery. I will cry if I ever lose this book!

I am also really lucky as I live very close to Indian grocers (central Gloucester) and these are the very best places to get the ingredients, especially garlic and ginger and the spices, including chilli. My local grocer is also very helpful - I remember looking for an ingredient called Jaggery, I didn't have a clue what it was (palm sugar) and had no idea what it looked like. It is so muych better buying ingredients from a local Indian grocer who can guide you, rather than using a supermarket. A lot, lot cheaper as well.

Get hold of ChopsTheDuck, she makes a mean cyber-dahl.

GetOrf, the pulses are a lot cheaper in Asian shops, too.

I second Michkit's recommendation of Mridula Bajlekar's books -we've had some excellent results from there.

posey -get someone to put together a hamper of all the proper spices you'll need and a good recipe book.

We did this for my SIL as she doesn't have access to any Indian grocer shops where she lives. She loved it.

Great idea, my mum would love to do that (she likes a "task" for present shopping!!!)
Am off to peruse Amazon...

i like the madhur jaffery one, curry bible
I also use a book called the Indian Housewife's recipe book which is quite authentic.

Also, anything by Tarla Dalal. There are quite a few on ebay, though I tend to use his website. He does some fantastic Indian/Chinese fusion recipes as well as traditional stuff.

I started out buying spices as I needed them, then eventually ended up with two masala containers - one for powder, one for whole spices, and a whole cupboard full of jars and tubs. It is very addictive! I adore the smell that wafts out of my spice cupboard. It's much better if you can get the spices from the indian shop, I find the flavours much better. Don't buy massive packets neither - the fresher the better!

few on amazon even! I have ebay on the brain atm.

I also have a whole cupboard full of spices and indian ingredients - I love it!

We have a cupboard like that -it smells gorgeous when you open it

Sad news.
Tarla Dalal passed away on November 6.2013.
A remarkable, unassuming and kind lady, she was perhaps the first Indian to write a cookery book. She had a giving nature and shared all her knowledge with others.
She shines like a beacon among India's greats.
Others were Premila Lal, Jeroo Sidhwa., Aroona Reejsinghani, pioneers in cookery writing. God bless them all.
They brought recipe ideas, methods, traditional and modern, all with devotion and care and research, into the ordinary housewife's reach.
They had a loving dedication to their readers

I like Zahda's kitchen - it's a dvd with a small recipe book. BUT, the book isn't 100% accurate, and it's best to watch and correct the book at the same time. As an example, her recipe for chicken curry doesn't give the recipe for garam masala, but the dvd shows it.

FWIW
2 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp cumin seeds
2-3 black cardomems
3-4 green cardomems
2-3 cloves
5cm cinnamon stick

I use an electric coffee grinder to grind spices, and keep it just for them.

Another vote for Cooking with Mummyji here.

Also Simple Indian and [[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Indian-Food-Made-Anjum-Anand/dp/1849491291/ref=pd_sim_b_36 India FOod Made Easy.

These are the 3 most used cookbooks in my collection

I like Slimming Worlds book on Indian food too. It it written by an Indian chef, so uses proper spices, but shows you how to make classic dishes with fewer calories. Pity I left SW, but I do use that book a fair but, alongside Madhur Jaffrey.