Ultimate Curry Bible – Madhur Jaffrey
My thoughts on this book…..
This book is, and has been for several years, my “go to” curry book. I have personally learned a lot from this as regards to spicing and flavours, and through its content realised there are many forms of curry from around the world, and not just India as many people think. Recipes from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia are the more expected countries, but curries from Japan, Trindad and USA open you up you experiences you may not have had before, or like me thought to try.
My copy is well worn, battered and sauce stained but it is the one I do find myself going back to whenever I want to try a recipe.
The recipes are pretty simple to amend to your own palette for spicing if you are not a “hot” curry person. I have reduced some of the heat in some on a second or third making to suit mine, or the people I am cooking for.
The things I like……
The narrative and back stories to the recipes are what I particularly like about this book, telling you about how curries have come to different areas of the world and how the Indian influences have spread along with the origins of many dishes – something that I like in any cook book – and an introduction to each recipe.
Most of the ingredients are all pretty much standard available fayre for the vast majority of the recipes, something I like in any cook book, the vast majority available a good supermarket.
I also enjoy the accompaniment suggestions for the recipes and the associated recipes, as having a curry for a meal is not just a single dish, but made special with the breads, pickles and associated side dishes. There are also some very good “staples” that I tend to make in bulk and freeze for other occasions, such things as the Thai Red, Green and Yellow pastes are something you will always find in my freezer ready for a quick meal when added to a can of coconut milk and the choice of meat, fish or vegetables I have in.
I have also cooked several dishes with other main ingredients to great effect. For example the Lobster in Yellow Curry Sauce works just as well with a white fish or prawns, if you don’t have a lobster to hand!
The things I don’t…..
As you can probably tell I am rather a fan of this book, so personally I don’t have many gripes myself and have tried a good majority of the recipes in the book with very few that I
One of the points where it could be improved are timings. Some of the recipes require marinading or lengthy preparation. Neither of which cause a problem, but this is not always obvious without a serious reading of the method and checking there are no “stages”.
Some people may find the lack of pictures an issue. There are only pictures for finished dishes for about 1 in 10 of the recipes. Personally this does not bother me, as new recipes can sometimes seem daunting with a beautifully pristine picture of what the dish “should” look like.
Madhur Jaffrey does seem to like a lot of salt in these recipes. Although I am not averse to using salt in any recipe, I often lower the sale content from those suggested, purely on a taste basis.
A couple of my favourite recipes…..
Here are a couple of my favourites from this book and my take on them!
Follow the links to get to the recipes themselves
Page 122 Singapore-Style Prawn Curry
Page 39 Kerala-style ‘Bhuna’ Lamb (or Pork, Beef or Veal)
The book itself can be found here: in the UK: Madhur Jaffrey’s Ultimate Curry Bible