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[eBook] Free - Indian Cookbook - This Is What Indians Eat at Home @ Amazon AU & US

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AU:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01H5CROK4

US:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H5CROK4

Extract from book (it has decent rating - 93 rating):
This Is What Indians Eat At Home contains over 40 recipes of healthy, tasty yet simple home-cooked Indian food that have been handed down for generations in my family. So, in this book, you'll find recipes as diverse as Palak Paneer, Gobi Parantha, Methi Makki Roti, Papdi Chaat, Lamb Kebab, Pulao and Falooda. You'll discover a bit of the vast variety of the cuisine that Indians cook in their homes every day, for instance you'll learn to make 6 types of Indian breads as well as 10 curries and 5 accompaniments. You'll also find nuggets of information about Indian cuisine and tips to make your food even tastier.

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closed Comments

    • +7

      How so? I think the author is trying to share home-style cooking as opposed to restaurant recipes?

    • +4

      In the introduction on the amazon page, it literally states:

      "This book is a tribute from my family to my Mum, Anju Deepak; a psychology professor, a business woman, a great mother, wife and chef, all rolled into one. Perhaps what makes it refreshingly different from other cookbooks is that this book is the outcome of the effort and love of a son who wants to preserve the recipes of the delicious food that his mother cooked for him."

  • +8

    Indian here.

    Papdi Chaat: Most people buy readymade papdi and then make a dish out of it
    Lamb Kebab: Most people there don't have a barbeque. Many Hindus will never buy one.

    • Are lambs considered religious too?

          • +1

            @RSmith: After colonization
            Indians left sustainability to be more western.
            whereas "some" westerners are discovering sustainability now.

            Unlike the sand and ice countries, Indias land was fertile and lush green and every region's variety of food can be grown to cook a good nutritious meal.
            So meat was kept at a minimum for a few days also for some though religious days.
            For some, for the kind of activity or job they did, it was not needed at all.

            Whereas in western counties hunting game was the only option as nothing can be gown several seasons, so the mentality never evolved from being hunters and gathers even as they occupied new lands and wiping out the local predators wherever they went.

            • +1

              @Ashwagandha:

              After colonization

              The Indian vegetarian movement occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries well after colonialism, for political reasons.

              • @1st-Amendment: If that is your scope, then maybe so. However Indian history is far far far longer than the brief moment in time that is colonialism. And in those times Indians were vegetarians. They slowly becoming meat-eaters as the yugas got worse and worse. Indians today are a bit of mixed bag. Some are vegetarians, some eat meat except beef, some eat everything. The point is, they started of as vegetarians (and some still are to this day) then slowly as the ages went by, they started consuming meat on a more frequent basis.

              • @1st-Amendment: Not sure what you are talking about, or what that movement was called.

                But from ancient times Indians culturally followed "Ahimsa" -"the principle of not causing harm to other living beings" as much as possible also worship the surrounding and nature.

                Together with this,
                a human being is classified to have 3 gunas (Sattva ,Rajas,Thamas) and food is classified to help promote these gunas as
                basic explanation would be,

                Satvik - A sattvic diet is food and eating habit that is "pure, essential, natural, vital, energy-giving, clean, conscious, true, honest, wise"

                Thamsik - Sedative foods, also called static foods, or tamasic foods, are foods whose consumption, according to Yoga, are harmful to both mind and body. Harm to mind includes anything that will lead to a duller, less refined state of consciousness.

                Rajasic - mutable foods or rajasic foods, are foods that often provoke mental restlessness. They are not completely beneficial, nor are they harmful, to body or mind. Foods that cannot be categorized as either sentient or static are classified in this food group.

                Yogis and meditators to reach the ultimate meditative state chose satvik food which even does not even include onions ,garlic and any other food that acts as a nerve agent.

                Also as I said,
                The land provided enough food that people who ate meat also kept meat-eating to the minimum and on a need basis.
                (human beings are anatomically herbivorous, Meat-eating probably began by scavenging—eating the leftovers that carnivores had left behind)

          • -1

            @RSmith: It's very subjective - there are Indian states which are 75-80% vegetarian and then there are states which are 90% meat eaters. Depends on which part of Indian you're in. Hindus make roughly 80% of Indian population and I would say at least 50% of them are vegetarian, on average, if not more.

            Given the population of India, it has maximum number of vegetarian people (and in the highest density) among all countries in the world. I remember being in a couple of states in India where every single restaurant on the streets was selling only vegetarian food and a vast variety of it, with menus of 10+ pages. The restaurants were all crowded and I was surprised to see so many amazing vegetarian flavours and dishes which are little known in the Western world or in Indian restaurants here.

        • +1

          Uhmm not really

        • -1

          Not sure why you were negged. Hindus make nearly 80% of Indian population and majority of them are vegetarian, though not all by any estimation.

          • +1

            @virhlpool: "Majority" implies over 50 percent. By most estimates, the actual percentage of vegetarians among Hindus is well less than that.

        • +9

          This is not correct. A lot of people eat lamb in north India. It is very common, specially in capital cities like Delhi.

          • -1

            @eatcroissants:

            A lot of people eat lamb in north India. It is very common, specially in capital cities like Delhi.

            'A lot of' is a very tiny % of Indian population. I agree that it's still a lot of people but you will need to knock many many doors there to find one. It's not as common as you made it sound like. Chicken is the most commonly eaten meat (by a very large extent) among the meat-eaters.

        • -1

          Get out of here with your incorrect statements. Majority of Hindus eat meat (chicken and mutton) including fish, it is part of their staple protein diet.

          • +1

            @greentoad: To be fair he said :

            "Hindu Indians don't eat any kind of meat traditionally."

            Maybe the traditions have changed.

            • +4

              @RSmith: Even that is not true mate. Hindus didn't suddenly start eating meat one day. When food is scarce you eat whatever is available, otherwise you starve and die.
              We have been traditionally, culturally eating meat for its rich nutritional value. We even sacrificed live animals in temples, present to gods, then cook and eat the meat. India is not same everywhere. Some eat more, some eat less, some none at all.

              What I don't like generalizing and incorrect statements about a diverse country like India.

              • @greentoad:

                We have been traditionally, culturally eating meat for its rich nutritional value.

                Would that be all the 3 meals for the day or you would have it once in a while?

                • @RSmith: Meat is expensive. Once in a while. Definitely on big occasions.

              • -1

                @greentoad:

                Some eat more, some eat less, some none at all.

                That's true. Majority of Hindus are vegetarians though, if you go by %. Even if you ever visit any suburb in Sydney or Melbourne with a high number of Indian restaurants (several of them are 100% vegetarian restaurants) and do a basic survey, you will get a fair idea.

          • -1

            @greentoad:

            Majority of Hindus eat meat (chicken and mutton) including fish, it is part of their staple protein diet.

            It's wrong. You need to spend more time there to understand the food habits. Majority of Hindus, considering their total population, are definitely not meat-eaters. You probably went to a place where it would have been a case.

      • +3

        It is not.

        And a lot of people eat lamb/mutton in north India.

    • Why will most Hindus not buy one ?

    • I eat lamb and I have a BBQ. In India what most people call Lamb is mostly Goat but you can find lamb and Buffalo meat in Delhi.

    • +1

      Good luck finding the recipe for it in the book.

        • I didnt neg you. Just FYI.

        • -8

          I actually do think the Apu character is racist. The name itself is designed to sound like "a poo".
          It's funny and well written but it also is a one dimensional caricature.

          • +2

            @King Tightarse: damn, you got some imagination there. I thought it was short for Auxiliary Power Unit.

            the show is full of stereotypes, and like any other minority the loudest seem to be able to get anything cancelled.

            well done to those idiots.

            • -2

              @cynicalmike: Haha well, I don't take things too seriously and I am against hysterical cancel culture but I have come around on this one.
              "A poo" is pretty obvious.

              • +3

                @King Tightarse: Are you for real???
                Apu is pretty obvious-ly an Indian name.

                • +1

                  @McFly: Yes of course it's a real name but its also a double ententre. Pretty much the bread and butter joke style of the Simpsons.
                  But hey, I love the Simpsons too but after reading Hank Azaria thoughts on the matter I agree with his conclusions but each to their own.
                  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/arts/television/hank-azar…

                  • +4

                    @King Tightarse: It's pretty clear that the people campaigning against Apu and wanting him to be removed from the show haven't actually watched it. The same crowd who campaign against violent video games.

                    He is shown time & time again throughout the series to be one of the most honest and hard working characters on the show and has real success as a result of his hard work. He has a ripped body, a bitching firebird, a beautiful wife with a family who love him.

                    Hanks response is clearly because he doesn't want to become a target of SJW and is happy to ride out the ongoing paycheques the show is bringing in despite the huge decline in viewership and writing quality. Who could blame him? Far easier to go along with it than die on that hill and either get fired or have the show cancelled.

                    The result of recasting the characters on the show to only be voiced by the ethnicity they represent completely discredits the medium. The show is a cartoon and everything in it is a caricature of American society. The whole show takes everything to the excess and it's not meant to represent an accurate portrayal of real life. People really overreact to these things, especially in America where everything is suddenly offense to anyone.

                    • -1

                      @Agret: If you read the NYT article linked above, it shows that he thought very deeply on the matter but was mostly swayed by speaking to people of Indian decent who said they were negatively impacted by the Apu character.
                      Apu is a one dimensional servile character but its also important to note that there were very few other Indian characters in Western media at the time it was written, so it really stands out. That translates to a lot of Indian immigrants and their children copping 'thank you, call again' in the workplace and schoolyard and other similar sayings which in time and with constant repetition, have a negative impact. "In a 2015 interview Azaria acknowledged the character's impact as fodder for widespread racially motivated bullying that targets children with South Asian heritage"
                      He was also in consultation with the writer of the film 'The Problem With Apu' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Problem_with_Apu who is Indian and said that he grew up loving Apu (due to lack of other Indian characters) but came to realize he was also setting a thin stereotype that was harmful: "childhood anecdotes of being called "Apu" by other children or having the character's catchphrases from the show said to them by strangers because of their perceived heritage"
                      Who knows Apu better than the man who voiced him for thirty years? Well, he has thought deeply on the matter and is no longer willing to do the voice because he has concluded is actually does cause some harm, despite being funny and popular and familiar to everyone.
                      I respect that decision and agree with him on that one.

                      • @King Tightarse:

                        If you read the NYT article

                        This is where you are going wrong. Like most media, their industry is to create controversy where none exists. It is their primary product.
                        If you follow this logic to the end you find you can't ever do anything. We should ban Asians from dyeing their hair blonde because it's cultural appropriation? Where does it end?

          • @King Tightarse:

            The name itself is designed to sound like "a poo".

            Damn those racist Indian parents for naming their children with names that sound weird in English.

            • @1st-Amendment: I think cancel culture largely is a reactionary pain in the arse but I follow Hank Azaria's reasoning on this and I see his point. Basically, if it genuinely causes harm to people (not slightly, maybe I got my feelings hurt but actually fuels schoolyard bullying) well yes, it should be reconsidered.
              As for the Apu name; well that was chosen by the Matt Goening and the writers of the Simpsons, not Indian parents.
              You do know what a double entendre is, right?

  • Thanks op.

    I bought a cookbook when I did the rickshaw run in India called Keralan Curries For Housewives. And on the back it goes on about how you (as a woman of course) can impress your husband or fiancé with the curries in the book. It’s a chuckle of course but reflects the patriarchal reality in a lot of India. The curries are quite good too!

    • +7

      Well, recently watched a Prime movie from Kerala about breaking the patriarchy from a housewife’s PoV. Well worth the watch! - ‘The Great Indian Kitchen’

  • +12

    Married to an indian, mostly the Indian restaurant food here is shit, you will be surprised how much low oily, spice and healthy food we eat at home, and not everyday is curry. :D

    • +7

      Restaurant food is to be had once in a while, not on a daily basis. That goes for all cuisines, not only Indian.

    • +2

      I wish more South Indian restaurants would open here. 95% of Indian restaurants seem to be all North Indian food.

    • Did you know that here in Australia we all don't eat 'shrimp on the barbie' every day either? Everyday is not shrimp on the barbie day…

    • As an Indian, I rarely cook Indian at home but we do have few good Indian restaurants in lower north shore of Sydney.

  • Do Indians (in India) eat chicken tikka masala?

    I love some of the dishes I've tried but suspect it isn't really authentic, probably laden with sugar or something.

    I also thought most were vegetarians for whatever reason, must have had some bad information given to me.

    • Well I thought butter chicken was a western invention but when I was driving through rural northern India, I saw murgh makhani (butter chicken) in a lot of restaurants. And it was good!

      Edit: in response to your question, I don’t really recall it so maybe not.

      I enjoyed a paneer Big Mac once too.

      • Pretty sure those dishes were made in India, however, they were put together specifically for the British during their time in India. So you'll be able to get them everywhere, but they probably just aren't traditional dishes.

        • Ok thanks, that sounds reasonable.

      • You might be confusing Butter Chicken with Chicken Tikka Masala which was created in the UK to appeal to English tastes.

    • I can't speak to if Chicken Tikki Masala is eaten in India, but I watched a show some ago that described how it was first created in England by an Indian chef as something a bit more palatable to the English tastes. I can't remember the timeframe.

      • I thought it was concocted in a pub by the chef that just threw whatever ingredients he had on hand.

  • I was literally just thinking about what Indians ate at home!
    I was eating good north Indian food today wondering if I would put on a ton of weight if I ate it often. Started wondering what Indian people ate on a daily basis

    • +3

      Today I had beef biriyani, left over from yesterday and some fries. Almost all the days it's either beef/fish/chicken + rice/kerala porotta and a sandwich/burger/pizza every now and then. I intermittent fast so I eat only once a day (with random cheat days). The other Indians I know include a bit more varieties of bread as well.

      • kerala porotta is one of my favorites - do you make it yourself? is it easy to cook at home?

        • +1

          https://youtu.be/sdY2rGgo3fw
          Bit hard process.some skill needed for making soft layers which shown at 5:42 of the video

          • @binusam2007: That is such a cool video. I’ve seen a few proper Indian village cooking videos like this and they are great.

            A couple of handfuls of salt, a few handfuls of sugar, a shitload of eggs, a couple of bags of milk, mix with your hands for a while. Nothing else to do anyway. Then the dude who rolls it out does that acrobatic magic to stretch out the layer, and I noticed he wasn’t even bloody watching it, he was looking off to the side! That hand manoeuvre to make the balls is pretty cool too. These guys have been making these for ages.

            When I was in India, the fresh cooked parotta on the side of the road was the best thing, especially these oily layered Kerala variety. You get these in Malaysia too. Breakfast with these plus some puri sabzi and a little glass of masala chai = awesomeness.

            I do wonder where all the women are at the end of the video, maybe working hard in the fields?

            • @Corgsta: You will get Kerala porotta(frozen) here in Australia.Just steam it first and use a pan on high flame(30 seconds each side) to make out side bit crispy.In the video,they cooked for the poor people who lives in orphanage

              • +1

                @binusam2007: Thanks for explaining, I couldn't understand the spoken conversations, that's interesting. Good for them!

                Yeah I have bought roti, paratha, Keralan parotta at some Indian supermarkets around - but I haven't tried steaming them, that's a good idea because they do end up a bit dry. I usually heat them in a hot pan like you said.

        • +2

          I make it myself there's no other way around. It takes a minimum of 1.5 hours to get it done. Having a mixer helps a lot.

    • I had a pulled pork burger takeaway at home for lunch, and homemade iced coffee with maple syrup!

  • -8

    Sorry friends but Indian food is highly overrated. When we go to an Indian place cheap or high end ít seems like the chefs have no freaking sense of taste. Even the food which friend's mum cooks taste so cheap.

    • Ask your friend's mum to make a sammich.

    • +1

      Never been to India but I did live in Singapore for 4 years where I enjoyed what I'm assured is true authentic Indian food from the hawker stalls to the high-end restaurants. Yet to find any Indian restaurants in any of the major Australian cities that is genuinely representative of true Indian taste.

      • The best Indian restaurant in the World (IMO) is in Little India, Singapore. Crazy cheap too.

        • +5

          Did you try all the others in the world?

          • @Laziofogna: Didn't you see the IMO in my post?

            Reading a post properly and then commenting is the bomb.

            • @R4: That kind of opinion would have value after you tried them all and then you decide that for you that restaurant is the best. How can you have an opinion on something you don't know?

              • @Laziofogna: FFS! It's not worth it champ.

                The best Indian restaurant in the World (that I have tried) (IMO) is in Little India, Singapore. Crazy cheap too.

                Happy now?

      • +6

        Part of the problem is there's no such thing as 'Indian taste'. It's such a diverse country with so many different regions and each one has a different take on each kind of food. A basic chicken biryani in Hyderabad is not the same in Mumbai. A specific curry in Bangalore won't be the same in the North. Add to that there's also Pakistani, Kashmiri, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan etc that all gets grouped as 'Indian' food. Not to mention all the 'Indian' foods we know about that aren't actually Indian at all.

        I've been to India on a few work trips and it's truly amazing the diversity in food, cultures and everything in between.

        Outside India, such as here and the UK, you tend to have 2 different types of 'Indian' restaurant places:-

        1) 'Colonial Indian' - These tend to be more upmarket and targeting Westerners. Milder food, not as authentic to cater to local tastes but higher quality. Small portions, higher price e.g. most of Harris Park or Rangoon in Crows Nest.

        2) 'Authentic Indian' - These tend to be lower quality, generally lower class settings but proper style food. Huge portions, cheap price e.g. Student Biryani or Anjapper on George St or multitude of places around Lakemba like Pista House.

        Then you get a hybrid of the two marketed as 'Indian Fusion' like Lal Qila at Barangaroo that tries to meld many different things together from multiple countries and catering for both types (using Sydney examples as only ones familiar with).

        • +1

          and then there are 100% vegetarian, authentic Indian places that represent a true Indian veg and street-side food culture in my opinion, such as: https://aangan.com.au/indian-restaurant-west-footscray/
          https://www.chatkazz.com.au/
          http://www.a2bsydney.com.au/

          This food category is super important for Indian population and it was almost non-existent here until recent times. You will find this type of restaurants packed on any day despite their large seating capacity.

          • +1

            @virhlpool: This is actually a very good point I hadn't considered, thank you. I did have an all-veg endless thali out there which was simply amazing. Sat on the floor, ate with hands and didn't know half the stuff they kept generously plonking on the banana leaf plate, but was all delicious. I'll need to try these out.

        • I had Student Biryani after much hype and it was meh. I had smoked goat biryani from Wazwan restaurant in Crows Nest and it was quite good.

    • Warney is that you? Stick to the baked beans mate, you know what you like…

  • -4

    I have an Indian friend who eats mainly Western food. Just saying

    • +8

      We're very glad to hear you have a friend. Maybe one day you'll have two!

      • +1

        One's enough thanks

  • at this rate i just skip 4 stars and less lol

  • -2

    Didn't they mostly hunt buffalo? Until Buffalo Bill tried to wipe them out to starve them off their land.

    • Different continent.

  • +1

    Sabzi's. What most eat as a staple weekday meal.

  • +4

    What Indians eat at home.
    Spoiler alert.
    Aloo gobhi.

    • Not me.

    • lol loved aloo gobhi especially when its crispy and rather a bit burnt ! however now trying to control sugar.. so its only gobhi for me. no aloo sadly :(

  • +3

    lol, Mostly what some states in north Indians eat at home, maybe not true for most of them also.

    Below is an actual list, for those interested,
    some of the things I am capable of cooking and eating at my Australian home (this may apply to some vegetarian crowd from Karnataka),

    breakfast,
    Idly , dosa(several varieties masala,ragi,rava,neer dosa,heerekai dose etc), Bisi bele bath,uppitu,sabudana kichdi,poha, nuchinunde, avalakki,akki shavige, pathrode, pundi or neer pundi
    accompanied but several varieties ok chutney, Chutney Pudi, thokku, sambar.

    lunch or dinner -
    rice | chappati | puri | akki rotti | jollad rotti | sajjige rotti | mint pulav | different rice baths |
    different lentil Kosambari,Tomato rasam with lentils, vegetable sambar or Huli,majjige huli,tambli from different herbs or leaves, different vegetable playas with light masala tempering(not north Indian sabzi),ennegayi(from egg pant),Dali Toye, bobay saagu, kurma
    then standard north Indian dishes rajma, chole,Bhindi sabji, Palak paneer

    evening snack,
    Aloo cutlet,masla puri(bangalore style), pani puri, churmuri,dahi puri, nippat masla, sev puri,bhelpuri,nippat masala, pav bhaji all other chats

    • Why you making me hungry bro?

    • lol as an North Indian, I don't eat single item you listed above at home with exception of rice but I don't like rice unless its hainanese chicken rice.
      I do love dosa and I tried making this from packet stuff but its soggy AF. I usually end up go for dine-in. I had my first Dosa in a long time few weeks ago. I found this place that does paper dosa but they are closed until May.

  • +1

    The ignorance in this comments section is on another level but not unexpected. Stay ignorant and uneducated Australia #straya

    • You added so much to the conversation…

      • +1

        He's merely stating the fact. The number of posts being deleted for hate speech and inflammatory cannot be ignored when its bleating obvious

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