kaye16's Reviews
39 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 39Sort by: Title | Date | Rating
At Home with Madhur Jaffrey: Simple, Delectable Dishes from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka
By Madhur Jaffrey
Knopf - 2010
A Two-Egg Masala Omelette : page 75
An omelette with Indian flavors (black mustard seeds, cumin seeds, shallots, tomatoes, cayenne, and cilantro). Can hardly go wrong.
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Anglo-Indian Sausage Curry : page 133
Really yummy. Since you've made the sausage ahead of time, this goes together quite quickly.
I used canned tomato pulp for the tomatoes.
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Anglo-Indian Sausage Patties : page 132
Really good.
I made a half recipe for the curry recipe on the adjacent page, but for breakfast or in a sandwich, they would be more than tolerable.
I used homemade sausage meat which wasn't very fat, but we weren't bothered by that.
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Baked Chicken Curry : page 88
Very tasty dinner, and easy. I made a halfish recipe with four chicken thighs instead of mixed parts of a chicken. Rounded upwards on all spices.
The recipe calls for the chicken to be cooked at 400F for 30 minutes on one side and 40 minutes on the other side. These times seem more like timings for a spatchcocked chicken. My thighs with about 25 min on the first side and 20 min on the second side and they were perfect. (I didn't do the basting bit and the thighs were delicious.)
This is really delicious for very little work.
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Bangladeshi Fish Curry : page 58
Pretty good; easy.
I made a half recipe with lieu noir (saithe in English?).
- Used curry leaves from the freezer having no access to kaffir lime leaves.
- Used all the spices (slightly light on cayenne).
- Used mustard oil.
- Since I was worried about evaporation if I added only half the water, I added about 2/3 cup instead of 1 cup. Mistake. The sauce was a bit too soupy
Tasted good.
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Bangladeshi Red Lentils : page 195
A very tasty dal, and easy to make.
I made a half recipe, but used all of turmeric.
I served this as a side dish, but it would easily make a vegetarian main, with a whole recipe serving 2 or 3.
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Basmati Rice with Lentils : page 212
This could be served as a side or as a veggie main.
Very tasty. Easy but lots of wall clock time for soaking lentils and rice.
The amount of rice seemed excessive to me. I used only 1 cup (rather than 2) and the balance of lentils and rice seemed fine. Four of us finished it all off, but it could have served more if we weren't so piggy.
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Carrots with Cilantro : page 149
Very easy and tasty. I made a half recipe for two. That was a good amount.
But ... the cooking time for the carrots is way off. Cut in 1/3"-thick rounds, they're just not going to get done in 3-4min. I didn't really time them, but they were well over 10min, I'm sure.
Anyhow, this is easy and tasty. Just allow extra time for them to get done.
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Cauliflower Cachumbar : page 240
I made this with grated broccoli stems (needing to use up a collection), rather than cauliflower. It was a very nice accompaniment to an Indian meal. Next time I'll grate my broc on the box grater rather than on the big microplane so that the veg has more texture.
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Corn with Aromatic Seasonings : page 151
Even 4.5. (DH says the sausage curry was so good, this was barely noticed.)
Easy and delicious.
The instructions say to put the whole spices into a small cup before putting them in the hot oil. Surely people already do this? I use a small dish, not a cup, but the effect is the same.
Later she says you can pick out and discard the whole spices (cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon stick, and bay leaves) if you're serving people unaccustomed to large whole spices in their food. Better not be eating here if you're squeamish about that kind of thing!
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Cucumber Salad, North Indian Style : page 236
Easy to make, a nice salad, a bit different from your usually cucumber salad, with a "dressing" of S&P, lemon juice, cayenne, and chopped mint.
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Delhi-Style Bhuna Lamb : page 120
Delicious and easy.
I made a whole recipe with 748g lamb shoulder, slightly short. Two of us, being only a big piggy, ate all of this. The 4-6 servings indicated would be only as part of a bigger meal.
Served with Rice and Peas with Garam Masala and Karhai Broccoli, both old favorites.
I except the long cooking part of this could be done in a pressure cook to save a bit of time. But sometimes the long unattended cooking time is appreciated by the cook.
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Really good, really easy. I used swordfish, but it could be any thickish piece of fish.
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Grilled Masala Salmon : page 46
This was a hit. Very easy to prepare and very yummy. The first is first "marinated" with some dry spices, then topped with a mixture including dijon mustard to be broiled. (Dijon mustard is cheating, but works great.) I only broiled rather than broiling then baking, since I have gas broiler and ovens and didn't want to heat an oven.
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Hot, Salty, and Sweet Pork Chops : page 134
Very good and easy.
- I made a half recipe (2 pork chops) but used all the spices for the marinate. Was a bit more than needed, but didn't hurt. Marinated in fridge over night; chops started frozen.
- Finished with all the ingredients for the sauce, which worked well, but took a little longer to boil the sauce down to syrupy.
We liked this a lot.
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Karhai Broccoli : page 148
A good variation on steam/sautéed broccoli. Could be served with any meal. Easy.
Maybe I make my broccoli bits too big, but I always find it has to cook longer than Jaffrey suggests.
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Masala Fish Steaks : page 48
Disappointing, this one. In a book full of really good recipes, this one was uninteresting.
Used lieu noir filets, rather than steaks.
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Mushroom and Pea Curry : page 161
Very tasty.
There is a problem with the amount of water asked; 2cups for the full recipe is way too much. Tonight I made a half recipe and used about 3/4cup. That was still too much; we'll have the rest as a soup for lunch one day soon. I think maybe 1/2cup for the half recipe and 1cup for the full recipe might work.
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Pan-Grilled Zucchini : page 173
A very nice and easy side of zucchini.
Jaffrey asks small zukes to be cut lengthwise. Bigger ones (like we get in Europe) could be cut in thick slices.
She has you sauté them in a skillet. I broiled them (since I was also broiling fish), but they could also be grilled. I don't think this matters too much as long as they get past the raw stage. Some nice reddish brown or grill marks won't hurt.
The cooked zuke bits are sprinkled with lemon juice, salt, black pepper, ground roasted cumin, and cayenne, making a very nice side very quickly.
13nov14: I sprayed the zuke spears with olive oil before broiling. Worked a treat.
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Pork (or Lamb) with Lentils : page 135
Made with pork. Easy to make. Very tasty.
- I made the whole recipe; we'll have three good servings from it. Could be stretched to four probably, as indicated.
- Would be good for company since the last cooking is essentially without attention and it can wait to be served
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Potato and Pea Chaat : page 166
This is a really good variation on Potato Chaat when you'd like an extra bit of green veg on the plate. I sort of defrosted my peas in a sieve, then dumped them in with the potatoes just before I drained them in the same sieve. Pretty, tasty, easy.
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Potato Chaat : page 165
I've made this frequently and it's always a hit. It's easy to put together, can wait till whenever you're ready to serve since it's a room-temp thing. I can imagine that it's a good savory snack, too, although I've never done this.
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Potatoes with Cumin and Mustard Seeds : page 164
A very good way to do potatoes as a side; doesn't need to be an Indian meal.
If you have cold boiled potatoes in the fridge, you're ahead of the game here and can have this dish on the table within ten minutes.
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Rice Pilaf with Almonds and Raisins : page 209
I made 1/3 of a recipe that is advertised to serve 4-6 and it was more than enough. But tasty. And quite easy to make as these things go.
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Roasted Almonds with Black Pepper : page 8
Second difference of opinion. My husband likes these a lot, and I think they're so-so.
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Salaad : page 235
A very good little salad to accompany an Indian meal. I made with lemon juice because that was handy, but lime would have been nice too.
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Salmon in a Tomato-Cream Sauce : page 56
Scrumptious, was DH's verdict. It really was delicious.
I made a halfish recipe, but with all of the spices, except for salt and cumin (which we regretfully suspect of being the cause some sleeplessness :-( ).
Very easy to prepare, and it would be a good company dinner, since the fish can be "marinated" (if salt, pepper, turmeric, and cayenne constitute a marinade) for an hour or more and the sauce assembled ahead of time. The final cooking is very easy.
Served with Swiss Chard with Ginger and Garlic and Rice Pilaf with Almonds and Raisins as recommended.
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Seasoned Radishes : page 6
Snack food! Difference of opinion in the house. I think these are fantastic. The cayenne nicely complements the zing of the radishes. Spicy and sour, ideal snack food to me. OTOH, my husband who usually likes radish things, didn't like them at all.
Mine sat for well over 12 hours before they got munched up.
I might cut the salt back to 1/4tsp next time.
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Shrimp Biryani : page 214
This is the same recipe published on Serious Eats as Madhur Jaffrey's Shrimp Biryani.
As dinner for two, I used half the rice with all the spices. I had a package of shrimp frozen with small scallops, so used all of that.
Very good, a tasty and moist biryani.
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South Indian-Style Green Beans : page 147
A very nice side and easy dish. The hardest part is trimming and cutting up the green beans (haricots verts).
Prepping and boiling the beans and measuring two small groups of spices could be done ahead, with the finish done at the last minute.
(Don't forget the salt. It's included in the menu text, rather than the ingredient list.)
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Spiced Roasted Cashews : page 7
Easy easy easy and oh-so-more-ish.
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Spicy Shrimp Stir-Fry (Bhuni Jhinga) : page 63
Easy, fast, delicious. What more can you ask?
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Very tasty rice. I made a quarter recipe; that was plenty for two.
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Sweet-and-Sour Eggplant : page 153
Quite an unusual way to cook eggplant (to me anyhow); could be a main dish in a vegetarian meal, a whole recipe serving 2 then.
I made a half recipe as a side with a single eggplant making the proper weight, so had to cut this in half at after cooking. The eggplant(s) are first soaked for 30 minutes, then stuff with a spice paste, fried, then cooked with a bit of water for 25 minutes. This time might be shortened a bit, since our eggplant seemed a bit soft at the end.
A syrup of lemon juice, sugar, and water is added at the end and boiled down to a thick sauce to make the sweet-and-sour taste. Neither of us especially noticed this taste, but liked the eggplant as a whole.
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Swiss Chard with Ginger and Garlic : page 150
The chard at the shops this week looked pretty sad, so I used spinach instead, the kind with huge leaves, the size of a salad plate or even bigger.
Made a half recipe. More than filled my 10" skillet, but cooked down to a spoonful for each of us. It was good though. Really simple to prepare.
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Vermicelli Kheer : page 274
I made a half recipe with 2% milk, rather than whole milk. Pretty tasty, but after more than 10 minutes of cooking, thick was not a word I'd just to describe it.
Added almonds, no raisins or saffron.
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"Whole Chicken Baked with an Almond and Onion Sauce" -- that's the full title of this recipe. It gets a 5 (or more!) for taste and ease, but only a 4 or so for the instructions. E.g.:
- Your time is better organized if you let the chickie have its 15min sit with the lemon-salt rub while you prepare the marinade (rather than making the marinade, then rubbing and waiting).
- My chick was so done in the time specified that it fell in half when I lifted it from the pan. I suspect that the cooking time could be reduced by 10 minutes or so.
Nevertheless, it was scrumptious.
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Yellow Basmati Rice with Sesame Seeds : page 208
An easy, tasty rice dish. The sesame seeds were an interesting addition, not typical of Indian rice dishes in my experience.
Relatively easy to make with only two groups of spice additions. :-)
Makes a huge quantity. I made a half recipe, should serve 2-3. We'll get four generous servings from it.
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Yogurt Custard : page 276
About as simple as a recipe can get. Equal amounts of sweetened condensed milk and whole-milk yogurt stirred together, then baked in a bain-marie till done. The sweet and tart combination worked really well.
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