Queezle_Sister's Reviews
10 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 10Sort by: Title 
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Easy Indian Cookbook: The Step-by-Step Guide to Deliciously Easy Indian Food at Home
By Manju Malhi
Duncan Baird - 2008
Balti Potatoes (Haryali Aloo) : page 1139
A bad flavor permeated this dish. Not sure why, but we accidentally added extra garlic (6 instead of 4 cloves). The potatoes are first boiled, and then a paste of garlic, cilantro mint leaves, ginger were added to the potatoes, and a bit of boiling water to make it a bit soupy. None of us liked this at all, and the leftovers were (sadly) discarded. I really hate wasting food, but this was not salvageable.
useful (0)
Buttery Spinach and Potatoes : page 71
Very nicely balanced dish - the ginger and chili peppers gave just the right amount of spice, and were complemented by the smoothness of potatoes and spinach. This recipe only took about 30 minutes, and this time could have been speeded up by cutting the potatoes into smaller pieces.
This would be an excellent dish with additional Indian sides, and we will make it again.
useful (2)
Delicious! This curry took about 45 minutes to prepare - very close to the 40 minutes suggested in the recipe. We liked the well balanced flavors, but thought it should have been a bit spicier. The chicken turned out tender, and even the non-chicken-eater ate this, and agreed it rated a "4".
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Cucumber Relish (Kheera Raita) : page 22
This was about as good a raita as I've had. But not everyone enjoyed it. We used an english cucumber, and non-fat yogurt.
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Cumin and Coriander Potato Patties : page 43
This recipe produced wonderfully flavored patties. The recipe includes potatoes, onions, bread crumbs, peas, and a great assortment of spices. The big effort was cutting things up, then they went together easily.
We loved the flavor of these. The combination of spices gave great depth and complexity. We ate these as a main dish, instead of an appetizer, and it was great. I'm sure we will make it again.
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Exotic Leavened Naans : page 27
This Naan recipe produces a bread filled with an utterly delicious mix of ground almonds, coconut, yellow raisins, and a bit of sugar. Unfortunately the bread component was not perfect. The recipe uses self-rising flour, yet instructs the cook to "set the dough, covered, in a warm spot to rise until doubled in volume". Of course it doesn't double in volume with no yeast! The dough did puff a bit upon baking, but this would be more successful if the delicious filling were put inside a traditional yeast-raised naan.
useful (1)
Goan Pork Meatballs in Spicy Curry : page 116
Tasty lean meatballs in a lovely sauce!
We used a different pepper which made this rather mild, and we forgot the final sprinkle of garam marsala - correcting those two errors would likely elevate this to a five.
We are pretty inexperienced with meatballs, but these were easily put together by my 16 yr old son.
The suggested 50 minute total time (prep and cooking) was very close.
This recipe prepared 16 big 2-inch meat balls, and fed four hungry people.
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Griddled Chicken (Murgh taka tak) : page 95
Onions are first sauteed (added to fried cumin seeds), additional spices added, and then chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces. The chicken was supposed to brown, but for us, the onions gave off so much liquid that the chicken boiled instead of browned. This made the dish less pretty, but it was still delicious.
Note that the recipe calls for fenugreek leaves to be added at the end, and I didn't find these to add. So - it might be even more delicious if one could follow the recipe completely.
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This was a very nice side dish. Red kidney beans, cumin, ginger, onion, and additional spices. My DH prepared this the day before he served it, in accord with the suggestion from the cookbook, and the flavors were so nicely blended! Delicious.
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Lamb with Peas and Rice : page 115
This was an attractive dish, and had a pleasant, but very mild, flavor. The cilantro on top was essential. If I make this again, I'll double the spices (at least).
One batch is said to serve 4, but I'd guess its closer to 6 main course servings.
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