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lsparrow's review against another edition
4.0
To me this feels like an urban cook book - recipes that fit life in a big city full of different cultural/food influences. I loved that south asian influence that runs through the food - but there are so many other ones.
especially interested in the chuntneys
especially interested in the chuntneys
rjsreadingnook's review against another edition
5.0
I might be biased but I’ve been a fan of Padma Lakshmi since the first season of Top Chef. I also thoroughly enjoyed her new series Taste the Nation on Hulu.
The recipes in this book are so vibrant and fresh. I love the way Lakshmi takes all the influences from her life, travels, and family and incorporates them into her cooking.
The recipes are easy to follow with notes on ingredients and appropriate substitutions. I also love her extra notes on how kids can help with preparing, too.
The dessert chapter surprised me the most and in the best way. I usually find dessert recipes lacking in these types of cookbooks but this one was impressive. The variety ranges from spiced cookies to fruity granitas. The rose petal and pistachio ice cream recipe is worth the price of admission alone.
I highly recommend this one to readers who collect cookbooks, Top Chef fans, and anyone who wants to diversify their dinners at home with recipes that anyone can try.
Thank you to Hachette and Hachette Go for the gifted paperback copy.
The recipes in this book are so vibrant and fresh. I love the way Lakshmi takes all the influences from her life, travels, and family and incorporates them into her cooking.
The recipes are easy to follow with notes on ingredients and appropriate substitutions. I also love her extra notes on how kids can help with preparing, too.
The dessert chapter surprised me the most and in the best way. I usually find dessert recipes lacking in these types of cookbooks but this one was impressive. The variety ranges from spiced cookies to fruity granitas. The rose petal and pistachio ice cream recipe is worth the price of admission alone.
I highly recommend this one to readers who collect cookbooks, Top Chef fans, and anyone who wants to diversify their dinners at home with recipes that anyone can try.
Thank you to Hachette and Hachette Go for the gifted paperback copy.
momey's review against another edition
5.0
this is really excellent! especially looking forward to trying some of the pickle and sauce recipes. i love south Indian food and especially the sauces and pickles and the use of tamarind. Her explanation of how to prepare tamarind is especially useful and precise. I have had so many aunties who when asked would tell me oh you just take the right amount of tamarind and rub with water! this is not helpful! Padma tells you just what to do and how to do it!!
architaxb's review
i didn’t want to give this book a rating, as i’m not sure i’m the right person, but overall i’m disappointed in how inflexible and meat heavy the recipes were. even the vegetarian section of the book was small and still included non vegetarian ingredients :( of the entire book, there’s only two recipes that i think i could try slash are useable (for me).
lgallo's review
4.0
I have had a girl crush on Padma since season 2 of Top Chef and I found this AUTOGRAPHED book at a used books sale. I squealed and nearly gave a poor elderly woman across the aisle a heart attack. Padma infused her recipes with a lovely story. A few of the recipes I've tried are perfectly balanced, as the title suggests. Can't wait to try them all!
megfang315's review
3.0
there were a lot of unfamiliar ingredients (for me): persian omani dried lemons that were so black they looked like rocks, asafetida powder (an onion/garlicky herby seasoning), amchoor (dried mango powder), anar dana (dried pomegranate seeds), etc. while their inclusion could be annoying (there are plenty of indian grocery stores near me but i have no idea if they actually carry this stuff), i found it interesting. many of her recipes seemed to require a lot of ingredients (though they seemed fairly reasonable time-wise).
excited to try her singapore noodles (88), chicken a la nueces de la india (110), and lamb meatballs in creamy spinach sauce (160). her asian-leaning recipes appealed to me more than the other ones, even though it seemed like curry powder and chilis dominated the flavor profiles.
excited to try her singapore noodles (88), chicken a la nueces de la india (110), and lamb meatballs in creamy spinach sauce (160). her asian-leaning recipes appealed to me more than the other ones, even though it seemed like curry powder and chilis dominated the flavor profiles.
hrhacissej's review
4.0
This book surprised me. I don't watch Top Chef, so I knew very little about Lakshmi. I know a bit more now since she includes essays sharing her personal history as it relates to food. This makes the book a little bit of a memoir too.
I made the following recipes...
- Red Snapper with Green Apple and Mint Chutney - I liked it, but I will ask the fish monger/butcher (what do you call the person behind the fish counter at the grocery store?!) to be sure to take the bones out next time. It wasn't pleasant having to remove them as I ate.
- White Sangria - very sweet and yummy. I really liked the addition of tropical fruit - pineapple, mango, kiwi. I substituted a Portuguese white wine instead of Spanish.
- Mexican Cornbread - This cornbread is chock full of ingredients...chorizo, pickled jalapenos, monterey jack cheese and corn. Since I'm a bit of a wimp with peppers, I cut the jalapenos back by half and really enjoyed it. I actually chose to make this recipe because it called for sprinkling sumac on top of the bread after it bakes. I now have a lifetime supply of sumac after my experience with Jerusalem by Ottolenghi, so I jumped at the chance to deplete my stash!
- Honeycomb and Fig Ice Cream - OMG Good! Strong vanilla flavor with mellow fig and honeycomb. Seriously you can eat honeycomb.
This isn't an educational book. Lakshmi enjoys food and is an enthusiastic guide. She is flexible with substituting ingredients. She incorporates chilies into a lot of recipes. This may be off putting to some cooks, but you can decrease the amounts and/or find recipes without them.
I wish Weinstein Books would have increased the font size for the ingredient measurements. These 50+ year old eyes had a hard time deciphering the correct measurement (especially fractions).
I made the following recipes...
- Red Snapper with Green Apple and Mint Chutney - I liked it, but I will ask the fish monger/butcher (what do you call the person behind the fish counter at the grocery store?!) to be sure to take the bones out next time. It wasn't pleasant having to remove them as I ate.
- White Sangria - very sweet and yummy. I really liked the addition of tropical fruit - pineapple, mango, kiwi. I substituted a Portuguese white wine instead of Spanish.
- Mexican Cornbread - This cornbread is chock full of ingredients...chorizo, pickled jalapenos, monterey jack cheese and corn. Since I'm a bit of a wimp with peppers, I cut the jalapenos back by half and really enjoyed it. I actually chose to make this recipe because it called for sprinkling sumac on top of the bread after it bakes. I now have a lifetime supply of sumac after my experience with Jerusalem by Ottolenghi, so I jumped at the chance to deplete my stash!
- Honeycomb and Fig Ice Cream - OMG Good! Strong vanilla flavor with mellow fig and honeycomb. Seriously you can eat honeycomb.
This isn't an educational book. Lakshmi enjoys food and is an enthusiastic guide. She is flexible with substituting ingredients. She incorporates chilies into a lot of recipes. This may be off putting to some cooks, but you can decrease the amounts and/or find recipes without them.
I wish Weinstein Books would have increased the font size for the ingredient measurements. These 50+ year old eyes had a hard time deciphering the correct measurement (especially fractions).
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