Product Description

Here is Indian food as you have never seen it before: fresh healthy ingredients, vibrant flavours and easy recipes. Das Sreedharan, who co-owns Rasa restaurants, is at the forefront of contemporary Asian food and on a mission to introduce the world to the light, home-style cooking of his native Kerala. Ingredients such as chilis, cashew nuts, mangoes, ginger, tamarind and cumin - all readily available in supermarkets - are combined to delicious effect in this stunning collection of recipes. There are crisp snacks to serve with piquant chutneys, curries made creamy with yogurt and coconut milk, an abundance of colourful vegetables and tropical fruits, hearty rice dishes, moreish breads, cooling drinks, rich, unctuous desserts and refreshing ices. Whether you want a quick, simple dish to prepare after work or new ideas for a dinner party, whether you are planning a special curry evening for friends or simply love Asian food, "Fresh Flavours of India" will inspire and excite you.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #93346 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Review
'The bloke's a complete genius and such a nice guy. It looks great, reads well, the explanations are fantastic. I've taken people to his restaurant on about ten occasions now, just to show off.' Jamie Oliver 'I've eaten delicious meals at Das's restaurants many times, and I truly adore the food. Now that I have this book though, I'll be able to cook and eat my favourite dishes at home as well. The recipes are straightforward and they work.' Peter Gordon 'Shockingly good Keralan food. The culinary flair and attention to detail is thrillingly apparent. Indisputably outstanding in all respects.' Time Out

About the Author
Das Sreedharan opened the first Rasa restaurant in London in 1994; it has won many commendations including an Evening Standard Eros Award, twice won the Time Out Best Vegetarian Restaurant Award and is highly rated in the Zagat survey. There are now four restaurants with many fans including Fay Maschler and Jamie Oliver. Das has featured in numerous magazines including The Sunday Times, Food Illustrated and BBC Vegetarian Good Food. David Loftus is one of Britain's most exciting and sought-after food, interiors and garden photographers. His work appears in many top international magazines including Elle, Food & Wine, Vogue Entertaining & Travel, Cond Nast Traveller, Red and New York Magazine. In 1998 David won the acclaimed Garden Photographer of the Year award.

Customer Reviews

Utterly delicious, simple, quick Keralan food
Das Sreedharan runs Rasa, a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Stoke Newington (North London). We've eaten fairly regularly there since it opened (and before that, we ate in the restaurant he used to manage). The restaurant is the best Indian vegetarian restaurant in London by some way (its main competitors are the others in the chain, but they have fancy locations and prices to match).

We went to Kerala on holiday, largely on the strength of the food in this restaurant and Das's enthusiasm for his home. We had some great food there, too, but I think I prefer Rasa.

So I was delighted to discover I could try the recipes at home, but also apprehensive. It's often difficult to cope with restaurant cooking; much of it doesn't scale down properly, and although I do have the requisite army of sous-chefs, my four-year old isn't very good at the niceties of restaurant presentation. So I wasn't expecting to manage to recreate any of my favourites.

How wrong I was. Turns out they're easy. And delicious. Not quite as good, perhaps, as the meal you'd be served in the restaurant, but if you'd never eaten at Rasa then cooking from this book would be inspirational. The food is pretty healthy, and the curries at least are low in fat (though some of them, admittedly, have rather a lot of desiccated coconut in).

I haven't tried any of the meat dishes yet (Das is vegetarian, as is his entire village, and I am suspicious), but have cooked several of my favourite vegetarian dishes from the restaurant (moru katchiathu, beet pachadi, avial) successfully.

It helps if you have an Asian grocer handy, to get curry leaves (in nearly every dish) and urad dal. Everything else I've needed, so far, has been available in any supermarket.

Recommended to anyone who likes Southern Indian food and would like to try it at home, and anyone else who's eaten enough chicken tikka masalas and would like to try something more unusual.

a quantum leap in preparing exotic Indian cuisine
We dined at Rasa near the British Museum and were so enchanted by the unparalled tastes and high standards of food preparation we requested the cookbook! Friends who formerly turned their noses away from the thought of eating Indian cuisine (here across the pond) are absolutely taken with the aromas and visual delight of recipes from this work that they readily dive in to sample. They can't resist taking yet another taste, and another...! Das Sreedharan's book propeled my cooking abilities by quantum leaps to a richer level. Acquaintances familiar with brown sludge passed off for Indian cuisine are very impressed with the colorful presentations that adds splendid visual appeal. His step by step instructions and dedication to obtaining fresh ingredients translate into your ability to serve uterly exquisite Indian "Keralan" cusine. Even my local Indian restaurant owners and chefs readily concede the dishes I have made for them through following the recipes Das shares in this book are to be emulated! Secret weapon: Prepare a typical recipe where tempering is a feature and then invite your friends over: The exotic aromas wafting in your home at that point tantalyze their palates unmercifully, creating instant, insatiable intrigue. If you ever want to experience truly elegant aromas, tastes and colorful presentations this is a must place to look!

Gorgeous, utterly essential cooking
I bought this book after having yet another superlative dinner out at Rasa, W1. If your idea of Indian food is a tired bowl of orange chicken tikka masala and sag aloo swimming in ghee, you MUST get this book so you can see how incredible the 'real thing' is. My only complaint is that the incredible tamarind and garlic pickle isn't included, but that's a small blip in an otherwise wonderful collection of recipes. If you love richly balanced spices and wonderful flavour combinations, get this book - and make sure you visit the restaurant, too!