I own and use almost all of Madhur Jaffery's cookbooks, and she is brilliant, no question. But what's happening with the book design?

Back when it was called "Madhur Jaffery's Indian Cookery" and published in the UK, this cookbook had style. Great book design, easy to read fonts, subtle. Quality. Just dynamic writing and recipes!

But with this edition all but the recipe quality is all, all gone - cheesy and unflattering cover photo of Ms. Jaffery - amaturish layouts with unattractive and unreadable fonts...what on earth happened?

If you can cover your eyes and cook, the recipes are marvelous, but it is difficult to be inspired by the visuals here.

My sister in law made a few recipes from this book last night and as a person who really doesn't eat much indian food it is the best Indian cookbook ever. It uses a lot of ginger and garlic and combines to make this amazing flavor. This food was better than the several highend Indian food restaurants that I've eaten in. I'm also pregnant so the high amount of ginger plus the irresistable flavors that every dish perfectly combines is perfect. The ginger helps combat morning sickness and the recipes are just wonderful.
It is somewhat Americanized Inidan cooking but it still has profound flavor and spices and is the most delicous Indian food ever!

This is not your "get dinner on the table quickly cookbook". The dishes are excellent although, take from start to finish between 1-2 hours.

I decided to jump online and write a review for this book (my first time ever taking the time to write a review) after having another wonderful evening due mainly to the wonderful recipes that come out of this book. Most reviews have people touting food credentials such as "the way my mother made it" and "I had these neighbors who were" which may be good, but I feel a bit bias since because often their judgment is skewed to look for what they knew growing up. Not knowing this food growing up, I have depended on restaurants, friends, online recipes, and cookbook authors to introduce me to foods that my palate craves long after the last bite.

That said, this book has some of the best Indian recipes I've ever eaten, in or out of a restaurant or friends house. I'll try to keep this short and simple.

Last night it was the Vindaloo (Goan-style Hot and Sour Pork), pyaz wali basmati chaaval (buttery rice), green lentils with garlic and onion, Gujerati Sem (Gujerati-style green beans) that provoked me to make this entry. I'll have to say that everything in this book that we've tried have been incredible. While the Vindaloo list of steps and ingredients was long, it was by far the best I've ever had. The other three dishes were incredibly easy, with the green beans taking the cake for being the easiest. I actually asked my wife to do these because they appeared so easy and she is easily intimidated in the kitchen with long complicated recipes. I couldn't get enough of them.

The chhole (Sour Chickpeas) are by far the best we've ever had. Incredible!

The instructions are clear, Madhur Jaffrey provides good narrative, and good recommendations for what to serve together (as the example above). I would say if you are looking for an Indian cookbook then this is the one for you, but buyer beware, if you have never ventured down the road of Indian cooking, you may need to make an additional investment of purchasing some spices you may never have owned. But all should be easily purchased in your local grocery store.

Quickly, a couple other books I've tried include (and own):

Madhu Gadia's New Indian Cooking. The recipes in this book are good for a healthy alternative (the Vindaloo I made last night called for 10 tablespoons of oil --- yum!), but you definitely can tell the difference in the final product... as you do with most healthy alternatives. The only recommendation I would make is doubling all of the spices (except maybe the salt, but I don't cook with much salt) if what you are looking for are highly flavored dishes.

From Bengal to Punjab by Smita Chandra, which I would recommend steering clear of. The dishes just never seemed to come out with me wanting to cook them again... which lead me to try cooking probably half the recipes in the book in search for something good and not having to go out and spend money on another book. Three Indian cookbooks later I found Jaffrey's book.

Sanjeev Kapoor's Khazana of Indian Recipes. I had a friend pick this book up for me while he was in India. They tell me that this guy is probably the biggest Indian food celebrity in India. While the dishes from this book were pretty good, it is not friendly to the average American. There a lot of conversions and absolutely no narrative to tell you a little about what you're preparing. Good food but not user friendly.

I hope this info is helpful.

I wore out my paperback copy of Ms. Jaffrey's predecessor book, 'Indian Cookery' after more than 15 years of use. I have always gotten raves from all I prepared from it.