A Whole Lot of Good Things Were Cooked
Review of Raghavan Iyer's ON THE CURRY TRAIL
The Cookbook Club starts off by saying this. BUY ON THE CURRY TRAIL!!!!! (Five exclamation marks are a sign of madness, but this book is delicious madness.) You may not be able to find all the ingredients he lists. Still, the information Mr. Iyer gives you will help you understand how curry traveled worldwide and was adapted by the communities it landed in. He also kindly offers you alternatives to some of the ingredients. He’s just keeping it real and giving you an idea of what the immigrants experienced when they landed in new communities. Make do.
ON THE CURRY TRAIL is a delicious, historical account of how food migrates while supplying you with many different recipes that will perk up your tastebuds, giving you a new appreciation of curry’s diversity. It’s not one dish. It’s a whole lot of dishes, loaded with variety and lots of sustenance.Â
I made the Sausages with Spiced Ketchup. One taste and I was taken back to the time my mother would make something similar with bologna. This is an intensely flavored dish that would work really well as an appetizer.
Sue made the Lamb Patties and Curried Vegetable Chumaça. She recommends that the patties actually become part of the chumaças filling. Like me, she found the recipes challenging because proper ingredients were scarce or impossible to find.
Kristin went all out, making her own madras (The Mother Blend) before turning her hand for the first time making Chinese-styled dumplings (Steamed Chicken Dumplings with a Spiced Tomato Sauce) and whipping up some fried rice dish (Wok-Seared Curried Fried Rice).Â
This was a fun book to cook from. The flavors, scents, and variety of dishes made it a delight.
We’re off until January, so everyone may enjoy their holidays with their friends, family, pets, or in peace. January’s book is Kelley Epstein’s APRÈS ALL DAY. I recommend buying it now because there are a lot of recipes in there that could add some delicious flavors to your hols. The next event will be Saturday, January 25th, 2025, at around 5:30pm CT. Hope to see you there.
In the meantime, keep cooking!
Janet
I am ready! Or I will be.
Decided to suggest either this new one or the Curry one for Christmas... Ya never know, maybe I'll get both?
Thanks, Janet! It really has become one of our favorite cook books. Since our meeting, we tried another recipe - Pork Meatballs in a Creamy Curry Sauce - and it is our new favorite. The sauce and the meatballs are both wonderful. I hadn't cooked much with leeks before, but we really loved the taste it added to the sauce.