Customer Reviews

Vij's Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine

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I am a pretty confident cook with a fair bit of experience with Indian cuisine, and I had been looking forward to getting this book for some time.

I just prepared an Indian dinner and prepared a number of recipes from the cookbook. Some were definitely home-runs, particularly the beef short ribs. A few were total failures, and others would have been if I had not made adjustments. Examples:

1) The spiced roasted nuts called for 1 TABLEspoon of salt for one pound of nuts, which made them essentially inedible (and I am fond of salty snacks, and I don't have any particular concern about the health effects of salt).

2) The spiced candied walnuts were also too salty, to my palate at least.

3) Vij family's chicken curry also called for a TABLEspoon of salt for a sauce that was only about 3 cups liquid--learning from my nut experiences [and common sense] I cut this down to 1 tsp, which was more reasonable. The sauce broke down and ended up very oily, so I used an immersion blender on it and it came out great.

4) The sturgeon and mussels in the tomato cream curry also called for a TABLEspoon of salt in about 6 cups of broth--I put in about half that and still found it a bit too salty. This whole dish left me wanting for something: The extra salt notwithstanding, it seemed mainly sour--I can think of a bunch of different ways I would rather have mussels, anyway.

5) The long green beans and potatoes were good with about half the recommended salt (again, a TABLEspoon in about 7 cups of liquid). This dish pointed out another oddity in the recipes: Sometimes, the ratio of the ingredients didn't make sense: Do we really want 9 oz of potatoes and 9 oz of green beans in 7 cups of liquid? I mean, that is soupy even for soup.

6) Along these lines, I liked the sauteed arugula and spinach with paneer (after cutting the one TABLEspoon of salt back), but the recipe ends up with 2 pounds of greens for 9 oz of paneer. The photo shows the dish as I presented it, with maybe 10 leaves of greens per hunk of paneer. That was great, but it left me with a huge amount of leftover greens in coconut curry, which didn't make sense ot me. If I had put them all on the plate they would have totally overwhelmed the paneer.

7) Same issue with the seasonal vegetables with black chickpea rice. Great dish (reducing the TABLEspoon of salt in the vegetables to a teaspoon or so), but as written you will end up with, oh, about 6 times as many vegetables as you want.

8) The black chickpea curry would have turned out watery and bland if I had followed the recipes and used 9 cups of water for the already soaked chickpeas plus an additional 2 cups for the masala. After I cooked the chickpeas, I put in a minimal amount of the cooking water in with the masala (just enough to submerge the chickpeas). They ended up being spicy and delicious--the best chickpea curry I have ever had. Oh, I also pureed a bit of the chickpeas to thicken the sauce, which worked nicely. Another salt mystery: This recipe calls for only 1/2 Tablespoon of salt in 11 cups of fluid plus the chickpeas and masala. This would almost certainly have not been enough.

9) The beef short ribs were truly excellent, though I decided to brown them before braising them. I will make these again. And one final salt mystery: This recipe calls for no salt at all!

One final note: These recipes call for an appalling amount of oil and ghee--often 1/2 cup per recipe. In some cases this is essential for cooking the onions and the spices properly. But in some cases it was just plain oily. In the future I might start with half of the required oil or ghee and add extra if needed.

All in all, I am glad that I have the book and will be using it again. But the novice cook should approach these recipes with caution. If you want a more reliable (and more traditional) cookbook, check out Camillia Panjabi's "50 Great Curries of India."

Owners of Vij's in Vancouver; Vikram Vij and his wife, Meeru Dhalwala, have put together a fantastic reference for Indian Cuisine.

The book starts with a detailed explanation of, and some colloquial terms for, the Indian spices and ingredients used within the text that the average North American might not be familiar with. The step by step recipes are simple, and often complimented by narrative explaining differences in methods and results, esp. between the Vij and Dhalwala families.

The tone of the work is very personal and casual; encouraging the reader to experiment with the basic palette of ingredients & spices presented, to create the flavour and texture best suited to their family's taste.

An absolute joy to have added to my kitchen reference shelf!

This is an excellent book on both Indian Cooking and the Vij family. The book I ordered came on time and in excellent shape and since then I have ordered 2 others for 2 of my East Indian co-workers. I hope to visit Vij's restaurant next time I am Vancouver.

This is a good reference for Indian food for the more experienced - I've picked up some excellent ideas for flavour combinations etc from here. I wouldn't recommend buying this if you're new to Indian food, because as someone else already pointed out, a lot of the recipes are wrong (i.e. they don't match the food that's prepared in the restaurant with the same names). Watch out for anything that calls for a certain quantity of water, as these are usually about 2-3 times greater than what's needed. I found this with several of the curries, including the Black Chickpea curry.

After an incredible experience at the restaurant in Vancouver, I was somewhat hesitant to test out the recipes themself - what if they didn't live up to the real deal? Fortunately this was far from the case. While the book may seem a little daunting, the recipes are surprisingly straightforward. After making the goat or lamb (I used lamb) in a cinnamon scented curry I was ready to proclaim it my new favorite cookbook. What a spectacular dish and, amazingly enough, concocted in my small kitchen! I would recommend finding good quality spices though; I was lucky enough to have a friend give me a tin of them from Vij's store next to the restaurant and I believe that they make a difference. It's a beautiful book and highly recommended, especially when you don't live close enough to the restaurant!

I use this book whenever Im need a meal that is full of rich flavors. Every recipie has worked out lovely. As one reader says, "watch the salt", this is what makes the meals sooo delicious, and balances the spices of each dish. Just follow the recipies as stated, no questions asked, and you too will absolutely love these dishes. A must on my cookbook shelf!!

This is a fabulous cookbook! Every recipe I've tried has been delicious. I especially like the Vij family chicken curry recipe.

As one who is fortunate enough to visit Vij's in person on a regular basis, I was excited to learn that I could 'visit' Vij's even *more* often thanks to the publication of his and Meeru Dhalwala's much-anticipated book. Indeed, being able to(humbly) recreate Vij's finest signature recipes (in particular, try Lamb Popsicles, Beef Short Ribs in Cinnamon and Red Wine Curry, Vij's Family Chicken Curry, to name a few) helps me to avoid the one drawback of the restaurant itself - the sometimes snooty, always bourgeoisie atmosphere that accompanies upscale dining anywhere in Vancouver.

Strongly recommended for beginners and veterans of Indian cookery.

Being a fan of Vij's restaurant for some years, I was always anticipating the day when they would finally come out with a cookbook. I had a newspaper clipping of one of Vij's recipes from years ago that is tattered and splattered from years of experimenting with just one of their curries! I was clinging to the hope that my repertoire would expand. It finally has thanks to the lovely owners of Vij's, Vikram Vij & Meeru Dhalwala.

Vij & Dhalwala encourage the reader to experiment, and this book will give you the impetus to do so. The pictures and descriptions are superb and will leave your mouth-watering as you decide which recipe to try first. They leave nothing to chance as they carefully guide you through these sometimes complex recipes.

Vij's food is like nothing you've ever tasted before (unless you've had the good fortune of eating there!) Clean, yet complex, flavours dominate. Some might say highly experimental- combining regional foods with an array of Indian flavours.

Downsides? I wish this book was printed in hardcover! Softcover cookbooks do not hold up to the wear & tear that a serious cook will havoc on such a beautiful book!

Also, you will need to find a purveyor of some serious spices. You probably won't be able to accomplish many of these recipes if you are relying on your local grocery store's spice aisle. Find an international or ethnic market. Okay, this experimentation with spices is not really a downside, just a warning.

Asafoetida? Ajwain? I also wish it came with a pronounciation guide for the few spices listed at the front of the book that I wasn't familiar with, so that when you are asking your friendly grocer for these spices you can sound like you are in the know, even if you look a little lost;)

This may not be a cookbook where you will make every recipe as some descriptions and procedures may scare you off. I am a seasoned cook and I was a bit afraid of some instructions that went on for more than a page. But, I do have to say that for the ones you do attempt (and they are not all that difficult!) you will be rewarded.

My favourite recipes (so far) are the beet-daikon salad, beef short rib curry (experimented successfully with stewing beef), chicken breast with lemon-ghee dressing and the ambrosial rice pudding. These were all fairly easy recipes. I would also guess that even the simple masala will grow to be one of your most prized possessions as you learn and enjoy experimenting with it.

This cookbook went above and beyond my expectations. If you are looking for a unique dining experience this is the cookbook to refer to. Along with the recipes the book itself is beautiful and the stories regarding the owners are interesting! If you love Indian food this is definitely a cookbook to add to your collection!