The Kerala Kitchen (Hippocrene Cookbook Library) Paperback – March 1, 2015

The Kerala Kitchen: Recipes and Recollections from the Syrian Christians of South India (Hippocrene Cookbook Library)Any self proclaimed Indian cooking expert should and MUST have this cookbook on his/her shelf. Chock full of traditional mouth watering recipes, this slim volume of delectable Kerala SYRIAN CHRISTIAN (and there is a difference!) dishes will leave you salivating and ravenous.As a second generation displaced Keralite growing up in Africa and Europe, I never appreciated such meals as Fish Roasted in Banana Leaves (see page 80) or Toddy Pancakes (see page 43). My siblings and I preferred canned sausages and mashed potatoes over Yesterday's Fish Curry (Page 86) or Fried Bitter Gourd (page 150). Indifferent to our finicky palates, my parents insisted (force fed, I should say!) on a daily diet of rice accompanied by a meat or fish dish and some form of coconut based vegetable. We groaned and moaned, but nevertheless ate what was put in front of us.My mother, known for her superb culinary skills, had tried to impart her knowledge of making a scrumptious Chicken Stew (page 127) or lip smacking Duck Roast (page 135) but I resolutely stuck to my versions of insipid shepherd pies and tomatoey spaghetti bolognaise.It was only after going away to University that I began to develop a liking for our regional food. Baked Beans on Toast was fast losing its bland appeal!Moving to the United States and discovering an incompetent cook in my husband left me longing for my mother's (once deplored!) cooking and a desire to mimic her. I would spend ages on the phone with her, writing down detailed recipes on scraps of paper and attempting to make them later.Lathika George's "The Kerala Kitchen" came as a complete joy to me. I love to read and I love to eat!The cuisine of Kerala (a state located on the Southwestern part of India) is very unique and for Indians from other parts of India, just as unfamiliar as Roast Turkey and Candied Yams! Most dishes are rice and coconut based, seafood is preferred over meat or poultry and sour/spicy wins over sweet/mild.Lathika George has managed to capture all of the popular dishes eaten by a typical Malayalee (native of Kerala) with a big nod to the state's Christian heritage.This cookbook is an absolute delight to read and the recipes are authentic and user friendly. I highly recommend it to anyone wishing to try a different kind of Indian cuisine!Happy Reading and Happy Eating!

Combination book, part cultural description of the ancient Syrian Christian community of Kerala in southern India, and part collection of Kerala recipes.The description of the town, the church history, and the people is mildly interesting if you like learning about other cultures, although the authors made the typical new-author mistake of thinking that because their family history interested them, it would also interest strangers. The authors describe not only traditional cooking methods and cookware (with a few amateurish drawings, good photos would have been more useful) but what modern substitutes are appropriate. The spice section was excellent, giving history and medicinal uses as well as culinary uses. The formatting of the Kindle version was probably the weakest aspect of the book, with random spaces in words, words hyphenated in the middle of a line, and ingredient lists sometimes following the directions and sometimes inserted between two sections of directions. Unfortunately, the recipes themselves didn't catch my interest; the breads seemed bland and everything else relied on hot chiles.

My copy of "The Kerala Kitchen" just arrived in the mail from Amazon. Finally... a well-written, readable, "do-able" Syrian Christian cookbook! I've been reading through it for the last hour, enjoying the historical information and anecdotes, and drooling and reminiscing and drooling! I gasped a few times -- once at the picture of the old Kerala kitchen with the "cheddathis" cooking (it took me right back to when I was 10 years old!), and at the picture of the duck roast that could have been my grandmother's at Christmas time, white oval platter and all. And then of course at seeing my mother's name... her fish curry recipe is included in this book! What a small world! That was a real surprise - I had no idea that my mother knew this writer.I think what's really most appealing about this collection of recipes is not just that they're extremely well-written (no need to read, re-read, and then mentally rewrite as one had to do with previous Syrian Christian cookbooks) but that it teaches you 'naadan' cooking without any underlying 'naadan' scolding! There's no assumption that you've spent all your life watching someone cook these dishes and should know textures and quantities by heart (as in "add 'some' water"), and no assumption that recipe books are for young and/or incompetent brides either. Measurements are precise, and the range of recipes is very comprehensive. The author provides possible (and realistic) substitutions for ingredients that may not be widely available. This is a book for anyone in any part of the world who either wants to try a different Indian cuisine or wants to cook what their Syrian Christian grandmothers & mothers cooked, but just found it all too inaccessible before. I'm looking forward to FINALLY getting into 'naadan' cooking in the way that I got into northern Indian cooking, Thai cooking, Italian cooking, etc. Thank you, Lathika George!

And excellent book . The stories in between the recipes only make the read more interesting .

The recipes and instructions in this book are very clear. It gives both the English and Malayalam words for each recipe and each spice and ingredient, so I'm learning more Malayalam, too. It also gives substitutions, if I can't find an ingredient locally, or have it on hand. Can't wait to try several recipes of foods that I already love.