Curry: Fragrant Dishes from India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia

Published by Dorling Kindersley, 2006, hardcover, illustrated, index, 352 pages, some slight wrinkling to lower RH corners of some pages otherwise condition: basically as new.

When I ordered "Curry" , I was looking for a couple of decent curry and rice meals that I could make periodically for my family. I assumed that the majority of the recipes in this book would include hard to find ingredients that would make cooking these dishes only useful as a special treat every now and again. As is often true with the most flavorful foods, I also thought that Id be looking at long cooking times.

Was I ever surprised when I actually opened up the "Curry". In preparation, I wrote down a list of herbs and spices that I needed at the store (the meat and vegetables required were all items Id normally get anyway). I was completely shocked when I managed to fill my entire list at my local grocery store.

The first night, I planned a few dishes to make for supper. As often happens, I was in a bit of a rush so I had no time to prepare the meat and vegetables beforehand. Thats when I realized a few very important things about this type of cuisine. Using these great recipes I could create a complete, tasty, and healthy meal in about the time it takes for rice to cook. Moreover, these recipes were written intuitively. I found myself putting on the rice and then cutting up meat for one meal. While that was cooking, I was cutting up, starting something else, and then going back to the first dish to add spices or other needed ingredients. Then, all the dishes were completed at the same time, like I had actually planned it.