(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best herb, spice & condiment cooking books

Aight girl-

Foreign Cuisine-
How to Eataly - Oscar Farinetti - We made the most AMAZING brisket meatballs and a super simple yet completely delicious red sauce out of this book
Around My French Table - Dorie Greenspan - Where the Cornish hens and gougeres came from.
Real Korean Cooking - Maangchi - Korean Fried Chicken. We've made them twice now because they're so good and can't wait to do more.
Mexican Everyday - Rick Bayless - Learned how to make perfect guac from this book and so far we've made these v tasty chorizo/mushroom/potato tacos. The recipe is SO cheap and SO voluminous that we had it as a taco filling, a quesadilla filling, and we're making a hash with it for brunch this morning.
Every Grain of Rice - Fuchsia Dunlop - We haven't tried anything out of here yet but there are sooooo many good-looking recipes in here.
Entice with Spice - Shubhra Ramineni - Likewise, haven't made anything out of here yet but looking forward to trying it all out soon.
Jack's Wife Freda - Dean & Maya Jankelowitz - This is actually a book from a restaurant that my fiance and I LOVED when we last visited NYC. It's got a lot of fusion recipes. Mediterranean/Israeli/South African/etc. Really unique flavors and also v comfort-food based. We're making rosewater waffles out of this book tomorrow!


Baking-
Rose's Baking Basics - Rose Levy Barenbaum - This book is incredible. She has tons and tons of step-by-step photos which is SUPER helpful. We made the dark chocolate caramel tart out of this book, but pretty much everything in here looks amazing.
Modern Baking - Donna Hay - I mean... There is some INSANELY decadent looking stuff in here. We haven't tried any of these recipes yet but I can't wait to!


Misc-
Cook Like a Pro - Ina Garten - It was really hard to pick just one Ina book but I liked most of the recipes in this one. She has this ridic recipe for a dijon mustard chicken that is INCREDIBLE. Also, this bitch knows how to cook some veggies. Big fan of this one.
The Food Lab - /u/j_kenji_lopez-alt - I just love this guy, tbh. We've made a really fantastic beef tenderloin out of this book and an incredible red wine sauce to go with it and of course, his famous roasted potatoes which are now my holy grail recipe for roasted potatoes. This book is like a science textbook only instead of boring stuff it's FOOD science, which is my favorite kind.


Those were all the ones we purchased ourselves (though technically Eataly was a gift BUT we love it and plan to use it often.) We have other cookbooks in our stable that we've received as gifts, which is what resulted in my fiance and I deciding we wanted to embark on this journey. We kept being given cookbooks and never doing anything with them. But man, do people love it when you send them pics of stuff you cooked out of a book they gave you. If people give you cookbooks, use them!! It will make their day to see it's being used. Here's what else is on our cookbook shelf-


The Forest Feast Gatherings - Erin Gleeson - This is a vegetarian book my fiance's mom gave us a few years ago for Christmas. We have a bunch of veggie friends (and friends with a lot of different allergies) so we turn to this book to have a few things that are edible by all of them when we have them over, as we often do. This book has a really delicious salad that has pomegranate seeds, pear, and hazelnut that is out of this world good. I also got my HG salad dressing from this book.
The Salad Bowl - Nicola Graimes - Another gift from my fiance's mom. Is she trying to tell us something?? Honestly haven't looked much into this book yet but it sure is pretty.
The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook - Dinah Bucholz - This was a gift from the assistant in my office. Everyone in my office knows me as the Harry Potter girl because I have a lightning bolt tattoo, haha. We haven't made anything out of this yet, but we probably will have some sort of epic feast with recipes from this book when GoT starts back up later this year.
Talk About Good - Louisiana Lafayette Junior League - My boss gave this to my fiance and I as part of an engagement gift. My fiance went to school in New Orleans. It's primarily New Orleansian/Cajun food. Haven't made anything out of it yet, but we are looking forward to it.

And that's what's on our cookbook shelf for now.

edit also omg thanks for the gold!! <3

I was a professional chef for over a decade and have trained under literally some of the finest chefs in the world. I have also trained people how to cook who I personally thought were full blown retarded (like Sean Penn 'I Am Sam' retarded). Feel free to PM with whatever questions you have. In the meantime I'll recommend some websites and books, as well as give you some pro tips.

Epicurious is a great website. Some of the recipes may be a bit fancy for you right off the bat, but there are some simpler recipes on the site. They also have a great forum where you can get all sorts of advice.

http://www.passionateaboutfood.net/index.shtml has some good basic tips for beginners and some decent recipes.

Cookbooks are good for beginners who have no idea what they're doing and need guidelines to help them. However, I'd recommend getting technique manuals instead. Once you have a good understanding of culinary theory you can make good food out of anything, anywhere. I'd recommend 'The Gastronomique' and 'Le Cordon Bleu's Complete Cooking Techniques'. Above all else, though, pick up a copy of Ian Hemphill's 'The Spice and Herb Bible'. Spices are easy to screw up, but once mastered open up wide variety of culinary delights.

On that note... ON TO THE PRO-TIPS!

One of the best chef's I ever worked under said "Herbs are like pussy. Would you rather have old, dried pussy or fresh, moist pussy?". He wasn't a classy man, but he was a wise man.

Shallots are a nice addition to any dish that uses onions.

Use fresh garlic. Powdered garlic doesn't have as much flavour. Also powdered garlic is almost impossible to caramelize. Caramelization makes the flavour of garlic softer and sweeter.

Buy powdered stock. Oxo or any other brand is just fine. Use it for soups, for rice instead just plain water, or to deglaze with.

• Deglazing is your friend. When pan cooking anything have something nearby to deglaze with. You can use simple water (kind of boring though), wine, liquor, or stock. Add the liquid as soon as your dish seems like it's getting to hot. This serves a variety of purposes. It reduces the temperature of your dish - keeping it from burning. It lifts flavours that have been cooked onto the pan and brings them back to the dish, also makes cleaning easier. Adds moisture to the dish (moisture is one of the most important aspects of a dish most amateur cooks don't understand). If you use anything other than water it'll add dimension the flavours of your dish.
  
  
• Braising is awesome! Don't cook your meat dry. Either sear it on a grill and finish it in pan in the oven with a little liquid or if you're panfrying add some liquid and cover the dish. Braising will make your meat more tender and moist.
  
  *Save your juices! When your done cooking any kind of meat you can add the juices to a sauce your making to give it some kick. If the pan dries out while cooking, just deglaze to re-hydrate it.
  
  
• Acidity is a great way to tenderize meat. Try squeezing a lemon wedge or orange over meat while cooking it. It adds flavour and it helps to break down the proteins in the meat.
  
  *Brown equals good. Black equals bad. Once your food starts to brown it has caramelize which means the sugars in the food have been released. If it turns black the sugars have been burnt into carbon, but don't panic. If you burn something, don't deglaze, don't stir from the bottom of the pan and you should be able to salvage the meal.
  
  
• Flavours and nutrients are water soluble. If you boil anything all the flavour and nutrients will end up in the water, not in your food. That's why you only boil noodles, eggs, and soup.
  
  Olive oil is NOT a cooking oil. Olive oil is expensive, has a low smoke point (burns easy), and loses its flavour when heated. Save olive oil for salads or pour it on pasta after you've finished cooking it to keep it from sticking/give it some character. Use the butter to cook with instead. Just make sure to deglaze as soon as you get a good colour going on your food or the butter will also burn.
  
  When using a knife hold the top of the blade between your index finger and thumb for added control.
  
  
• When buttering bread, either before or after toasting, go corner to corner with the butter making sure the outside edges are covered. Don't even worry about the middle. The sweet power of osmosis will transfer the butter to the middle for you. This way you'll have sweet buttery goodness from end to end on your bread.
  
  
• Do you have mayo? Try doctoring it with some herbs and spices to give it some kick for your sandwich.
  
  I can give you more tips, but those honestly seem like the best I could give you for now. If you list what spices you have I could probably write you a decent recipe for an chicken and egg salad sandwich.

I'm a bit of a cookbook junkie, so I have a bunch to recommend. I'm interpreting this as "good cookbooks from cuisines in Asia" so there are some that are native and others that are from specific restaurants in the US, but I would consider these legit both in terms of the food and the recipes/techniques. Here are a few of my favorites:


Pan-Asian

• Asian Dumplings - the masterpiece on all things dumpling
  
• Asian American - Dale Talde's (Top Chef) book with lots of Asian cultures' food in the US
  
• Asian Pickles - pickles and fermented foods from throughout Asia
  
• Lucky Rice - recipes from the Asian festival of the same name
  
• The Asian Grandmother's Cookbook - traditional cooking passed down to American cooks
  
  Burmese
  
  
• Burma:Rivers of Flavor - good focus on difference in Burmese cuisine from other regional
  
  Cambodian
  
  
• Num Pang - Cambodian sandwich restaurant in NYC
  
• Cambodian Cooking - GREAT book on Cambodian cuisine, supporting refugees
  
  Chinese
  
  
• Ken Hom Complete Chinese Cookbook - great primer for cooking Chinese food using ingredients commonly available in US
  
• China Moon - classic SF Chinese restaurant food
  
• Feeding the Dragon - modern culinary journey through all of China
  
• Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking - omnibus focused on the home chef
  
• Breath of a Wok - focus on wok technique at home
  
• Every Grain of Rice - wonderful Sichuan food for home cooks
  
  Indian
  
  
• Madhur Jaffrey Indian Cooking - actually, any of her cookbooks are wonderful for Indian cooking
  
• Savour Mumbai - looks at Indian cuisine as a melting pot in Mumbai
  
• The Indian Family Cookbook - modern South Indian food
  
• Indian Harvest - Vikas Khanna's family cookbook
  
• Made in India - classic Indian food, from street to home
  
  Indonesia
  
  
• The Food of Indonesia - everything you need for a rijstaffel!
  
  Japanese
  
  
• Japanese Farm Food - authentic rural Japanese cooking
  
• Preserving the Japanese Way - how to make awesome Japanese pickled vegetables
  
• Sushi Chef - not strictly speaking a cookbook, but "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" book in English
  
• The Japanese Grill - authentic hibachi and Japanese grill recipes
  
• Japanese Comfort Food - lots of traditional Japanese recipes
  
• Nanban - Japanese "soul food"
  
• Tokyo Cult Recipes - hip modern urban food from Tokyo
  
• Yum Yum Bento Boxes - updated modern take on bento boxes
  
• Ivan Ramen - traditional ramen for a Western audience
  
• Izakaya - traditional Japanese pub food & small plates
  
• Nikkei - emigrant Japanese food culture in South America
  
• Donabe - traditional Japanese hot pot recipes
  
• Kyotofu - very unique Japanese dessert cookbook
  
  Korean
  
  
• K Food - modern take on Korean street food
  
• Maangchi's Real Korean Cooking - great resource for Korean cooking in a non-pro kitchen
  
• Traditional Food - omnibus of four regions of Korean food
  
• Koreatown - authentic, approachable guide to Korean food in a US context
  
• Smoke & Pickles - Edward Lee's fusion of his Korean heritage and southern barbeque
  
• The Kimchi Cookbook - many, many recipes for kimchi...
  
  Malaysian
  
  
• Malaysian Cooking - good overview of Malay cooking
  
  Middle Eastern
  
  
• The New Persian Kitchen - modern Iranian food
  
• Ottolenghi - Israeli-Palestinian collaboration
  
• Persiana - dynamic modern recipes from throughout the Middle East
  
• Zahav - modern Israeli food
  
• Sweet Middle East - traditional and modern desserts
  
  Philippine
  
  
• Filipino Homestyle Dishes - good intro to classic Filipino dishes
  
  Russian
  
  
• Mamushka - focus on Ukraine
  
  Sri Lankan
  
  
• Hidden Kitchens of Sri Lanka - beautiful photo-cookbook on Sri Lankan cuisine
  
  Taiwanese
  
  
• The Food of Taiwan - um... food... from Taiwan
  
  Thailand
  
  
• Nong's Thai Kitchen - she beat Bobby Flay in pad thai
  
• Pok Pok - Portland's most AWESOME Asian restaurant
  
  Turkish
  
  
• Istanbul:Recipes from the Heart of Turkey - lovely focus on urban Turkish food
  
• Anatolia - wonderful approachable approach to Turkish cuisine
  
• Essential Turkish Cuisine - focus on history and evolution of Turkish food
  
  Vietnamese
  
  
• The Slanted Door - great Vietnamese restaurant cookbook
  
• Vietnamese Market Cookbook - focus on simple Vietnamese from fresh ingredients
  
• Into the Vietnamese Kitchen - traditional Vietnamese home cooking
  
• The Banh Mi Cookbook - the greatest sandwich in the world!
  
• Vietnamese Home Cooking - another great overview
  
  (edit: screwed up a couple links)

For this week’s theme, I wanted to make a Malaysian feast for some of my law school friends. I started with this chicken curry recipe because I liked the fact that it had a ton of different and interesting ingredients (coconut, curry leaves, lemongrass, etc). This was delicious and intense, but the lemongrass chunks got scattered throughout the dish and made it a little hard to eat. I would definitely tie them into knots (like in the rice dish) next time. To go with that, I had to make nasi lemak, a coconut and lemongrass flavored rice. I found the recipe for this in Cradle of Flavor, an Indonesian, Malaysian, and Singaporean cookbook I borrowed from my parents for Week 34 (Indonesian) inspiration. It was a little undercooked, but it is the closest I have come to successful rice on the stove so far. I liked the coconut and ginger and lemongrass flavors that were subtle but persistent in the dish. From my reading, nasi lemak is usually served with, among other things, fried peanuts and some kind of pickle. I made these fried peanuts because they were simple but delicious looking. They turned out really well, though some got a little over-fried. I also made pickled cucumbers, carrots, fresno chilies and shallots with a turmeric-ginger flavoring (also from Cradle of Flavor). These were delicious and a refreshing counterpoint to the richness of the curry and the rice.

For my MetaTheme, I made this Malaysian Negroni. I’m not normally a huge Negroni fan (a little too bitter for my tastes) but I didn’t have a ton of choices available to me. Malaysia is 80% muslim and buddhist so the cocktail culture is pretty limited. I liked that the recipe incorporated some classic Malaysian ingredients in an interesting way. I infused the chili into the Campari for about 4 hours and the lemongrass into the vermout for 3 days. When I tasted the Campari straight, the spice wasn’t super prominent but it really came through in the final drink. I think the Campari was too bitter for me to taste the spice. The lemongrass added a really interesting herbaceous note to the cocktail that I liked a lot.

I haven't read all of the comments, so someone my have mentioned this but; buy some cook books! There are 1000's out there but here are a few decent ones:

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Ingredient is a great book for understanding how different things interact and change each other

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Salt to taste is one of my personal favorites, and has a wealth of knowledge, it offers insight on improvisation and may be one to get down the line

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The Food Lab is a great book for base knowledge, it has tons of great recipes and it attacks them from a more methodical approach

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There are tons of other great books out there, Escoffier, French Cooking with Julia Child, The Flavor Bible etc....

Anthony Bourdain's 'Les Halles' and Paul Bertolli's 'Cooking by Hand' will have special places in my heart. My personal most recent addition was 'Bottom of the Pot'

OK here it is:
Again, this is from Ana Sortun's Spice cookbook (non-affiliate Amazon link).


Muhammara:
2 large red bell peppers (about 1 pound total), roasted and peeled. I often use a large jar of pre-roasted red peppers when I'm in a rush)
4 whole scallions, root ends trimmed and finely chopped. Reserve 1 tablespoon for garnish.
1 teaspoon chopped garlic (about 1 large clove. Use more if you like!)
1/3 cup walnut halves, lightly toasted
1/3 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
(Note: I've used a full 2/3 cup of either/or in times when I was lacking one. Not as good overall but certainly do-able)
1/2 cup finely ground toasted bread crumbs (Note: white or whole wheat works. I always just make my own by toasting a piece or sandwich bread, cut off the crusts, and whizz it in the food processor. Then just throw everything else in after it)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (almost 1/2 lemon)
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses (see note below)
1 tablespoon Aleppo chiles (see note below)
1 tablespoon Urfa chilis (I've never used these, and just double the Aleppo)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon plain yogurt (note: you can omit this without a serious impact)
3/4 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
a couple of glugs (2-3 Tablespoons) of good olive oil (my recipe is literally burnt here so I can't read it :-) )
I'll sometimes add a fresh grind or two of black pepper if I'm in the mood.


Just throw it all in a food processor and whizz the heck out of it. Recipe can be easily doubled. Service with pita, veggies for dipping, or (as in the Spice recipe, as a filling for Roasted Eggplant slices. )

Note1: Aleppo chillis are nice, mild, and sweet. Regular red chlili flakes are to harsh. You can get them at a good local spice shop if you have one (if you're in the Boston area try Christina's in Inman Sq. Cambridge/Somerville but there I've heard the Armenian shops in Watertown are great). Otherwise try Williams Sonoma or Penzys

Note 2: Pomegranate molasses is basically just boiled down pomegranate juice, basically like a sweet/tart version of balsamic. You could use that, a mix of honey and lemon or just google for other ideas. Other uses for it include a REALLY good salad dressing.

I recommend checking your local library for Spice - I love how the author has organized recipes by spice families and "friendly flavors" instead of by the traditional Apps / Mains / Sides / Desserts mix.

1. I have too many stories! My most recent is of my kitty Sagan who we rescued off the street. We found him on the side of the road cuddling with a bunny! Such a cutie! He had a broken leg that the vet told us would have to be amputated, a huge gouge under his eye, his tail was completely broken and he couldn't move or feel it, all of the fur was missing on his butt, and he was soooo skinny! Today, a little more than a year later, he's completely healed and can feel and move his tail, his eye never scarred, and his leg is completely perfect! We wouldn't let the vet amputate it and it healed by itself! <3 Here's [an album] (http://imgur.com/a/w1Ur5) of Sagan pictures, in chronological order so you can see him growing up <3 When I was eight, I rescued a golden retriever that was in the freeway being hit by cars. He was clearly abused before we found him because he couldn't be anywhere near men and if you ever played roughly with friends - like rough housing or pillow fights - he would freak out and try to stop it. Let's see, I've also rescued a duck that was strangled by fishing line and dying, a box of bunnies that someone threw into a dumpster, a mouse that neighborhood boys were throwing rocks at, a horse that was abused, a tarantula that was drowning in a pool, a ferret that was malnourished and the best ferret in the world, I could honestly keep going, the list is sooo long! And I love talking about it, so just ask if you're curious about more rescue stories :D Rescuing animals is sort of my hobby <3 If they're in need, I help!
   
   
2. My favorite vegan food is pancakes! I make some bomb thick and fluffy pancakes! I've never been able to get the "cheese" right on on pizza...maybe you can share a good recipe/brand of cheese for that?!
   
   
3. I want [this cookbook] (http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Fire-Spice-Sultry-Recipes/dp/0980013100/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=O3UEPU3FWTW3&coliid=I37GUOH8GOL22V) so so so SOOOO bad!!!! I'm all about the spicy foods, the spicier the better, and it's going to be a great way to make my roommate go vegan too! If you buy it used, it's only $4! And then I think $4 for shipping also, so about $8.00 altogether. I would be so so soooo happy with this vegan cookbook! <3
   
   
4. hugarabbitday

I picked up a copy of The Complete Chile Pepper Book: A Gardener's Guide to Choosing, Growing, Preserving, and Cooking (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1604695803?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf)

It’s a nice little resource, but that’s coming from someone who is just starting to get into growing peppers as a hobby.

For free resources I really like Gary Pilarchik’s Rustic Garden YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/pilarchik

Also Khang Starr is another great free resource: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhangStarr010

Hope these help!

This is vegetarian and does the no-onion and no-garlic thing, but it's quite big and covers a lot of material - a good starting point. It really teaches a lot about the what and the whys of Indian food. It was written by the (American) personal cook of the Hare Krishna founder, she followed him around all over India when he travelled there, learning recipes from his hosts.

• http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Krishnas-Cuisine-Vegetarian-Cooking/dp/0525245642
  
  Some easy to get into books
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Indian-Home-Cooking-Introduction-Recipes/dp/0609611011
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Indian-Cooking-Recipes/dp/0778801705
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Street-Food-India-Greatest-Complete/dp/184885420X
  
  This is a classic Indian cookery books that grannies used to have
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Balbir-Singhs-Indian-Cookery/dp/0263700194
  
  Tarla Daral was a popular food writer in India
  
  
• https://www.youtube.com/user/TarlaDalalsKitchen
  
  Something from Punjab
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Punjabi-Khana-Tarla-Dalal/dp/8189491547
  
  This is not a beginners book, but very interesting
  
  
• http://www.amazon.co.uk/Food-Grand-Trunk-Anirudh-Arora/dp/1847739687
  
  These Kerala restaurants do lovely modern cookbooks
  
  
• http://www.rasarestaurants.com/rasa_books.html
  
  More from South India
  
  
• http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dakshin-Vegetarian-Cuisine-South-India/dp/9625935274/
  
• http://www.nimmypaul.com/html/nmy_recp_01.html
  
• http://www.kamalascorner.com/
  
  SOURCE: have been collecting books and shared cooking tips with Indian friends for a while

Rick Stein's "India" television series and associated cook book may be the way to go.
I cook a lot of curries, but found that the recipes that Rick discovers in the T.V. series really helped me to get out of a rut.

Two recipes from the series/book that I can think of are:

1. First Class Railway Mutton Curry (Whilst the original recipe states "Mutton" - it will work with Lamb too.
   
2. Lamb Rogan Josh
   
   The book: Rick Steins' India - on Amazon
   
   If you can find the T.V. series, or the Youtube clips, it really helps to inspire.
   
   IIRC whilst Mutton refers to a sheep of around 2 years or older, in the india recipes, I believe that Mutton actually means goat.
   
   The series is watchable here
   
   I really recommend it - three months of travel and food discovery packed into 6 episodes. It'll inspire you and you can pick up all sorts of knowledge and advice, whilst being entertained.
   
   Remember, if you don't have a particular ingredient, you can often substitute for something similar - if you don't have dried kashmiri chillies - use another mild/hot chilli pepper. If you don't have red onions, white/brown onions are fine.
   
   I prefer basmati rice, it's so different to American Long Grain rice, but, if you're in a pinch - then long grain will suffice. No lamb? Try goat, beef, etc.
   
   In the series, Rick uses mustard oil for some recipes, but I substitute sunflower oil, or ghee, or coconut oil, depending upon the recipe. I might throw some mustard seeds in for good measure.
   
   No curry leaves? Perhaps try a bay leaf.
   
   Some ingredients are more essential though, you can't really substitute Cumin seed/powder, Turmeric, or coriander seed/powder.
   
   Most of my spices in my cupboard are whole seeds that I either use whole, or grind if powder is required. This seems to give a better flavour and longer shelf-life.
   
   Edit: The recipe for the Rogan Josh is about 20 minutes into episode 1 - no - it's actually Episode 6, I think that the episode naming/numbering is incorrect.
   

If you are trying to make a dry chili POWDER to add to your chili recipe, I suggest reading the ingredients on the back of your favorite chili powder and then purchasing the WHOLE spices listed there.

Whole spices toasted and then ground provide tremendously more flavor than any factory ground spices.

I agree with the dried peppers comments - but don't soak them if you are making a chili powder. Simply toast the whole chiles in a dry skillet, let them cool and remove the seeds, stems and inner white ribs of each pepper. Grind the toasted skins into fresh single variety chili powder powder.

How to pick a chile variety? Research! https://www.amazon.com/Great-Chile-Book-Mark-Miller/dp/0898154286

High quality dried garlic and onion powders are also necessary for a good chile powder. Penzey's is a good source for those. Buy only what you need as spices lose their pungency as they age.

You'll most certainly need: Cumin and Corriander seeds. We usually start with a 2:1 ratio of the two for our chili powder mixes.

Have fun with it, spice mixing is like art!

If you don't find yourself drawn to meat dishes, and you've got the basics of French technique down, why not try exploring Indian cuisine? Obviously, they have a whole different take on spices --- it's a whole different layer in your cooking that should teach you how to draw out different flavors from the same ingredients, learn new flavors, and different ways of combining them -- there was an interesting study recently suggesting that in contrast with most Western cuisines, which tend to put complementary flavors together, indian cuisine tend to combine contrasting flavors, balancing them against each other. The thing with a lot of that California farm-to-table style is that a lot of it's about finding great ingredients and doing as little as possible to them, but if you're finding yourself bored with that something that's a little more sophsticated and layered might be an interesting challenge.

There's lots of places to start -- Madhur Jaffrey, of course, or Manjula on youtube, but I've always liked this cookbook, myself --- 50 Great Curries of India. has a solid introductory section on spices and really showcases a huge variety of stuff from differnt parts of the continent.

i love frozen veggies for this reason. Cruciferous greens are particularly healthy and easy to prepare. For a quick meal I saute a small mountain of greens in evoo, and garlic, throw in a handful of pre-shredded carrots and whatever odds and ends I have in my fridge, and serve over either sweet potato or chickpeas.

For brussels sprouts, this recipe is amazing (scroll down to Editorial Reviews).

The best advice I've heard is to eat a colorful diet, which ensures you're including a wide variety of fruits and veggies in your diet.

The Complete Chili Pepper Book

taste of ink

thank you for the contest :)

I would love to get this book for my husband. He loves to grow stuff and loves hot stuff. This book has a little bit of everything if one wants to grow chili peppers and use them for cooking.

I like allrecipes.com too... found many good recipes on there that were easy to veganize.

Also You won't believe it's vegan and Sriracha Vegan cookbook are great cookbooks.

660 Curries is an excellent book for learning about the "bases" for Indian cooking and curries. Iyer does a great job of laying out several of the basic spice blends that are used and referring to those in each of his recipes. He also gives good information about how to make the onion base that is used in many curries.

I gave my brother (who is a great cook) this book for Christmas, along with a jar of Himalayan salt. There is a section (IIRC) on grilling on a salt slab. It looked like a fascinating book and had information on more varieties of salt than I even knew existed.

Fire and Spice is a great vegan cookbook. The recipes are good enough to satisfy non-veg folks, too.

Go buy this book from Amazon. It is AMAZING if you are looking for food pairings that scientifically taste great.

The Flavor Matrix


Disclaimer: I have no association or affiliation with the author other than buying his book. I learned about it from Kenji @seriouseats.

Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India is an incredible cookbook and will give you all the tools to make top-knotch meals! It also happens to be the most beautiful cookbook in my collection. There have been times where I've just flipped through the thing just to enjoy the food photography.

You need to use ripe chiles. Pull out the seed balls and let them dry, then remove the seeds. Superhots like yours need a little higher germination temperature, around 26-32C, so wet them down between layers of paper towels and keep them on a plate in a warm place, such as on a hot water heater, radiator or other appliance. Once the seeds have germinated, they don't require such high temps for growth; 20-23C will be fine.

After each seed germinates, I like to transfer it to a peat pellet. These are nice because when it becomes time to transplant to a bigger pot, you just place the whole peat pot in the new pot. Low transplant shock.



You can get the ebook version of Ruppenthal's How to Grow Tomatoes, Peppers, and Eggplant for $1.

Bosland & DeWitt's The Complete Chile Pepper Book is also a good choice.

Start them indoors; you'll need a grow light. Put the plants out on your balcony in the spring after the last danger of frost is past.

Cooked this more or less following the recipe from The Cradle of Flavor. Ingredients and basic technique in the photo album.

Absolutely one of my favorite dishes. I used to order it at a favorite takeout that unfortunately closed a few years ago and finally made a mission of recreating it (with most of my shopping done in NYC's chinatown). The dish is incredibly aromatic, spicy, sweet and complex deep flavor. Texture is kind of soft and crusty (but not crispy) on the outside with a tender braised beef center.

NOt definitive but extremely informative and beautiful as a first time Indian wannabe cook.

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Curries-India-Camellia-Panjabi/dp/1904920357

yes this one Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes, it's a really excellent book on salt.

Try getting an accessible Curry cookbook like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1849905789/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510993558&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=rick+stein+curry&dpPl=1&dpID=51xt8LEM4AL&ref=plSrch

Making curries needs the right blend of ingredients. The Rick Stein versions are amazing

I had to search for this one. Don't judge me! It looks like an interesting read!

silhouette!

Use it on home made pizza instead of tomato paste, put it in vegy stews to deepen flavours and add some umami to them, 2 teaspoons and hot water for a lovely warming drink. You can do loads with Marmite. I think there might even be a recipe book

Edit: There is - The Marmite Cookbook (Storecupboard Cookbooks)

I use this book for easy recipes - also it's written with an american audience in mind with suggestions for shortcuts if necessary. I like books more than online recipes, so thought I'd suggest it.

There are so many! Here are some more to add to the great list of books from others.

Lord Krishna's Kitchen - Yamuna Devi

Tasting India - Chris Manfield: Has recipes from different states across India

Dakshin - Chandra Padmanabhan: Focuses on South Indian food

I have not made too many recipes out of this, but I have liked the ones I have and it sounds kind of like what you may be looking for:

http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Fire-Spice-Sultry-Recipes/dp/0980013100

This is in Marco Canora's cookbook, and it's pretty damn good.

I got this for Christmas a few years ago. Lots of good recipes.

If you want to try unusual or new combinations I can recommend The Flavor Matrix which shows combinations based on the similarity of the aroma molecules.

i've been recently exploring the paneer section of 660 curries, and can definitely recommend it. it includes directions for making your own paneer, which i haven't tried yet but doesn't look too hard.

I received The Complete Chile Pepper Book: A Gardener's Guide to Choosing, Growing, Preserving, and Cooking for Christmas and read it cover to cover. It's not as cook-booky as the Noma book but it goes into the history of peppers along with some how-tos on breeding and growing.

This guy does it quite well (it is in duch though)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqts6y_2-bI

High times
http://www.hightimes.com/tag/recipes


http://www.amazon.com/Official-High-Times-Cannabis-Cookbook/dp/1452101337

Check out the Food Lab, might not be AS technical as you'd like but it is along the lines of what you're talking about

https://www.amazon.com/Food-Lab-Cooking-Through-Science-ebook/dp/B00TG24C34/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1549666085&sr=1-1&keywords=the+food+lab

Also, something was done with Watson and flavor profiles. Highlighted in this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Matrix-Science-Ingredients-Extraordinary/dp/0544809963/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1549666129&sr=1-1&keywords=flavor+matrix

ISBN : 0060792280

Link

Ask for http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Marmite-Cookbook-Storecupboard-Cookbooks/dp/1904573096 for Christmas

The recipe came from high times cannabis cook book https://www.amazon.com/Official-High-Times-Cannabis-Cookbook/dp/1452101337

some other books:

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Chile-Pepper-Book-Preserving/dp/1604695803

https://www.amazon.com/Peppers-Americas-Remarkable-Capsicums-Forever/dp/0399578927

Can't find mine at the moment but what you need is this

I had this book but loaned it to someone and never got it back.
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Chile-Book-Mark-Miller/dp/0898154286