Simple is Tasty
Indian cooking made easy
With his
self-published cookbook, Muralidharan sets out to disprove the perception that Indian cuisine is complicated and hard to create without
some ancestral link to the Indian subcontinent. Within the theme
“Simple is Tasty,” Muralidharan shows readers that these vegetarian
foods can be prepared in a clear and concise manner, using ingredients
available here in North America. While A Short Course in Culinary Experiments focuses
solely on vegetarian cuisine, its scope reaches far beyond vegans and
vegetarians. Foodies, the culinary curious and non-vegetarians looking
for a different way to prepare vegetables will also appreciate what
this cookbook has to offer.
In
the first chapter, Muralidharan endears himself to his audience with a
humorous and thoughtful account of the cookbook’s origins, his
intentions as the author, and a description of what readers can expect
from the book. The next chapter is devoted to the materials most often
used in Indian cuisine, offering thorough descriptions of various
spices and ingredients used in the book’s recipes. Muralidharan’s
substantial science background gives him a unique advantage in
dissecting some of the hows and whys of cooking. For example, his
description of the chili pepper includes its chemical make-up and the
reason it exhibits certain cooking properties, as well as an
explanation of the Scoville Heat Units (SHU), the scale on which a
pepper’s hotness is rated.
A Short Course in Culinary Experiments is
a helpful guide for purchasing a wide selection of spices and
ingredients, even those that range outside of vegetarian Indian
cooking. In addition to pointing cooks toward Indian grocery stores or
regular supermarkets, Muralidharan recommends what form the
spices and ingredients should take (fresh, dried, powder, resin, seed,
extract, etc.) based on their cooking properties, cost, availability
and storage capabilities.
A Short Course in Culinary Experiments is
for readers who aren’t afraid to devote some brainpower to carefully
reading the recipes ahead of time. While the no-frills cookbook lacks
unique text layouts and colorful pictures of featured dishes, it compensates with precise and efficient instructions that won’t leave the
cook guessing. There isn’t a step that Muralidharan doesn’t thoroughly
explain, which is particularly useful when learning an unfamiliar genre
of cooking for which many Wisconsinites have no background.
Muralidharan
instructs how to create Indian staples like rice, dosa and uppumaav, as
well as curries, chutneys, snacks, desserts and unique preparations
like papadams and sambar. Many of the recipes have origins in the
southern Indian state of Kerala, where Muralidharan is from. A Short Course in Culinary Experiments is
organized in such a way that each recipe is first described in the
simplest, most efficient way possible. Ever the academic, the author
employs an alphanumeric system to identify each preparation, which
allows readers to easily cross reference procedures.
Next is
a section called “Variations,” where readers are encouraged to tweak
the recipes by substituting or skipping an ingredient or switch ing up
the cooking sequence. In the last section, “Experiments,” Muralidharan
stretch es the parameters for cooks to discover something new. With
this cookbook, Muralidharan not only teaches readers how to make a
dish, he explains what happens if you don’t do it right. At times, he
even offers a rescue technique if, say, the cook is a bit overzealous
with the chili powder. If the mistake tastes better than the intended
recipe, Muralidharan urges cooks to take credit for the mishap as a
“serendipitous discovery.”
A Short Course in Culinary Experiments: Vegetarian Indian Cuisine for Innovative Non- Experts by Sukumaran Muralidharan Ph.D. can be purchased online at: www.simpleistasty.com.
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