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fascinating_rhythm's review
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
4.0
This is not the type of cookbook I usually get - many of the recipes are simple and some use ingredients like boxed cake mix or a can of baked beans. But I loved how the author talked about her parents, particularly her mother, and how they made fast & tasty Indian food using what was available to them as immigrants in the 1980’s - it reminded me of my immigrant mother and grandmother, and how the food I ate as a kid wasn’t necessarily “authentic” (and it sure as hell wasn’t anything you’d find in a restaurant) but it was delicious, nourishing, and efficient. As I read I bookmarked, and bookmarked, and bookmarked, and now I’m ready to try at least half the recipes in the book. I’m excited to try this less fussy way to cook.
speculativebecky's review
5.0
Priya Krishna collaborates with her mom, Ritu Krishna, to present a glorious array of her mom’s best “Indian-ish” recipes developed over years of adapting Indian traditions for American ingredients and the palates of her American food loving kids, plus incorporating ingredients and dishes discovered in her travels. And let me tell you, I don’t think I’ve ever read a cookbook that had me this excited about trying the recipes. I want to cook EVERYTHING. These dishes look so delicious, and the book is full of drool-worthy photography (ht photographer Mackenzie Kelley and food stylist Judy Kim). Krishna constantly emphasizes how easy Indian cooking is, and seriously the bulk of these recipes have three or fewer steps and about a dozen ingredients. Bonus, if you’re vegetarian, so is almost every recipe in this book.
I like reading cookbooks straight through by reading all the introductory material and the blurbs about each dish, and this book delivers a lot of great content in those spaces. I loved learning the genesis of each dish, and Priya Krishna is so funny I was laughing out loud multiple times while reading. The book is such a bounty of love, between daughter and mother, and family and food. It’ll absolutely warm your heart, and make you want to jump into the kitchen to try Ritu Krishna’s variation on saag paneer using feta or aunt Sangeeta’s mom’s quinoa kheer. Thoroughly recommended.
I like reading cookbooks straight through by reading all the introductory material and the blurbs about each dish, and this book delivers a lot of great content in those spaces. I loved learning the genesis of each dish, and Priya Krishna is so funny I was laughing out loud multiple times while reading. The book is such a bounty of love, between daughter and mother, and family and food. It’ll absolutely warm your heart, and make you want to jump into the kitchen to try Ritu Krishna’s variation on saag paneer using feta or aunt Sangeeta’s mom’s quinoa kheer. Thoroughly recommended.
niecierpek's review
4.0
A heavenly lentil pancakes recipe. Very good and precise directions. A really good section on ingredients and techniques. Apart from good looking recipes, there is also a history of each recipe as pertaining to the family member, or the author. Even though it might seem interesting, I found it somewhat superfluous and somehow distracting. A really interesting cookbook overall, though.
chanclatime's review
5.0
Honestly too good to be true! We've prepared 4 completely different dishes thus far (Dahi Toast, Saag Paneer with Feta, Roasted Aloo Gobi, and Green Pea Chutney with Cauliflower), and every single one of them has come out phenomenally. Priya Krishna has a deeply charming authorial voice, and her (and her mother, Ritu) have a really clear way of illustrating the flow of flavors throughout their family recipes.
Also, I'm just very sentimental about the title. I have basically no experience with any South Asian cooking, but I do have quite a bit with Mexican-ish and Colombian-ish home cooking, and [b:Indian-ish|40796136|Indian-ish Recipes and Antics from a Modern American Family|Priya Krishna|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547189763l/40796136._SX50_.jpg|63521822] gets me right in my 2nd/3rd gen feelings. Sometimes you make your dahi toast with sourdough bread, and sometimes you make your PB&J with homemade tortillas. That's that immigrant kid life. ❤❤❤
Also, I'm just very sentimental about the title. I have basically no experience with any South Asian cooking, but I do have quite a bit with Mexican-ish and Colombian-ish home cooking, and [b:Indian-ish|40796136|Indian-ish Recipes and Antics from a Modern American Family|Priya Krishna|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547189763l/40796136._SX50_.jpg|63521822] gets me right in my 2nd/3rd gen feelings. Sometimes you make your dahi toast with sourdough bread, and sometimes you make your PB&J with homemade tortillas. That's that immigrant kid life. ❤❤❤
sionnac's review
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
5.0
Priya Krishna and her family's recipes are great, and I love her for her unbounded love of her mom and dad. Reminder to self, make kadhi. I follow her on instagram @priyakrishna. She's spoken out with other writers in support of BIPOC staff at Bon Appetit and I support them and her.
krithix's review
4.0
While I only tagged 5-6 recipes to try out, I thoroughly enjoyed the commentary and the endearingly relatable Krishna family.
thefourthvine's review
4.0
I wish more people would write these kinds of recipe books — the collected recipes of a family, the How The Food Gets On The Table Every Damn Day kind of recipes. This is the food culture of a single family, and it’s *fascinating*. I love it. It’s also what I think of as home fusion: the recipes so many of us have that came from somewhere else, that we make where we live now, with equipment and maybe ingredients our grandparents wouldn’t recognize.
Will I make all these recipes? Nope. I have made a couple, though, and they’ve all been good so far. And I have a few more earmarked. Most of these recipes rely on things I have around the house or can easily get, too, which is nice; no buying a half pound of an ingredient off of Amazon and then using like two tablespoons of it and letting it slowly molder on the shelf. But this isn’t a classic cookbook that lives or dies solely by the utility of the recipes; like I said, it’s a family history, and worth reading even if none of these recipes are your jam. (But do try Priya’s Dal, though. I read that recipe and went, “This is going to be SO BLAH, but she says it’s the best recipe in the book so I will TRY it.” It was truly excellent.)
A fun book, totally worth your time if you’re interested in family cooking. (If you’re interested just in true Indian cooking, though, this isn’t the one; the title is telling you exactly what this book is.)
Will I make all these recipes? Nope. I have made a couple, though, and they’ve all been good so far. And I have a few more earmarked. Most of these recipes rely on things I have around the house or can easily get, too, which is nice; no buying a half pound of an ingredient off of Amazon and then using like two tablespoons of it and letting it slowly molder on the shelf. But this isn’t a classic cookbook that lives or dies solely by the utility of the recipes; like I said, it’s a family history, and worth reading even if none of these recipes are your jam. (But do try Priya’s Dal, though. I read that recipe and went, “This is going to be SO BLAH, but she says it’s the best recipe in the book so I will TRY it.” It was truly excellent.)
A fun book, totally worth your time if you’re interested in family cooking. (If you’re interested just in true Indian cooking, though, this isn’t the one; the title is telling you exactly what this book is.)
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