Indian Cookery
- Year
- 1961
- Era
- 20th century
- Origin
- India · South Asia
- Language
- English
- Category
- South Asia
Indian Cookery by Mrs Balbir Singh appeared in 1961 and became one of the most widely consulted English-language guides to the regional cuisines of the subcontinent in the post-Independence period. Drawing on the author's teaching at her cookery school, the work systematises home preparations across North Indian traditions for an Anglophone readership, and is associated in its early dissemination with Mitra's of Mussoorie. Subsequent volumes extended its influence considerably.
Cooking from this book
Rogan Josh
Signature dishNo book did more to introduce English-speaking households to the classical repertoire of Indian cookery than Mrs Balbir Singh's manual, and her treatment of Rogan Josh became something of a touchstone. The dish is a fragrant lamb preparation of Kashmiri origin, gently simmered until the meat yields and the sauce takes on its characteristic russet hue from dried chillies and warm spices. For a generation of cooks abroad, it became shorthand for the elegance of North Indian home cooking.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
