Indian (Southern)

Over January and February of 2011, I delved into the cuisine of the southern states of India.  I was lucky to have expert knowledge of several coworkers who are from that region.  This regional cuisine is often overshadowed by northern Indian style restaurants in the US.


My references:
Cookbook author is in parentheses.   Other abbreviations:  * = a favorite; n.r. = no recipe saved

• [CP]  Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India by Chandra Padmanabhan (Sep 15, 1999)
• The most authentic South Indian recipes I could find
• [SS]  Indian Home Cooking by Suvir Saran and Stephanie Lyness, 2004
• attempts to simplify the recipes
• most of the regional recipes are North Indian
• several errors were found in the recipes 
• [SC]  Cuisines of India: The Art and Tradition of Regional Indian Cooking by Smita Chandra and Sanjeev Chandra (Jul 24, 2001)
• good selection of South Indian meat dishes
• long ingredient lists
• well-written recipes
• [MKM]  Curried Favors: Family Recipes from South India by Maya Kaimal (Mar 1, 2000)
• includes a significant number of North Indian dishes (despite the title)
• some of the recipe instructions seemed odd/unjustified
• the recipe titles are mostly in English only
• [MJ]  Madhur Jaffrey Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey (Sep 1, 2003)
• contains lots of north and central regional (Kashmiri, Moghul, Goan, Gujarati, etc.) dishes
• simple (not excessively long) ingredient lists
• good variety of simple vegetable recipes
• provides pairings with Western cuisine dishes
• [NK]  My Bombay Kitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking by Niloufer Ichaporia King and Alice Waters (Jun 18, 2007)

Recipe list
See scanned recipe images and dish photos in this album.

• Cooked vegetables
• * Green bean Thoren (MKM)
• Potatoes and cauliflower with peas (MKM)
• Sweet pepper Poriyal (CP)
• * Stir fried cabbage with South Indian spices (SS)
• Cabbage Poriyal (CP)
• Frozen spinach with potatoes (MJ)
• Sweet-and-sour butternut squash with ginger and chilies (SS) [n.r.]
• Pumpkin crescents with curry leaves (NK)
• Salads
• * Gujerati Carrot salad (MJ)
• Vegetable medley/salad (CP)
• Cucumber and ginger salad (NK) [n.r.]
• Fresh cucumber salad (CP) [n.r.]
• Lentils
• Spicy dhal with tomatoes (MKM)
• Moong dhal and red lentils with browned onion (MJ)
• * Spinach dhal (MKM)
• Kootu (vegetable and dhal stew) (MKM)
• Rice
• Aromatic rice (MJ)
• Pullao with peas (pilaf) (MKM)
• * Saffron rice (MKM)
• Meat and seafood
• Chicken with coconut milk (MKM)
• * Bombay-style chicken with red split lentil (MJ)
• Erra Kari (Shrimp curry with coconut, tomato and tamarind) (SC) [n.r.]
• * Meen Molee (Fish curry) (SC)
• Miscellaneous
• Green chutney (SS)
• Spiced tea (MJ)
• Ginger yogurt (MKM)
• Rava Dosa & Coconut chutney (MKM)