The Spice Tree: Indian Cooking Made Beautifully Simple

This is one of the rare books for Beginners that successfully imparts the knowledge of the mysterious world of spices applied in Indian food, in an amazingly simple and grasping manner. For beginners it is a perfect takeoff, for those with intermediate knowledge it provides a confirmation and a fresh new way to look into the spice world, for the experts it is a great refresher.Making the spice world ridiculously simple - the books scores on many fronts#1 - Structure. Giving us the big picture right at the get go, opening up with the "Spice Tree" format and then deep diving into each step of using the spices, Next quickly visiting each spice - their use, how to apply them and what ifs, before moving into recipes to solidify the "method" and application of spices taught earlier. The best thing that comes out is the "hand-holding" that happens for the reader throughout the book#2 - Simplification. Not all knowledgeable experts possess the gift of brilliantly teaching the expertise they possess. The author, here is one of those rare teachers, that teaches the complex subject with the required deftness. Ridiculously simplifying the spice journey by providing (a) the overall picture - (the spice tree) (b) the spice combinations used - before, during and after the preparation (c) pouring into each spice (d) and answering the why and what if's through the journey, it makes the education for the beginner very easy and quickly provides the confidence to enter the kitchen and whip up a spice dish.#3 - Hand-holding. Most books and even live classes fail is providing, is the "hand holding" in education a new subject or a complex topic. Here's where the books score big points. By the time one has completed a few chapters, one starts getting the confidence and the "itch" to quickly prepare a dish using the author's laid out foundationsHighly recommend to the beginners and those who have had a brief knowledge of spices, have been blindly following Indian recipes but never knew the why and what ifs, the brief science behind the application of spices. This book will open the doors to all that and I firmly believe make the reader a very creative in kitchenThe one negative about this book is the lack of a bigger image of the SPICE Tree in the Kindly edition - it is hard to read the small print in the spice tree image and trying to print the spice tree to stick on your refrigerator leave us with a diagram that is hard, if not impossible to read.

I did not like it. Not helpful

Nisha Katona's book has been disappointing to say the very least. Buying on line has it's drawbacks, and one being that if I had opened the book in a store I certainly would not have bought it. The book is missing images of whole or ground spices which one would expect in this book. To a novice in Indian cuisine, it would be the first step to be able to visually identify & understand the spices. And ditto for the dals, lentils and legumes, impossible to visually identify what the recipe calls for. The most disappointing aspect of the book is that gives "Garam Masala" as a basic spice blend. "Garam Masala" is a blend known as an aromatic & frangrant garnish to complete a dish it is added as a very last step, but not the prime blend to begin a dish. All commercial producers have their own variation of what this blend should be, so how can one assess that the recipe will give the authentic flavour of say a popular dish like "Butter Chicken". It would have been far better for the author to create her own unique recipe for a specific blend to use in certain recipes than to suggest a blend for fragrance that would deliver a questionable result. I made her "Hyderabadi Coconut & Almond Chicken" of course it was utterly favourless. Such a pity. The author has excluded a number of regions in the book which leaves a hole in the overall understanding of spices and their place in Indian cuisine.

Excellent explanations why these or that spices are used in a dish. Recipes are quite simple and easy to follow, and the result is so yummy! Highly recommended

By far the best cookery book I’ve ever bought, and probably the easiest to understand Indian cookery book out there. There are two key planks to its success.1) The sheer simplicity of the principles of Indian cookery described in this book.2) The clarity of the explanations which which spice combinations work best for each type of food; Root veg, Dhal, meat, fish, green Veg, beans, etc.I’ve already cooked a veg curry, a red lentil dhal, and an Aloo Gobi. All very tasty with rice. Even the kids enjoyed all three and that’s a surprise as they are very fussy.If you are new to Indian cooking, or like me have struggled for years using commercial curry powders, this book is a must read and worth every penny. Throw away your shop bought curry powder, and start creating your own authentic dishes in minutes.Combined with my Instant Pot pressure cooker, the cooking time is only 6 minutes plus a few more for the pressure cooker to warm up, so I’d say 10 minutes in total, including 1-2 minutes to Sauté the spices.Check out the author on U tube and you’ll see how simple it all is. Well done Nisha. You’ve done a great public service with this book.

As many have said the tree concept is flawed. It took me awhile to explain to my girlfriend what it was trying to convey, and for her to ultimately ignore it. But the lesson the book tries to teach is an important one, that cooking is personal and shouldn't be treated like an exact science formula. Each region has it's own signature 'flavour' from particular spice blends, each style of dish benefits from certain combinations while others should be avoid. This appreciation is what this book is trying to teach but understanding it only comes from experience (and travelling to India if you can!).That being said, it's a beautifully published book from the photographs to the instructions. And the recipes really are excellent. For a complete novice at Indian cooking I would recommend picking a spice blend you know and enjoy, use that as your base and go from there. After a while you'll have personalised them so much that this book will end up being the starting point for your own family recipe book.

This is simply one of the best books on Indian food I've come across. The recipes are excellent and easy to follow and the key idea - that certain ingredients have a variety of spice building blocks you can manipulate to your own tastes - is brilliantly executed.Read the negative review and I think you'll see that the people writing haven't really understood what this book is about.On a final note - if you're looking for less meat in your diet - this is packed with superb recipes which just happen to be meat free. Far better than any vegan/veggie recipe book I've come across.

I have been competant home cook for about 35 years and cook for my family every day. Indian cuisine is my favourite but despite many books I have never been satisfied with my own efforts; feeling that I couldn't wrap my head around the spice craft adequately.This book changed everything - now I can understand the basic and have a foundation to build on and develop my on family spice preferences. It is a wonderful and enlightening guide with great info graphic explanations.It is not rigid or overly prescriptive, it simply teaches you the principals, offers choices and gives basic recipes to demonstrate. I would not consider this a cookbook though, it is an effortless learning experience.Definitely vegetarian and vegan friendly too. My family are vegan.

Indian cooking for nerds probably describes this book best. I find it very easy to understand and use. For me, the reason for buying this book was to finally learn which spices and other ingredients to combine and how to treat/cook with them. This book really delivers on those aspects. The recipes inside also look great, however, the most important thing for me is the actual spice flow chart and what to combine how. This way I can try to make up my own recipes without having too much unedible food. Perfect.