Comparing Parsi Cookbooks

Well, a few months ago, the CC was cooking traditional dhan-saak (recipe to follow) for some friends, and had the opportunity to actually sit down and compare all his Parsi cookbooks.

There were three in all.

A tiny book by Bapsi Nariman, a recent one by Niloufer Ichaporia-King, and two books published in India by Katy Dalal.

Right off the bat, the CC noticed that Katy Dalal's books are written for other Parsis so you can only understand it if you already know how to do it, or have eaten it before. There is no hope for a beginner here.

Niloufer Ichaporia's is excellent but she has lived in the US way too long starting at a time where things were not easily available. Now that they are trivially available everywhere, she has not actually gone back to the originals. The recipes are top-notch, and the explanation of technique is impeccable but why substitute when you don't need to?

For example, she excludes vaal from the dhan-saak recipe. The CC considers it utterly crucial. While the CC agrees that the soul of dhan-saak comes from the masoor, the sweetness comes from the vaal so to get that effect, she adds sweet potatoes but starch has very little place in a meat-lentil dish.

No matter what she thinks, balsamic vinegar is not a substitute for tamarind + sugar. It just isn't. No one would ever confuse the different tartnesses of lemon, lime, vinegar, and tamarind. They are just too different. And fine vinegars taste nothing like the much cruder coconut vinegar necessary for certain Indian dishes.

She only states the importance of masoor in a traditional Parsi household in a throwaway sentence or two on page 302. If you were someone who already knew what masoor was, you'd probably just miss the sentence. The CC only found it because he went looking for that sentence, and that particular cultural interpretation.

The other two state it upfront.

Many Parsis will simply not eat a meal without a side helping of masoor, and they have tons of creative ways of cooking it to avoid boredom. Virtually every culture or sub-culture has a signature dish, and it behooves a good cook to know cultural details of this nature.

Bapsi Nariman, on the other hand, gives the recipe straight. No messing around, very minimalist but he takes other short-cuts which are not right. For example, it is important that the meat and vegetables be cooked separately, and then combined. The CC knows why his short-cut would work in India but it won't work here because you have fattier meat.

Oddly enough, Ichaporia's masalas are much more detailed and authentic, and "correct". However, she makes them in industrial sizes. Anything that starts with 1/4 cup of cumin is doomed. You'll never use that up in this lifetime.

But they are absolutely amazing and delicious!

The CC also hopes her readers know that if you toast cloves, cumin and poppy seeds, you need three rounds of roasting because if you toss them all in, the poppy seeds will burn. (It's a simple size thing.)

So what's a beginner to do?

Use Ichaporia but cross-check with Nariman. Adopt her techniques for the spices but check his basic ingredients first.