As a HUGE fan of Indian food, I bought this book on a whim, thinking I would never be able to reproduce some of the wonderful dishes I have had in Indian restaurants. Boy, was I wrong! Smita Chandra is a delightful author who infuses her recipes with a bit of history and a dash of insight into Indian culture. These recipes are simple and easy-to-follow, and can also be prepared on an indoor grill. Most of the ingredients and spices can be purchased at a local Indian grocer or can easily be concocted in your own kitchen using a coffee bean grinder. I never expected to have garam masala on my spice rack -- let alone make it myself! -- but I find myself reaching for it again and again when I prepare some of the wonderful dishes in this cookbook. Suitable for novices and experts alike, Indian Grill will not disappoint you.

This is a truly wonderful cookbook - for anyone who lives where it's hot!!! Being able to grill something other than steak or hamburger is a wonderful thing...But this book is also great for anyone who likes "real" Indian cooking or likes ethnic (ie other than American) cuisine but not "spend all day in the kitchen" cuisine. The recipes are easy to follow and fairly easy to execute and they work. The other delightful bonus of this book is Mrs. Chandra's brief but vivid remembrances of her childhood in India that are interspersed throughout the book. I borrowed this book from my local library and am buying it BEFORE I've returned the library copy. This book is well worth owning!

This book is well written and organized (as one would expect from this author) and I'm not sorry I bought it, but it is not a star of my collection. The beginner will find it an excellent overview and introduction to east Indian cuisine, but it provides very little that is new for the serious collector of Indian cookbooks.

This book is absolutely excellent. You will need some specialty spices, but each recipe is easy to follow and produces fabulous results. I've had this cookbook for about a year and have not found a single recipe that I didn't like. Don't expect this food to be the watered-down generic version - these recipes are spicy, flavorful and exciting.

Three years ago, I purchased this book wishing to recreate dishes that I had at local Indian restaurants and to save money. I got more than I bargained for! Since then I bought several other Indian cookbooks, but I cook from this book most often. I no longer need to go to restaurants to taste Indian cuisine because I can cook better! Everything I cooked so far were delicious; I have impressed my Indian friends! Legume and vegetable sections are especially good for people who wants to have more vegetables in their diet and enjoy them too. I think many recipes are from northern India. Ms. Chandra gives menu suggestions and how to vary a dish with her charming writing style. Thank you Mrs. Chandra!

I collect cooking books and have a massive collection, with a fair emphasis on east Indian cuisine. This book rose above the herd because it has a decent discussion of history and tradition etc, and is well organized. The recipes are fairly pedestrian (ie: not that very different than you can find in other Indian cookbooks), but I wa not sorry I bought it.

INdian is perhaps my favorite cuisine & I've been to allot of Indian restaurants and own several books. This one though was mediocre at best. Allot flash in the pan, nothing spectacular though it was nice to see the book divided into 6 chapters for the 6 regions of the subcon.
I think that the sisters tried to make the recipes harder & more complicated than they are in the name of authenicity. Most of these recipes were very elaborate with lots of steps.
I would recommend Lord Krishna's book, Julie Sahni's or one Madhur Jaffrey's early books instead.

first off, although i think this is a must-own book, i would not recommend it as a first-buy indian cookbook. for someone completely new to indian cooking, one of the classics by sahni or jaffrey would be better as an introduction and basic resource. for instance, if you don't know what paneer is, the authors' unexplained use of the term "cottage cheese" when paneer is called for will be more than confusing. but, as a book to expand your repetoire of indian recipes, this is fabulous! anyone who has more than one or two indian cookbooks has probably noticed the surprising duplication, even between authors, of the same recipes, which is amazing, given the vastness of india and the incredible number of cultures in it. however, this book has more unduplicated recipes than any of my other indian cookbooks (and i have far too many), and i look forward to cooking all of them. but for me, the second, equally important reason to buy this book is the wonderful introductory paragraphs before each recipe. it seems that it is mandatory for indian cookbooks to inlude history as well as cooking instruction,which is no bad thing, given the ignorance of other cultures in this country. i have enjoyed and learned much from the texts of other indian cookbooks. however, the authors of this book write exceptionally well and amusingly, and the subjects not only include indian history, culinary and social, but even anecdotes about apicius, the roman credited with writing the first known european cookbook; a dishonest medieval english baker; elihu yale, for whom the college is named; and many other fascinating known and unknown people. there are quotes from the diaries and writings of european visitors to india from the 17th to the 19th centuries which are fascinating. (sample fascinating fact: poundicherry was a french colony for three centuries, and the cuisine reflects this.) there are stories of indian rajahs and the english raj. if fact, it might be difficult to keep your attention on the recipes while cooking, there is so much else that is interesting in this book. the line drawings are another plus. all in all, this is a superb book--tempting, wide-ranging recipes, entertaining reading and beatiful illustrations.