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13 of 13 found the following review helpful:
Expand your use of spices! Feb 15, 2009
By Carol Peterman
Critic Ruth Reichel's description of Chef Floyd Cardoz's New York restaurant, Tabla, is also an excellent summary of his book, "American food seen through the kaleidoscope of Indian spices." Cardoz applies the spices of his native country, but focuses on Western cooking techniques and the Western style of building a menu around one entrée (rather than a large collection of dishes served together, as is typical with Indian food).
The recipes in One Spice, Two Spice are easy to prepare, and intended to be taken as individual components of a meal. By applying Indian flavors to American style foods, it's easy to incorporate these dishes into everyday cooking, and add a little exotic flavor to an ordinary Tuesday night dinner. Cardoz does play with some classics, such as his Chicken Noodle Soup that incorporates turmeric, bay leaf, clove, ginger, cilantro, coriander, cumin, fresh green chilies, and chickpea-flour noodles cooked like spaetzle. In addition to the collection of recipes, Cardoz gives a nice overview of Indian spices and how they're used from a flavor standpoint in Indian cuisine. He introduces each recipe with a helpful description or story and offers serving suggestions for good accompaniments. It's a great book, and will build your familiarity in cooking with Indian spices.
16 of 17 found the following review helpful:
American Food with an Indian Kick! Jan 22, 2007
By Roshni Amin
"food savvy"
I love the way this cookbook brings together two different cultures to produce amazing recipes. I actaully found this book easy to understand because of the full detailed glossary that explains all the indian spices (which not many indian cookbooks do!) My personal favorite recipe is the black pepper shrimp. I have tried this dish at the restaurant, Tabla, and would never think it is possible to make at home but it turns out that it's a really easy dish to prepare. If you want American food with an Indian kick I highly recommend this book!
5 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Fantastic Jan 18, 2007
By G. Chandy
This cookbook is extemely easy to follow. I would recommend it to everyone. The recipes are amazing and the stories behind them are very entertaining!
10 of 14 found the following review helpful:
 Far from Exquisite Jul 20, 2007
By Antigone Walsh
I really wanted to love this book but found myself disappointed. On the positive side, the author, a chef at a New York eatery, Tabla, sounds like a very interesting person. His introductions to the recipes share both his personal story and a little history about the recipe. Unfortunately, none of the recipes I tried justified the time or expense and effort in securing some of the more exotic ingredients. This is not to say that they were bad, they were fair to good. The lamb and chicken recipes were acceptable as was the cucumber soup. The book is heavy on fish but again, the result did not justify the effort. I was disappointed that there were no dessert recipes.
The book contains photographs but they have that dated feel one gets from the promotional magazines they keep in hotels. They are okay but far from exquisite, which describes this book.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
"American Food with Indian Flavors". Dec 07, 2011
By Tuna Bones
Floyd Cardoz gives us a simple and wonderfully flavorful collection of ideas that you can have your way with. I was not a fan of Indian food (Americanized Indian poorly prepared) as is so common in this country. However, when done with care and the proper ingredients, techniques and execution, it is a magnificent experience. Well done Indian gets me the way few other things do. It gets me almost like it's in my bones, in the same way an excellent dashi does. The flavors and essence or umami permeates me. Cardoz, for years through his, Danny Meyer's and Tom Colicchio's restaurant "Tabla", (now closed), was able to hit that flavor profile for me perfectly. The balance of flavors using often ordinary ingredients was masterful. In one meal you would feel warm, spicy, cool, fresh, smokey and a dozen or so other things. No one ever overpowering the others or lingering after the dish. Many of the dishes had flavors that felt simple yet complex (at least that is the argument my mouth and my brain would have when not being able to figure out ingredients). Many times I have tried to recreate or emulate these flavors in dishes of my own from flavor memory, fortunatly this book confirmed where I was right and showed me what I was missing. It is written with practical American home kitchen in mind and is a simple must for anyone that does or wants to do Indian at home. Much of this book can be described as "American Food with Indian Flavors". (Access to an Asian or Indian grocer should be a consideration but is by no means essential.) Disclaimer: As much as I enjoy doing a precisely executed meal/dish, I am foremost an idea browser and most of the time I step into my kitchen I simply have a flavor in my head and I'm shootin' from the hip, "get some!"
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