Curry, Curry, Curry

The curry goes international with a vengeance in this wide-ranging collection of recipes, not a few of them originals. Beginning with curried soups (starting, inevitably, with that hoary Raj relic, mulligatawny), Rai goes on to give a good selection of vegetable, meat, fish, chicken, and rice-based curries. A bonus to those who find curry-making too time consuming are three basic sauces: Persian, Mughal and Madras, which can be fridge-stored to make an instant curry. Another boon to the harried cook is the clarity with which Rai sets out his recipes measurements are provided in metric, British and American systems and each curry progresses from singlefry (Rai s term for that tricky process of bhunao) masala, through follow-up and during cooking masalas to finishing masala and garnish masala... With sections on raitas, accompaniments, this is a tempting medley of curried concoctions, with not only heart , but plenty of soul.