Raghavan Iyer - 660 Curries: The Gateway to Indian Cooking

by Raghavan Iyer

Food Photography by Ben Fink

Workman Publishing New York

M y mothers death, before she could see the finished book, deeply saddens me. I take solace in her memory, kept alive through some of her saucy offerings which youll find in these pages.

W hat fulfills me is my almost-nine-year-old son, Robert, who is unconditionally the best thing that has happened to me in my 46 years of living. He tasted all of the recipes in this book (extraordinarily commendable when I tell you all the testing happened during the fourth, fifth, and sixth years of his life).

S o I dedicate this book to a generation that slipped away, and one that continues to spice up my life every step of the way. And to my partner of twenty-five years, Terry Erickson, who has supported me through all my ups and downs.

M any have compared bringing a book from inception to publication to the birthing process, and I for one cannot agree more. True, I may not know much about birthin babies, but I sure do know a thing or two about the conceiving, nurturing, evolution, and the ultimate publication of a cookbookbut nobody warned me this one would be a horse. And yes, after all the huffing and puffing, when it was finished, I fell in love with this gargantuan baby, full of well-balanced and saucy glow.

My partner, Terry Erickson, sowed the idea for a curry book, a big one, he said, nothing like any before. Easy for him to say! So off I went and called my friend and literary agent extraordinaire, tenacious Jane Dystel, who said, Raghavan, I think you are ready for a big book. I blurted out How about 1,001 Curries? without even thinking, and she said, I love it. The next few months, and with Janes help, I slaved over a proposal (this is where I bid adieu to my ego). Once satisfied, off she went, saying, Workman Publishing is the ideal match for you. She garnered the interest of a wise editor at Workman, Suzanne Rafer, whoalong with Peter Workmans supportimmediately said, Yes (or at least Id like to think so). Jane called and said, You better get to work, kid, cause they want, well, maybe not 1,001 curries, but between 600 and 800. Shaking with excitement, complete with morning nausea, I felt the curry seed planted in me, germinating and hungering for saucy recipes from the Indian subcontinent.

I called my family in India and my mother was thrilled, along with my two sisters, Dr. Lalitha Iyer and Mathangi Gopalkrishnan, and all four brothers, my siblings respective spouses, and their children. Ideas flowed, connections were made, and the recipes started to filter in from many friends and acquaintances. It does take a village to gather over 650 curry recipes, and the crew that nourished my baby was impressive: Gangabai Iyer, Alamelu Iyer, Dr. Lalitha Iyer, Mathangi Gopalkrishnan, Geeta Iyer, Lalitha Nateshan-Iyer, Meena Iyer, Anuradha Iyer, Perinne Medora, Sakina Munaim, Zohair Motiwalla, Kumud Desai, Mithu Mukherjee, Leela Rao, Sharon Naik, Monica and Devjyoti Kataky, Pratima Revenkar, Geeta Dash-Larson, Usha Raikar, Chef Kartikai, Piyumi and Priyantha Samaratunga, Bina Toniyat, Radhika Sharma, Preeti Mathur, Balki Radhakrishnan, Swetal Sindhvad, Bharati Sindhvad, Sanjita Carriappa, Chef Mahipal Singh Rathore, Abdul and Geetanjali Contractor, Mrs. Chandwani, Varsha Chandwani, Mrs. Joshi, Shirley Matthew, Mrs. Vakharia, Vidya Subramani, Sangha Mitra Roy, Dr. Jeffrey Mandel, R. J. Singh, Jiten Gori, Ambuja Balaji Rao, Rajni Kedia, Dr. Kiran and Dr. Kumar Belani, Dr. Jyotsana Rayadurgh, Dr. Ashlesha Tamboli-Madhok, Dr. Manu Madhok, Nimmy Paul, Norton Cunningham, Jairam Das, Bhavesh Kumar Thapa, Shankar and Rekha Singh, Ranee Ramaswamy, Razia Syed, Farida Kathawalla, and Padma Chintapalli.

The lonesome work of creating, testing, and writing consumed my years, as my son Robert tried every dish I made, with the occasional not curry again, Papa. Terry gave his opinion on each (sometimes cautioning me that it was PDEpretty darn ethnic) as I took copious notes. I enlisted the volunteer services of friends, Kathryn Tempas, Dr. Joel Wagener, Mary Evans, Sharon Sanders, the boys night groupR. J. (Molu) Singh, Jiten Gori, Dr. Jeffrey Mandel, Ben Martin, and Raymond Vaughn, to test many of these creations, tweaking each dish as warranted.

As it grew alarmingly huge, I had to share my fears, successes, weight gain, advice, and gossip with my friends and colleagues of the food world: David Joachim, Sharon Sanders, Mary Evans, Paulette Mitchell, Crescent Dragonwagon, Lynne Rossetto Kasper, Lee Dean, Judy Bart Kancigor, Beth Dooley, Lucia Watson, Cathy Cochran-Lewis, Sara Monick, Barbara Jo Davis, Lois Tlusty, Kim Walter, Jeanne Kozar, Karen Coune, Andi Bidwell, Maya Kaimal, Nathan Fong, Lance Sanders, Nick Malgieri, Shirley Corriher, Madhur Jaffrey, Florence Lin and many others, not to mention the cooking schools staff and tens of thousands of students that I had the fortune of teaching over the years.

Once the recipes were tested and written, then came the introduction, and I couldnt find a more resourceful, competent, and giving person to help me than my friend and colleague Phyllis Louise Harris, the founder of the Asian Culinary Arts Institutes, Ltd., and an incomparable researcher who traced the role of spices back to 20 million B.C.

The manuscript (a whopper at 2,000 pages) went to Workman, my new mishpuchah (thats family in Yiddish, in case you didnt know), and the massaging began, similar to Kobe beef, in the supple, strong, capable, and overworked mind of Suzanne Rafer, the leader of my personal Dream Team. She brought in Kathie Ness, an unbelievably detailed copy editor, who questioned every possible element that could go wrong when it does get delivered for the world to peruse. Assistant editor Helen Rosner was diligent as well. Production editor Carol White made sure things moved along for a timely delivery, while indexer Cathy Dorsey made sure anyone looking for a specific recipe would find it. Barbara Peragine got the whole thing typeset and ready for the printer. Copywriter David Schiller breathed excitement into the back cover. None of this would have been possible without art director Lisa Hollander, who designed an entirely gorgeous and elegant book (My own font? Well, you shouldnt have). She had the incredible talents and assistance of Carolyn Casey, photo department director Anne Kerman, photographer Ben Fink, prop stylist Roy Finamore, and food stylist Jamie Kimm. Manoj Vasuevan was kind enough to shoot the author photo and some of the location shots, as were Marcia Rogers, Pamela Workman, and Peggy and David Lucas. Of course, I needed someone to announce the birth, and who better than savvy and hardworking Ron Longe and Jen Pare Neugeboren, along with the myriad of sales and marketing staff, to beat the drums and make some noise?

My dear friend and colleague, the compassionate and kind Jim Dodge of Bon Appetit Management Company held my hand and, along with Marc Zammit and Christine Seitz, promised partnership through his company. In return I pledged to train all their 200 corporate chefs in the not-so-mysterious ways of the curry world. The folks at CanolaInfo were very sweet as well, promising to soothe my baby with oiled hands when the time cameLeah Mann, Dorothy Long, Robert Hunter, and Ellen Pruden.

And yes, it finally arrivedvivacious, boisterous, saucy, and sensationala chip off the old block, you say? Please, you are making me blush. Savor it just as I do, youll love it! And do visit me on my website: www.raghavaniyer.com .

Spice blends and pastes are the backbone of Indias curries. Easy and quick to makeand easy to storethese combinations will open the world of curry to you.