Ellie Topp & Margaret Howard offer a Brinjal Pickle Relish, a Hellfire Date Chutney, a Mango Chutney and a Madras Pickled Eggplant, amongst others in their book Small-Batch Preserving. Their recipes are trustworthy and I think will come closest to offering what you're looking for. There are still a couple of approved mustard pickle recipes thickened with flour. The Ball Blue Book offers a flour-thickened mustard pickle in their current edition. So you'd be OK with that one. Carol

By no means do I consider myself an expert on Indian cuisine or curries. As you note, the coconut milk curries of SE Asia are much different from Indian dishes. One reliable brand I've used is Patak's curry pastes. Their mild is pretty zingy, and their hot paste is really pretty hot. And if you have a pressure cooker, be sure to try out Lorna Sass's 'Curry in a Hurry': Curry in a Hurry This recipe from Lorna Sasss Pressure Perfect is a quick and easy way to make a pretty tasty curry. You can make it with chicken, beef, lamb or pork, and vary the hotness by using mild or hot curry paste. 2 tablespoons of mild curry paste makes a pleasant-but-wimpy curry; 4 tablespoons of mild paste makes it pleasantly zingy; 4 tablespoons of hot curry paste makes it very hot, near my limit of tolerance (and I really like hot food). I generally use 2 tablespoons of hot and 2 tablespoons of mild curry paste. This is a recipe thatÂs ridiculously easy yet produces delicious food. If you donÂt want to mess with the yogurt, peas and cilantro, donÂt botherÂthe dish will still be very tasty, but the sauce wonÂt be as rich or velvety-smooth. ( I personally donÂt like cilantro, so I donÂt use it.) The recipe calls for 3 pounds of bone-in chicken; I find it easier to use about 2 or 2.5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs. ÂOnce you get the pressure cooker up to pressure, make a pot of rice. By the time the rice is done, so is this. 1 cup water 4 tablespoons PatakÂs Mild Curry Paste 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped 3 pounds bone-in skinless chicken thighs or breasts, or 2-2.5 lbs boneless skinless thighs, or 2 lbs. other meat (see chart below) 1 cup plain yogurt 1 ½ cup frozen peas 3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped (optional) Pour the water into a 4-qt or larger pressure cooker and blend in the curry paste. Place on high heat and add the onion and meat of your choice. Lock the lid in place. Over high heat bring up to high pressure. Reduce the heat just enough to maintain high pressure and cook for the time indicated in the chart. Turn off the heat. Allow the pressure to come down naturally. (If cooking chicken, release any remaining pressure after 4 minutes.) Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow steam to escape. If the chicken or meat isnÂt tender, cover again and simmer until done. If necessary, skim off the fat that rises to the surface or degrease the broth in a fat separator. Blend the yogurt into 1 cup of the broth. Stir the peas into the curry and simmer until they are defrosted, about 1 minute. Turn off the heat and stir the yogurt mixture into the curry. Stir in the cilantro and salt to taste. Serve in bowls over rice. Meat choices Cooking times Chicken (see notes above) 8 minutes high pressure, 4 minutes of natural release, then quick release Beef (boneless chuck, 1" cubes) 8 minutes high pressure, then natural release Pork shoulder (1" cubes) 8 minutes high pressure, then natural release Lamb (boneless, 1" cubes) 12 minutes high pressure, then natural release If using beef, pork or lamb, trim off excess fat and cut the meat into approximately 1" cubes before cooking..

I like this thai cookbook a lot.. Real Vegetarian Thai. I particularly like the fact that her directions are very detailed and she has great recipe for the basics from scratch - red curry paste, panang curry, various stocks etc. I realize that if I understand the logic of the cooking style, I can cook better. So the curry pastes are basically like a thick pesto that can be diluted as needed for various dishes. Like pesto, they also freeze well in icecube trays. So I can make various curry pastes in one sitting (most of the ingredients are similar except chilli color) and "assemble" the dish in a short time for dinner with just some chunks of tofu, veggies etc. The other thing I realized is using the right ingredient makes a huge difference. I live in the hub of asians in SF bay area and have several chinese grocery stores near me but some ingredients from a thai grocery store gave it that special flavor. Thai soy sauce (much thicker.. almost like a reduction of balsamic vinegar), thai palm sugar, thai red rice, thai sticky rice, also kefir lime leaves, thai chillies, galangal (ginger is not quite the same), lemon grass, tamarind (not paste). Most of these freeze well as well.

India is such a huge country, with such a diversity of cultures, races, ethnic origins, available ingredients, outside influences, historical events...basically such a diversity of everything, that the term "Indian Cuisine" shouldn't even be used, except in the broadest sense. To know that the British held sway in India for as long as they did, one can't really credit that cream was not adapted as a culinary ingredient. Even if it had been completely unknown prior to that era, which can hardly be the case in any culture where milk is utilized, it surely would have worked it's way into usage by now. Yogurt is much more common (which isn't surprising, considering the lack of refrigeration in a primarily warm country)of course, but I have seen quite a few recipes calling for cream. And, though considering the antiquity represented by the cuisines of India, I am but the merest novice (I've only been playing with it for about 10 years), I think I can trust myself to recognize recipes that have been re-written for the non-Indian cook. Potatoes are quite the popular ingredient, used by many of the Indian peoples, both in meat dishes, vegetable dishes, and alone. In fact, one of the things I love about the use of the potato in India, is that with the creative and judicious use of spices, herbs and other vegetables, the potato as cooked by an Indian housewife can be the nutritious, healthy food that it so often isn't in Western cooking, by the time we lace it with butter, cream, or cheese as is so often our wont. Jessica, Indian cooking can be very healthy indeed! (Leaving out the tendency toward deep fried snack foods!) While many recipes call for ghee (a form of toasty, clarified butter), you needn't add it with a lavish hand as the flavor is quite rich and distinctive. In many recipes, you can substitute olive oil quite easily, if you prefer. The use of so many spices and herbs, and the various methods in which they are used lends such flavor to meats, vegetables and grains that the addition of copious amounts of fats or yet salt, becomes unnecessary. Naturally, there are those curries that include fatty coconut milk, but then, if you eat the way a person in India eats, you won't be eating a big bowl of it, but a small portion along with vegetables, legumes and grains. My love affair with the cuisines of India began with Dal. The lowly lentil, which was to my knowledge just something one made a pot of soup with sometimes, has been transformed into a magical food ingredient by the hands of Indian cooks. I have read that it is a rare meal in India that does not include some version of legume. What we classify as lentils, peas and beans are all, "dal." Dal can be served in soups, porridge, breads, crackers, chips, snack nibbles, fritters, used as a base for thick sauces, toasted into crunchy bits to add texture, as a base for curries and stews...gosh, I'm sure I've left some uses out. And they are so good for us! High in fiber, satisfyingly filling, cheap sources of protein, minerals and vitamins. Okay, enough of my raptures...:D Earlier in the thread, someone mentioned wanting a Southern Indian cook book? I've a wonderful book that introduced me to the Vegetarian cuisine of Southern India, a style of eating quite different from much of what we Westerners think of when we think Indian foods. The recipes are mostly excellent but I must caution that the use of hot chilies is quite lavish. I have been accused of having an "asbestos mouth" by friends, but still I cut back quite a bit on the number of green, hot chilies and dried peppers the recipes call for. I figure, I can always add some hot sauce at table if needs be. Here is a link that might be useful: Dakshin-vegetarian cuisine from south India