Book Review: J B Lobo's Home Encyclopaedia

JB Lobo's Home Encyclopedia is the only recipe book my grandmother ever referred to when cooking, so almost every woman in my family has a copy. The book is plain text, there are no glossy pictures and an average of 3-4 recipes on each page. A bare bones recipe book, it expects the reader to have a good grasp of cooking. It does have some rare recipes like that for suckling pig Manglorean style that are difficult to find elsewhere. While it claims to have recipes from other parts of the world, remember that this book was written over 25 years ago, so those recipes aren't completely authentic. But the Manglorean recipes are really good. More than half the book is taken by the home encyclopedia which has home remedies for everything from sore eyes to snake bites and scorpion stings. There is a section on how to guard against burglars, how to clean ivory articles and how to buy a cow by checking her udders. There is even a section on sex education. While the book at 900+ pages is quite heavy, only 250 pages or so are dedicated to recipes. I do wish they would come out with a version that has just the recipes. It would be so much easier to manage while trying to cook from it. The book is also published in Kannada as Gruha Sangaathi & I think it has both a vegetarian and a non-vegetarian version. Rating : 4 / 5

Book Review: In an Antique Land

This is a Review that I wrote quite some time ago, but when posting about Following Fish, I remembered that Amitav Ghosh's In an Antique Land also dealt largely with Mangalore and its pre-British sea faring history.

The two threads of the story here focus on Mangalore and a Country that I lived in for 4 years - Egypt.

The description of Mangalore did not ring any bells, as it focussed mostly on the town as it existed 800+ years ago.

This is a book of non fiction. Amitav Ghosh chanced upon a letter between Abraham Ben Yiju, a Jewish merchant living in Mangalore, India, and Khalaf ibn Ishaq from Egypt, written in 1132AD. Part of this narrative focuses on Ghosh's search for more documents relating to Ben Yiju and part of the narrative tries to imagine the world that Ben Yiju lived in.

My entire Review can be read at http://karishmapais.blogspot.com/2010/02/book-review-in-antique-land.html

Book Review: Following Fish

I  just reviewed a wonderful book called Following Fish: Travels around the Indian Coast on my Book Review Blog and I would like to direct my friends who follow this blog of mine towards the book.

One of its 9 chapters is dedicated to Mangalore: where he initially flounders in his quest for the perfect Manglorean fish curry, but soon with the help of friends he discovers eateries that are hidden gems, known to the locals and discovers tawa fried fish, rawa fry and other delicacies too.


He first ate at Hotel Dakshin as he had no one to guide him. Hotel Nihal he found slightly better. And then Manglorean friends guided him to Mesha near New Chitra Theatre. Jaideep Shenoy - the Hindu correspondent took him to Narayan's near the Bunder wharf (go to SBI & ask for Narayan's anyone can tell you) famous for its tawa fried fish. (I myself will need to visit these 2 places when I'm next in town as shamefully inspite of having lived there for the better part of my life, I still hadn't heard of these places)

His encounter with Vasudev Boloor (President of multiple fishermens associations) leads to an impromptu meal of home cooked Manglorean fish curry which any Manglorean would know is infinitely better than anything that a restaurant can ever serve.


Some of his observations are spot on: Mangalore seemed sleepy when I got off the train & it seemed sleepy when I left my hotel in search of lunch. I was to learn over the course of my stay there, that it was a town that seemed sleepy right through the week  and the book is a lovely read.


My detailed review can be read at http://muserkim.blogspot.com/2011/02/book-review-following-fish.html



Going through this particular chapter on Mangalore and Samanth's quest for the perfect fish curry in Mangalore, I was wondering what I would have replied if I had been asked for a recommendation. Other than my mums and grandma's curries, I think I may have recommended Hotel Mangala near Fatima Retreat House for its fish curry.

Which eateries in Mangalore would you recommend for fish curry / fish fry?