Looking for a mouthwatering meal to celebrate International Hot and Spicy Food Day? We’ve curated just the perfect recipe book recommendations for you that will make you want to cook your heart out! Pick up your favourite one from the list – they’re sure to tingle your taste buds.
On the Pickle Trail by Monish Gujral
In this book, Monish Gujral brings together a collection of 100 pickles to start you on your journey of pickling. These recipes are not only simple and easy to make, each also has health benefits. From the Italian Giardiniera (pickled vegetables) to the Israeli Torshi Left (white turnip pickle), from the Gari (Japanese ginger pickle) to the Cebollas Encurtidas (pickled onions from Ecuador), this book is a treasure trove of some of the best pickles from around the world. Start your lip-smacking journey today!
Degh to Dastarkhwan by Tarana Husain Khan
Originally indifferent eater and cook, Tarana Husain Khan, stumbled upon a nineteenth-century Persian cookbook at Rampur’s renowned Raza Library, that instantaneously set her on a voyage into the history of Rampur cuisine and the legends surrounding it.
Degh to Dastarkhwan revolves around the question of what truly sets Rampur’s cuisine apart from others. Each chapter is a metaphor for a sentiment, a festival. The variety of Rampuri cuisine, from the lavish royal cuisine to the straightforward everyday meal, lays the groundwork for the expression of love, sorrow, healing, and spirituality.
The Rana Cookbook by Rohini Rana
The elegant palaces of Nepal were not only renowned for their glitz and architecture but their lavish feasts as well. Only the palace cooks were fortunate enough to have acquired these delicious recipes. For the first time ever, the doors to the palace kitchens are opened in this gorgeous book, giving us a look into the delectable royal cuisine.
Rohini Rana has compiled and documented the dishes that are cherished by each Rana prime minister’s family in this phenomenal book. This premium, exquisitely designed cookbook tries to preserve these recipes for future generations by showcasing delicious meals from the palaces.
This Handmade Life by Nandita Iyer
This Handmade Life is all about discovering your passion and mastering it. Divided into seven sections on baking, fermenting, self-care, kitchen gardening, soap-making, spices, and needlework, encourages us to take our time and engage in straightforward hobbies that bring us pure delight.
The book is about hands-on activities that can be contemplative and restorative for the body, mind, and spirit. It is written in Iyer’s trademark lyrical and approachable style. Iyer has succeeded in serving up a book that is inspirational and motivational at a time when both are in short supply by taking the reader through a variety of personal and transforming interests.
What’s Cooking in India?
The books On the Kebab Trail and On the Dessert Trail by Monish Gujral are ideal for anyone who wants to explore the world through food! With over a hundred Kashmiri recipes, P. Krishna Dar’s Kashmiri Cooking is a gorgeously illustrated edition of a well-known classic. Highway on My Plate: The Indian Guide to Roadside Eating by Rocky Singh and Mayur Sharma is a must-have travel companion!
The Essential Sindhi Cookbook by Reejhsinghani Aroona
The Sindhi community may trace its origins back to the Harappan civilization and claims a unique continuity of tradition and lifestyle in the Indian subcontinent. Cuisine, as explained in the opening to this book, is a crucial component of this continuity. While Sindhi cuisine has absorbed components from other cuisines, particularly Mughlai and Punjabi, it has always maintained its own distinct blend of flavours and scents. The answers to all questions relating to the preparation and serving of Sindhi food are all here in this comprehensive guide to a distinctive culture.
The Essential Delhi Cookbook by Priti Narain
The Penguin Essential Cookbooks are a pioneering endeavour to preserve the art of traditional Indian cooking. Each book is prepared by a skilled chef who combines regional or community-specific recipes with a lengthy introduction that details the rituals and customs associated with eating and presenting food. Recipes in the Essential Delhi Cookbook are gathered from the various communities that have made Delhi their home, including the Khatris and Kayasths, as well as Mughlai and Punjabi foods. Raan, Bheja, Methi Dal ki Pakori, Muthanjan Pulao, Mathri, Papri, Chaat, and Sharbat-e-Ghulab are among the recipes.
The Essential North-East Cookbook by Hoihnu Hauzel
If there is one section of our country that has yet to be explored, it is the North East, at least in terms of its food. Those who live in or have visited the seven sister states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura will tell you that the North East’s chefs produce an incredible variety of cuisines that combine tradition and innovation in surprising ways.
The Essential Andhra Cookbook by Bilkees Latif
Enjoy the enticing flavours of Andhra cuisine. While Hyderabadi cuisine is well-known for its distinct Mughlai flavour, food from other parts of Andhra, one of India’s largest and most culturally varied states, is relatively obscure. The author brings together for the first time the various tastes of Andhra cooking, from the simple idli-sambar to spicy seafood specialties, in this contribution to the Penguin series on Indian food and customs.
