30 | November | 2009 | Eleventh Stack

On Saturday, December 12, from 2:00-3:15 PM, the Library will “Celebrate India” with a program featuring information and entertainment about the food and culture of this diverse country. In preparation for this event, library staff from various departments have been preparing booklists (and video and music lists) to showcase Indian materials owned by the library. What follows is one of those lists, Indian cookbook recommendations prepared for the occasion.

The Bollywood Cookbook by Bulbul Mankani
The hottest stars from the Bollywood scene share their favorites dishes. Each chapter includes a short biographical sketch of the actor. An essentials section covers recipes for basic ingredients such as ginger paste, ghee, roti, and garam masala.

The Calcutta Kitchen by Simon Parkes
This exquisite book covers the subject of Bengali cuisine, which is rarely found unless you are invited to dine at a private home. Chapters cover cosmopolitan Calcutta, sweets, vegetarian dishes, as well as rituals and celebrations.

Complete Book of Indian Cooking: 350 Recipes from the Regions of India by Suneeta Vaswani
If you are looking to truly understand and cook Indian cuisine, this book will prove to be indispensible. It begins with common ingredients, spices & herbs (including spice blends), basic techniques, hints and tips. Each chapter covers one area of food—appetizers, fish, salads, meats, and sweets—and then is further broken down into regions—north, south, east, and west.

India’s Vegetarian Cookery by Monisha Bharadwaj
Vegetarianism is a way of life for most of those who live in India. The variety and depth of vegetarian cuisine in each region of India is covered in this comprehensive book which shows that eating without meat is healthy, interesting, and exciting.

Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick & Easy Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey
You can’t have a booklist on Indian food without including Madhur Jaffrey. For many, she was the first to introduce the home cook to the idea of making Indian fare. This is one of her latest and includes over 70 recipes that can be made in 30 minutes or less. This book also contains a suggested list for a well-stocked pantry as well as menus for both family meals and entertaining.

Meena Pathak Celebrates Indian Cooking by Meena Pathak
No long, drawn out, hard to prepare recipes in this book. Ms. Pathak covers traditional Indian recipes along with more innovative fusion dishes to introduce readers to the wonders of her native cuisine.

My Bombay Kitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking by Niloufer Ichaporia King
Part recipes and part memoir, this cookbook is as much fun to read as it is to use for food preparation and contains over 165 recipes. Also the first book on Parsi cooking published in the United States written by a Parsi.

Six Spices: A Simple Concept of Indian Cooking by Neeta Saluja
One of the most daunting aspects of making Indian food for the first time is working with the spices and other unfamiliar ingredients that form the basics of the cuisine. This book attempts to break through that barrier by presenting several of these techniques and devoting a chapter to each, such as cooking with powdered spices, seasoning with ghee, and cooking with curry paste. Each chapter includes at least a dozen recipes so you can try out and hone your newfound skills.