I see that Suvir's new book is out and I am looking forward to getting my hands on a copy.
His first book Indian Home Cooking: A Fresh Introduction to Indian Food holds its own on my bookshelf, but to be honest I bought it more out of curiosity than to actually cook from it. I had interacted with Suvir on various food forums and also tried his recipe for Tomato Chutney with excellent resuts so I wanted to see what the book was like. The book did not have too much in terms of new unusual recipes, some of the more unusual ones like the Shrimp Rasam and Lamb Biryani with Orange and Whole Garam Masala are now regulars on my recipe list. Indian Home Cooking has also become my favourite book to give novices to Indian cuisine as gifts. It very succintly lays down the basics of Indian food philosophy and the recipes are laid out for a western reader using recies that could be found in most western supermarkets.
But his latest offering, American Masalla promises to be a culinary adventure. I have observed how innovative Indian cooks are with local ingredients from my wanderings on Another Subcontinent and Egullet so I am sure that this book will offer some interesting ideas. I can't help looking forward to it much much more, unfortunately with the baby 10 days away, I will likely have to wait a while before i can get a copy! But with the hiatus I will be on then, I will have more time to try out recipes so untill then I shall console myself by trying this recipe for Chicken Harira from the book that Suvir has on his blog.
At the moment it is not available in India but can be ordered from Amazon.
Rushina
