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With its exotic aromas and complex flavors, Indian cuisine is one of the world’s best. It’s no wonder that so many people adore it–and also no surprise that it could seem daunting to cook Indian food at home. Now, acclaimed chef and cooking teacher Suvir Saran cuts out the fuss, sharing casual, home-style Indian dishes that are perfect for everyday cooking.

The most important food in Indian kitchen is yoghurt or ‘curds’ that is associated with cultural, social and religious practices. Yoghurt is a by-product of milk and results in the most delicious vegetarian cuisine. It is an important source of nutrition and has the unique quality of being eaten in its natural form or made tastier by adding a range of vegetables, spices and condiments.

Festivals in India are an important aspect of the social religious and cultural life of its people. Samayal or cooking is rooted in family traditions. Food was always offered untasted to the Divine first. This energized the meal with sustenance and healing properties. Viji’s fervent desire to record and retain traditional food is palpable. The pictures shot by VK beautifully combine the element of the divine with appropiate icons and tastefully presented food.

Recipes that make me want to rush to the kitchen, intriguing techniques that could be used with other cuisines, fascinating personal stories about growing up in a big Kerala household, all embedded in a deep understanding of Kerala as a pivot of Asian history. It’s a wonderful tribute to Kerala and a stunning gift for the rest of us.

Selected for the cookbook section of The New York Times Book Review Summer Reading issue. Featuring authentic recipes and introducing the use of fundamental spices, this recipe collection guides cooks of all levels of expertise in the preparation of healthy, delicious Indian meals.

The Indian food that most Americans are familiar with is from North India. Dakshin, the first in a new series, is a lavishly illustrated introduction to the cuisine of South India, where most of the population is Hindu and vegetarian. The author, an Indian food writer, presents dozens of recipes for the various courses of a South Indian vegetarian meal, most accompanied by inviting full-page color photographs. American cooks may recognize a few dishes from Indian restaurants, but most will be new. Although some of the ingredients may be somewhat difficult to find, Padmanabhan’s recipes should be worth the effort. Highly recommended.

Today’s generation was losing out on an entire culture hence the author decided to record for posterity the dishes of a brahmin lifestyle. Samayal is a good South-Indian cook book and every food lover will surely like to refer to it regularly. Think vegetarian Tamilnadu food. Then Viji’s Samayal is a handy reminder with close to 200 authentic recipes!

Along with recipes for beverages, snacks, chutneys, dairy products, vegetable dishes, rice, dal (lentils, peas, and other legumes), breads, and sweets, you will find helpful information on the spices and other ingredients that are essential to authentic Indian cooking. Includes nutritional information on the healthful benefits of Indian vegetarian cuisine.

Adjudged the BEST VEGETARIAN COOKBOOK IN THE WORLD 2006 by the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, this book features traditional Andhra recipes as taught by an illustrious Indian Grandmother. She is Mrs. Subhadra Rau Parigi, fondly known as Pedatha, the eldest offspring of India’s former President Bharat Ratna Dr. V.V.Giri. A passionate cook, Pedatha’s recipes are much sought after by friends and relatives. Her cooking has remained unchanged in the face of changing times, still retaining the traditional flavours and an old world charm.

With the addition of fifty new easy-to-prepare dishes, “Healthy South Indian Cooking” is back, now totalling 250 recipes. In the famous Chettinad Healthy cooking tradition of Southern India, these foods evoke South Indian forgotten by Chicken Tikka Masala enthusiasts. Mostly vegetarian, these recipes allow home cooks to create such esoteric: dishes as Potato-flled Dosas with Coconut Chutney; Pearl Onion and Tomato Sambhar; Chickpea and Bell Pepper per Poriyal; and Eggplant Masala Curry. Rasams, breads, legumes and payasams are all featured here, as is the exceptional Chettinad Chicken Kolambu, South lndia’s version of the popular vindaloo

Julie Sahni’s remarkable ability to make authentic Indian cooking accessible to American cooks continues to make her first book, Classic Indian Cooking, the definitive work of its kind.

This is her long-awaited second book. To prepare it, Julie Sahni traveled extensively throughout the regions of her native India, to assemble a splendid second volume of Indian culinary delights. Whereas her first book explored the riches of Moghul cuisine, this totally new collection systematically reveals the never-before-described treasures of India’s vegetarian and grain cooking.

Most health-conscious eaters tend to avoid Indian food because of the high-fat methods used to prepare many of the popular dishes. Leading Indian cookbook writer Mridula Baljekar’s revolutionary methods allow readers to enjoy deliciously spiced Indian meals, packed with flavor and nutrition, but without added fat. Drawing upon her extensive knowledge of traditional Indian cooking techniques, flavors, and spices, Baljekar has devised no-added-fat cooking techniques that dramatically revise how delicious Indian food is prepared—without altering its authentic taste.

Indian Recipes for a Healthy Heart destroys the myth that a healthful diet is synonymous with deprivation. This unique book, in the context of Indian cuisine, contains modified recipes for well-known Indian (and some non-Indian) dished with their authentic gourment tastes and flavors intact, yet worthy of inclusion in a healthful diet.

Southern Indian dishes are less familiar restaurant fare generally, but as India’s cuisine becomes more popular, interest increases in the cooking of this region. Kingman spent her early years in the state of Madras, now called Tamil Nadu. She offers illuminating descriptions of the influences of cultural and religious traditions on food and how ingredients are mixed together to produce balance. One favorite southern Indian dish that often appears on menus, masala dosai, consists of pancakes stuffed with a potato and vegetable filling. Kingman provides directions for this and numerous other delicacies, including fish and seafood dishes, which are a cornerstone of festive Madras meals.

Few cooks know their subject as personally as Maya Kaimal MacMillan who in Curried Favors focuses on the less familiar cooking of Southern India, particularly the province of Kerala, her family’s original home. “Curry,” she informs us, correctly refers to a range of dishes calling for differing blends of spices known as “masalas.” Coconut, curry leaves, and mustard seeds are particularly key in the wet masalas often used by her aunt and others in Southern India. MacMillan offers intelligent substitutions, where necessary. Curried Favors provides detailed directions so you can comfortably try dishes such as Idli, Yogurt, Aviyals, Kichadis, and Pachadis as well as more familiar northern favorites such as Khormas and Biriyanis. Something of a mini-coffee table book, Curried Favors would be a good gift, thanks to its handsome presentation and MacMillan’s conversational commentary.

Padma Lakshmi is a supermodel who was born in India, grew up in the United States, and travels frequently to exotic and less-exotic locales for her job. Here she sets down about five dozen recipes for the food she likes to cook and eat, organized by country (or continent) of origin: Spain, France, Italy, India, Asia, and Morocco.

ANNAM or food is a form of the Almighty (’annam parabrahma swaroopam’) according to the Hindu scriptures. All beings are born and live by food and ultimately go back to the earth and merge in it to become food. Food is the supreme medicine of all (’aushadham ucchyate sarvam’). Food occupies an important part in the life of Hindus. Food is offered to ancestors during rituals, to Gods during religious ceremonies and to deities in the temples. Food is served to the poor and the needy as seva or charitable service; to the animals and birds as religious duty; to one s personal deity before eating to neutralize harmful energies contained in the food. For more information visit vijisamayal.org

Now in a playful board book format, Milet’s popular picture dictionary, in English and 12 bilingual editions. Ages 4-8.

An excellent reference book on the grammar of spoken Tamil.

Love, as a force in human affairs, is still not given much attention or credency by social scientists. With Notes on Love in a Tamil Family, Margaret Trawick places the notion of love prominently in social scientific discourse. Her unforgettable and profusely illustrated study is a significant contribution to anthropology and to South Asian studies.