Tasting India

Christine Manfield’s ode to Indian cooking quickly immerses you in the colour, spice, strong flavours and glorious chaos of the sub-continent ... a cookbook that’s practical, yes, but also full of heart. Gourmet Traveller ‘This is my story of India, a story gathered across many visits, connecting with people in various walks of life. The recipes I’ve collected along the way reflect the stories of countless mothers, grandmothers, daughters, sons of daughters, brothers, sisters and aunts, as told to me during my travels.’ Tasting India is a gastronomic odyssey through home kitchens, crowded alleyways, fine restaurants and street shacks to explore the masterful, complex and vibrant tapestry of Indian cuisine. Along the way, this captivating country comes alive as Christine Manfield describes its food, landscape, culture and traditions with her trademark passion, curiosity and expertise. This award winning cookbook has been fully revised in paperback and includes three new chapters on the Punjab, Gujarat and Hyderabad, plus Christine’s insider tips on where to sleep, eat and shop throughout India. AWARDS International Cookbook of the Year, 2012 International Association of Culinary Professionals, New York Best Culinary Travel Book, 2012 IACP awards, New York Best Illustrated Book, 2012 Australian Book Industry Awards Finalist, Andre Simon 2012 Book Awards, London

What is the role of quality in contemporary capitalism? How is a product as ordinary as a bag of tea judged for its quality? In her innovative study, Sarah Besky addresses these questions by going inside an Indian auction house where experts taste and appraise mass-market black tea, one of the world's most recognized commodities. Pairing rich historical data with ethnographic research among agronomists, professional tea tasters and traders, and tea plantation workers, Besky shows how the meaning of quality has been subjected to nearly constant experimentation and debate throughout the history of the tea industry. Working across fields of political economy, science and technology studies, and sensory ethnography, Tasting Qualities argues for an approach to quality that sees it not as a final destination for economic, imperial, or post-imperial projects but as an opening for those projects.

Let Christine Manfield guide you through the deeply fragrant world of Indian home cooking. Mastering the incredible array of spices and techniques applied in the Indian kitchen can seem a daunting task for the casual cook. But in Indian Cooking Class you’ll find easy-to-follow and approachable recipes that will see you making curry pastes and blending flavours with absolute confidence. Spanning history-steeped recipes to home-style favourites, Ayurvedic-influenced dishes and contemporary interpretations, this extensive collection of beautifully photographed recipes guides home cooks from snacks and sides to main dishes, all the way through to dessert. Discover meals found on the humblest thali plate to those served at the most lavish banquets, and find a true appreciation for the many and varied cooking styles, vibrant flavour combinations and textural medleys that make for such an aromatic and sense-enlivening food culture. Equipping novice and curious cooks alike with a repertoire of achievable and impressive Indian classics, be it a simple dal to an intricate biryani, Christine Manfield’s Indian Cooking Class is a handbook of skills to encourage creativity. Join Christine as she shares her knowledge, love and deep respect for the vivacious and piquant dishes at the heart of India’s fascinating culinary heritage. ‘If you have room in your bookshelf for one Indian cookbook, make it this one.’ Sydney Morning Herald ‘Manfield brings her extensive travels and deep love of India's complex flavours and culinary history to this extensive collection of recipes that is both creative and approachable.’ Gourmet Traveller

Within this volume are 350 user-friendly recipes from all over India, a country whose diverse cultures and religions are reflected in its cuisine. The recipes include background information and are designed to educate cooks in order to make them more comfortable with Indian food.

Ever wondered why your grandmother threw a teabag into the pressure cooker while boiling chickpeas, or why she measured using the knuckle of her index finger? Why does a counter-intuitive pinch of salt make your kheer more intensely flavourful? What is the Maillard reaction and what does it have to do with fenugreek? What does your high-school chemistry knowledge, or what you remember of it, have to do with perfectly browning your onions? Masala Lab by Krish Ashok is a science nerd's exploration of Indian cooking with the ultimate aim of making the reader a better cook and turning the kitchen into a joyful, creative playground for culinary experimentation. Just like memorizing an equation might have helped you pass an exam but not become a chemist, following a recipe without knowing its rationale can be a sub-optimal way of learning how to cook. Exhaustively tested and researched, and with a curious and engaging approach to food, Krish Ashok puts together the one book the Indian kitchen definitely needs, proving along the way that your grandmother was right all along.

Never is a girl with a broken soul who doesn't date nice guys and can't seem to go to bed at night without crying herself to sleep. She doesn't need any complications in her life, especially not when they're attached to a man that could be her emotional twin. Cabe can't stand Never the first time he meets her. He's aware that the feeling's mutual and the two don't think they'll ever see each other again, but when fate takes a hand and puts them both in the wrong place at the wrong time, Ty and Never form a tentative friendship that opens the door on their dark sides and shows them what it's like to live in the light.

This engaging cookbook, the first to feature the tropical dishes of South India, demystifies the cuisine and offers more than one hundred recipes with light, tropical flavors and simple preparations, along with sumptuous photographs of the food and the region. Challenging the stereotypes that Indian curries are rich and heavy, difficult to prepare, and made with hard-to-find ingredients, this book introduces the light, tropical tastes of south India with accessible ingredients and simple methods. Adapting these south Indian recipes for the average kitchen, the author familiarizes the home cook with this lesser-known cuisine. An abundance of coconut and seafood, along with a host of exotic fruits and vegetables, including fresh hot chilies, distinguishes the curries of south India from those of north India. The focus is the traditional southern fare-dishes such as Rava Masala Dosa (wheat crepes stuffed with potato curry), Sambar (spicy stew of legumes and vegetables), and fish Aviyal (chunks of fish in an aromatic sauce of coconut and tamarind)-which is harder to find in restaurants outside of India. North Indian classics, also family favorites, like Lamb Korma, Tandoori Chicken, and Spinach Paneer are included. With everything from appetizers to desserts, this is an excellent introduction to Indian cooking. The author has an extraordinary talent for explaining unfamiliar cooking techniques, and specially commissioned full-color photographs provide helpful visual cues for preparing a wide variety of dishes. The inspired recipes, purposeful photographs, extensive notes on ingredients, practical menu ideas, and useful source list make it a primer on Indian cooking as well as a significant exploration of regional specialties.

India's food is one of her most remarkable features: its countless tastes and styles reflect the nation's history, enduring traditions, and diversity of people and place. But it is changing at a rapid rate beyond anyone's imagination. Eating the Present, Tasting the Future ventures 'off the plate' to journey through India's contemporary foodscape to discover the myriad forces transforming what, how and where Indians are producing, trading and eating their food. At a time when food and our relationship with it are topics of increasing global interest, this is a timely, and important, work, offering unique insight into a complex society.