Masala: Recipes from India, the Land of Spices [A Cookbook] Hardcover – August 30, 2022

A comprehensive look at India's cuisine from simple dishes to very complex.

Was living in Houston and had visited Pondicheri several times, so thought it would be fun to buy the recipe book from owner and chef Anita Jaisinghani. It's an excellent read that is packed with innovative and delicious looking recipes, along with a background to Indian food and spices. The presentation is great, where each recipe has a photo and written background. Highly recommended and also recommend to visit her restaurant if you are in Houston!

I live in Houston and frequent Anita Jaisinghani’s restaurants: Pondicherry and Bake Lab. I was a great fan of her first restaurant- Indika. I have looked forward to her cookbook for years.Jaisinghani is a wizard with spices. Think of a dish with the perfect balance of sweet, salt, astringent and umami : that is what you get when you cook with Anita. More- her recipes taste like she makes them. Instructions and ingredients are all includedMASALA is fabulous and NOT JUST a cookbook. It is rich with history and culture. It embraces all things Indian and she morphs traditional dishes into more than they could ever be stuck with only Indian ingredients. Her recipes are creative - think of avocado mushroom chilla- page 107!She is opening a world to us that she holds in her heart- and OUR appetites, eyes, tongues and souls are beneficiaries of her healthy delicious food/ recipes.I am a huge fan! Buy this book for yourself and buy one or more to give.

Our family loves this cookbook. Great if you have an Indian grocery store close to home.

I used to work for Anita back in 2016-2017 and before that (and after) have been a lover of her food, restaurant and bake lab.When her book was coming out, I was extremely excited because a person I knew wrote a book! And I was excited to have some Pondicheri vibes in my home now that I live far from Houston.Little did I know that this book would help me get out of a cooking rut I have been in for over a year. I have been resentful of my kitchen and the face that good food required "too much of my time and headspace to make". Reading Anita's words on the history of spices, Ayurveda, eating seasonally and the approachable recipes with mouth watering pictures made me EXCITED to cook again.I have cooked the Aviyal multiple times, punjabi cauliflower, and even went into her blogs archives, India1948 for soups and rice with the ingredients that I have on hand.Me, my husband and my friends have been enjoying food differently and my relationship to cooking and my kitchen is healing as a result of owning this book. I have gifted it to multiple friends and even found 2 Indian grocers near me so I can get the beloved kari (or curry) leaves that add the most tremendous flavor to dishes.So thankful to have this book on my shelf and it is already stained from use.

Easily read book explaining food ingredients and preparation of traditional foods and drinks from India. For main and frequently used ingredients, the recipes are given in the beginning of the book and then all subsequent recipes link back to the original ingredient recipes so you don't have to go search for them which is very helpful.

There is so much good information in this book. Literally the first 120 pages is about the history of India and the spice trace. There is great information on various spices and their health benefits, and then there are all the great recipes with ways to incorporate all the spices! Love, love, love the book!

This was an excellent purchase. This book looks like it has never been opened.