India Cookbook by Pushpesh Pant

Phaidon has been publishing lush large cookbooks that try to more or less encompass a country's entire cuisine.  They started with 'The Silver Spoon', which is purported to be the 'Joy of Cooking' of Italy, which was translated for m=both and English speaking audience, and one that would not necessarily have an Italian sensibility, so that we can follow what they have to offer.

This book covers the Indian subcontinent.  No small task.  A billion people are packed in there.  There is not one cuisine, nor is there one religion, or one culture.  Over the course of the first several centuries, there have been many conquerors who left behind a little bit of themselves as they retreated.  So a Herculean task to put together a cookbook that covers it all.

I have no idea just how successful this ultimately is.  The author has a diverse background, ranging from being a political commentator to hosting a cooking show--but he is known for his Northern Indian cooking, and since the India that most tourists are familiar with is North India, this is perhaps good enough.  My spouse made a butter chicken from this that was absolutely delicious--nothing like the butter chicken at our local Indian restaurant, but wonderful, aromatic, and complicated tasting.  When I was looking for a cauliflower recipe there were almost a dozen to choose from--which is a big plus for me.  Time to give away my previous Indian tome on cooking, '1000 Indian Recipes', which people have raved about, but it has really not worked for me, and put this in it's place on my cookbook shelf.