With dishes like tasty homemade chai and veggie burgers enhanced with garam masala, Amrikan: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora by Khushbu Shah invites readers to sample a distinctly Indian American culinary experience. In this charmingly narrated recipe collection, Shah flavors beloved foods like macaroni and cheese with spices and transforms favorite Indian dishes with pantry ingredients from her Los Angeles kitchen to reveal the essence of the "Amrikan" palate.
A food writer and journalist, Shah was formerly the restaurant editor at Food & Wine magazine. With her exuberant writing style and passion for the cultural history of Indian diaspora cooking in the United States, she has assembled a bounty of gorgeously photographed savory and sweet dishes. These include Samosa Pizza, an innovative Malai Broccoli, and a showstopper Biryani Baked in a Squash. Easy-to-assemble chutneys are the workhorses of her repertoire.
Paneer, lentils, beans--see Shah's recipe for freezer-friendly Chana Masala--and vegetables comprise a majority of her offerings, yet readers with a taste for chicken and shrimp will not be disappointed. --Shahina Piyarali