You can learn about the culture, history, and even geography of a place through a shared meal anywhere in the world. We’re often exposed to different cuisines back home that move us to go to their source. If you’re ambitious, that exposure can even start in your kitchen with the right cookbook. You don't need to hop on a flight to soak up everything a country’s cuisine has to offer. With travel restrictions expected to last well into 2021, you may want to continue exploring through their palates—and might just pick up some new skills while doing so.
India’s food is regionally diverse and has a reputation for being complex. But trust us, your level of expertise barely matter when you have pages worth of detailed instructions that can take you on a journey and satisfy endless cravings. We’ve picked the best Indian regional cookbooks for those who are looking to experiment with bold spices and flavours in their kitchens. From vegetarian options to essential curries, these cookbooks offer an accessible and inspiring introduction to India’s most beloved dishes.
Curry Easy & Curry Easy Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey
Madhur Jaffrey proves that Indian curries need not be complicated or involve hours in the kitchen. Her recipes are guaranteed to become a family favourite. Following on from her bestselling cookbook, Curry Easy, Madhur’s, Curry Easy Vegetarian offers over 200 Indian-inspired, meat-free recipes.
Ruchira By Kamalabai Ogale
This vintage cookbook celebrates Maharashtrian Brahmin-style recipes and has been part of the Marathi vegetarian community’s bookshelves and wedding trousseau since its first appearance. One of the first Indian cookbooks to offer recipes using spoon and cup measures, making it easy to apply in a modern kitchen.
Bangla Ranna: The Bengal Cookbook By Minakshie Das Gupta
Bangla Ranna: The Bengal Cookbook was one of the first books on Bengali recipes written in English. It is perfect for beginners and has detailed instructions for someone just getting started with Bengali cooking. Get ready to whip up some Kolkata style kathi rolls or bhaapa illish.
The Complete Gujarati Cookbook
Tarla Dalal’s legendary repertoire is all you need to get a hang of Gujarati cuisine and perhaps even cook up your own thali. The cookbook covers simple vegetables, dals, and kadhis, and progresses to more complicated dishes like puran poli, mohanthaal, and undhiyu. It even features the classics such as dhokla, khandvi, thepla, and assorted farsans, etc.
Malabar Muslim Cookery By Ummi Abdulla
A compilation of more than 100 recipes from the Malayalam-speaking Muslim community gives you a rather tantalising peek into lesser-known Mappila ( the oldest settled native Muslim community ) kitchen treasures, like nei choru and mutta mala. The detailed recipes may intimidate you—but if you’re up for the challenge, neither you nor your stomach will be disappointed with the final result.
Prashad At Home: Everyday Indian Cooking From Our Vegetarian Kitchen By Kaushy Patel
Vegetarianism is one of the pillars of Indian cuisine, and the excellent Prashad At Home celebrates all things meat-free. This book evokes Gujarati flavours and traditional cooking methods.
Flavours Of The Spice Coast By KM Mathew
This compilation of over fifty years’ worth of recipes from Kerala, (both vegetarian and non-vegetarian), includes traditional favourites like appam and stew, to addictive snacks like murukku. With over two dozen bestselling cookery titles in Malayalam and English under her belt, Mrs Mathew alias Annamma is your guru if you want to ace street-side specialities like Trivandrum Chicken.
The Essential Sindhi Cookbook By Aroona Reejhsinghani
Sindhi curry-tuk, the classic Sunday lunch at home for most Sindhis is like a warm hug in a vati.
Reejsinghani’s cookery book provides insight into the dishes, spice preparations and tastes of Sindhi culture. For Sindhis it’s almost like a bag full of memories that they can hold close to their hearts.
Nuskha-E-Shahjahani By Salma Yusuf Khan
A coveted repertoire of recipes ranging from different pulaos, biryanis, kebabs, decadent desserts from Shah Jahan’s kitchen, a trans-creation of it was compiled by Khan into The Mughal Feast in 2019
Multiple Flavours Of Kashmiri Pandit Cuisine By Annapurna Chak
The cookbook includes traditional Kashmiri dishes like shufta and kabargah. It also includes a few dishes like such as keeme ki barfi, that remain unheard of, outside of the community. In his book, Chak traces the evolution of Pandit cuisine over the years as aspects of Awadhi cooking were incorporated.
The Lucknow Cookbook By Chand Sur And Sunita Kohli
Celebrate Lucknow’s culinary marvels with this compilation of 150 dishes from the authors own kitchens. There are delectable kebabs and biryanis, varied vegetable mains, and of course, the all-important meetha—like the Eid-staple sheer khurma or the Lucknow speciality of nimish.
The Seven Sisters: Kitchen Tales From The North East By Purabi Shridhar And Sanghita Singh
For this cookbook the authors have compiled recipes and stories, not only from their kitchens but of people from the respective states, thus, connecting their tales with readers. And yes, the Raja Mirchi (bhut jolokia) from Nagaland makes an appearance.