This Month’s Films: Shakespeare Wallah & The Namesake
Cuisine: Indian

I have three good Indian cookbooks in my library: The Cooking of India from the Time-Life series; Ajanta: Regional Feasts of India by Berkeley restaurateur Lachu Moorjani; and Quick and Easy Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey, who, by the way, also plays a role in Shakespeare Wallah. Among the three cookbooks there is a nearly irresistible array of recipes to inspire any menu, from fiery curries to cooling raitas.

Last year, I received a review copy of a gorgeous Indian cookbook titled Ajanta: Regional Feasts of India, based upon the cuisine of restaurateur Lachu Moorjani, a collection of dishes featured on the menu at his Berkeley, California restaurant, also called Ajanta. Each chapter of the book features six regional dishes from one of India’s many provinces: appetizer, main dish, vegetable, rice, bread and dessert. Mr. Moorjani gave me permission to recreate his dishes in my kitchen and publish the recipes for the Bengal feast I chose.

The book is a pleasure to use, as each feast is fabulously photographed, and features not only clear, concise preparation instructions, but also includes a shopping list of ingredients, a description of the region and its cuisine, and Mr. Moorjani’s personal comments and anecdotes about each dish. Ajanta: Regional Feasts of India is an alluring trove of unusual yet remarkably easy recipes to reproduce in your home kitchen. And definitely the cookbook of choice for many Indian feasts to come.

The Cooking of India also has lots of unusual stuff, and believe it or not, The Joy of Cooking has at least a dozen Indian recipes that look quite tasty and interesting. The Joy of Cooking is usually the place I turn to for classic dishes, but this new edition has lots more creative ethnic recipes than the old one. In my search, I found so many choices in the cookbooks I already have that I felt no need whatsoever to to turn to the Internet for inspiration.

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