The Recipe Book Fetish!

Cook-books and recipe books are my weakness. You can even say that I have a fetish for them! I spend endless hours pouring over my recipes books, enjoying all the descriptions, drooling over the pictures and then putting them back where they came from without cooking any of those recipes! I do that even in the bookstores, get lost in the passage of time until someone awakens me to the realities that lay ahead :-)
My recipe book collection also form a major part of my nighttime reading repertoire! Browsing through those glossy pages full of vibrant pictures of food lulls me into a dreamland full of flavors and mysterious ingredients! Crazy behavior but fun nevertheless!
So when Nags of "For the Cook in me" announced the "Show me your cookbooks" event - I was suddenly anxious - "Oh, which one is my favorite?". You see I have several favorites. But after much thought I decided to go with the one book that I have cooked most from, and the one that I enjoy reading the most.

The Indian Spice Kitchen by Monisha Bharadwaj



"The Indian Spice Kitchen" by Monisha Bharadwaj. As you can see from the picture above, it is a Bargain book that I picked up from Borders on one of my browsing visits! I was hesitant at first, as always, since I have so many recipe books at home and I did not need yet another book... My little recipe book shelf was running out of place! But on a whim, I said "It's just 8 bucks, c'mon!" So here I am with the book after 4 years and its still one of my favorites! I can never get enough of those glossy pictures!
Why do I love this book?

A section of the book

Well, for starters, the book is very creatively divided into sections based on the ingredients class - like "From the spice boxes, gardens, earthen jars and grinding stones of India". Each ingredient is further described in full detail - its scientific name, its Indian name, How it grows, its appearance and taste, buying and storing it, medicinal and other uses, culinary uses and recipes with that ingredient! The whole nine yards!


Imagine reading about various types of chillies, about amchoor, about saffron and cardamom,about goda masala, about coconut, about amla about channa and much much more! Over 200 delicious recipes. And the beautiful pictures are a visual treat!



All recipe photographs it says are by Julie Dixon. Monisha Bharadwaj, the author of the book is based in London and is a food consultant. She also writes in many food publications and is an award winning classical dancer.

So guys, do check out this one-in-all cookery book when you get a chance!

I also wanted to share some pictures of some of my recipe books, books that I treasure and books that cook with all the time.


Sanjeev Kapoor - One of my favorite authors! His recipes never fail me. I love his simple, yet so easy to follow recipes and the almost restaurant quality food that we end up with! Love his books! This is one of my favorite collection of his books.



My collection of Holiday baking cookbooks! I love picking up a book here and there on my visit to the local grocery store during the holiday season! Such colorful pages and such wonderful recipes! My kids just love the holiday season- because that's the only time mommy bakes! That's the only time I get all my bakeware and my cookbooks out! Hate the cleanup after that - that's why! And also my two little helpers are always so eager to help during this time, making a bigger than usual mess (which only mommy has to clean up after that!)





And finally, this one is the first ever recipe book I started writing in. It was just a simple college style notebook. I started collecting recipes in it just before I got married. Though I've been cooking long before that, when I knew I was going across the ocean to a foreign land with no mom, aunt or grandma right there to ask, I panicked! I started calling everyone for recipes and writing them down! I still write in the book. Every now and then when i come across a dish that i have to write down the recipe for- this is where it goes! And form the look -you can tell that this book has been used a lot!

Hope you guys enjoyed this post. Thanks to Nags for hosting this fun event and letting us share our treasures!
Note: Images from the book "The Indian Spice Kitchen" by Monisha Bharadwaj. (protected under copyright law)