{"product_id":"new-indian-basics-isbn-9780525611318","title":"New Indian Basics","description":"\u003cb\u003eTASTE CANADA AWARDS WINNER\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWelcome Arvinda and Preena, the mother-daughter duo behind Arvinda’s premium Indian spice blends, into your kitchen with their decades of experience, vibrant recipes, and cooking wisdom! Learn the basics of both classic and modern Indian cuisine in this timeless book that you will return to again and again.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eNew Indian Basics\u003c\/i\u003e, Preena Chauhan and Arvinda Chauhan—the  masters  behind  Arvinda’s  Indian  spice  blends—present  a  collection  of flavorful, accessible recipes and kitchen wisdom gained from a lifetime of  personal  and  professional  experience  teaching  Indian  cooking,  where spices take center stage. With their clear instructions and signature warmth, this  mother-daughter  duo  will  guide  you  to  flawless  renditions  of  Indian dishes, both traditional and modern, with absolute ease.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere, you’ll find recipes perfect for all meals and all home cooks, whatever the time of day or level of experience. Chapters like Indian Brunch \u0026amp; Eggs are full of modern dishes like Chai-Spiced Apple Buckwheat Pancakes with Maple Cream or Indian-Style Baked Eggs in a richly spiced tomato sauce. Indian  Street  Foods  \u0026amp;  Savory  Appetizers  will  make  traditional  snacks,  like Chaat  Papri,  your  new  go-to  nibble.  And  whether  you’re  looking  for vegetarian or meat mains, you’ll find options to excite your palate, from a classic Butter Chicken or Channa Masala to a celebratory Vegetable Biryani with  Saffron  \u0026amp;  Nuts  or  a  Mapled  Tandoori  Salmon  with  Mint.  There  are many accompaniments that go along with a full Indian meal, so there are chapters  dedicated  to  these  components  such  as  chutneys,  pickles,  raitas, and masalas to help you build your pantry, rice dishes, and, of course, flatbreads,  like  homemade  Naan.  And  don’t  forget  about  dessert!  Preena and Arvinda share a full chapter on exquisite mithai, traditional sweets, and modern  desserts  as  well.  With  this  focus  on  the  many  expansive  regions that make up India’s culinary fabric, you’ll be enticed to learn about beloved specialties and new flavor profiles. No matter the recipe, Preena and Arvinda use their many years as educators to walk you through every step.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn  addition  to  their  vibrant  recipes,  Preena  and  Arvinda  include  helpful resources like a spice glossary, a guide to different lentils and beans, a mini workshop on the best way to cook basmati rice, and information on how to  serve—and  eat—an  Indian  meal.  They  even  suggest  ways  to  put  it  all together with their celebratory and seasonal Indian menus. With a wealth of incredible recipes, knowledge, and gorgeous photography, \u003ci\u003eNew Indian Basics\u003c\/i\u003e is sure to become a food bible in your kitchen.\"Preena and Arvinda’s cookbook brings a contemporary ease to Indian cooking that is delightfully approachable and deliciously inviting, without a huge time commitment needed from the home cook. This cookbook will definitely reside in our kitchen, not on the bookshelf.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—ANNA \u0026amp; MICHAEL OLSON,\u003c\/b\u003e chefs and authors\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Arvinda and Preena have taken Indian cuisine to a different level withtheir amazing recipes. This is a must-read for Indian food lovers.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—HUBERT DMELLO,\u003c\/b\u003e chef\/owner of UDUPI PALACE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I’m making room on my shelf for Preena and Arvinda’s thoughtful guide to Indian cuisine. From spice mixes to basic techniques, they bring to life a rich culinary tradition and its wonderful colors, flavors, and aromas. Home cooks and serious chefs alike should consider \u003ci\u003eNew Indian Basics\u003c\/i\u003e an essential book.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—CHEF MICHAEL BONACINI\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A spice journey for everything a home cook needs to know about Indian food, through authentic family recipes.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—CHEF SUSUR LEE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ePREENA CHAUHAN\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003cb\u003eARVINDA CHAUHAN\u003c\/b\u003e have  been  teaching  traditional  Indian  cooking  to  home  cooks,  chefs,  and restaurateurs since 1993, attracting participants from around the world. They create some of the world’s premier Indian spice blends, which are available at fine retailers across Canada and the United States. Arvinda is a recipient of  the  Woman  of  the  Year  award  from  the  Women's  Culinary  Network,  and Preena  was  named  a  Local  Food  Hero  by  the  Toronto  Food  Policy  Council. Together, they have run culinary trips to India, and worked as recipe developers,  consultants,  and  speakers  on  Indian  cooking,  and  Preena  was  the host of Masala Magic Recipes, an Indian vegetarian cooking television series.\u003cb\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMy first foray into the kitchen was around the age of five. I would help my mother, Arvinda, sort out beans and lentils and do odd jobs for her in the kitchen. I loved to bake and made my first cake at this age—incidentally, this was about the same age as my mother when she first started cooking. Although we have that in common, our circumstances couldn’t be more different.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eWhen Arvinda was seven years old, living with her family in a small village in Kenya, her mother passed away, so she started cooking out of necessity from a small age, helping her grandparents while her father was away studying in Germany and the U.K. Her first cooking experience was making chapatis on a chulha, a coal-heated clay stove, a practice still carried out in rural India today. To care for her four siblings, she learned to grind fresh flour through a heavy grinding stone and pound spices using a large mortar and pestle. What started out as an obligation early on in her childhood later turned into her lifelong passion, as cooking and food became a channel for my mother to express her creative passions.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMy parents moved to Canada in the early 1970s, and my mother’s love of cooking continued to grow. Over the years, she developed her skills as an Indian cook, learning to create curries according to traditional family recipes. She gradually understood the intricacies and nuances of spices, using this knowledge to cook delicious curries and dals that quickly became family favorites. She churned out complete Indian meals—savory appetizers with delicious chutneys, traditional Indian flatbreads prepared fresh and piping hot, fragrant jeweled basmati rice, and, of course, delectable Indian sweets for dessert. My mother experimented with international and Indian recipes and treated us to delicious home-cooked meals every single day.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eDuring a Canada Day celebration in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1993 while we were volunteering for a fundraising initiative for a women’s charity, we sold a variety of Indian snack foods like pakoras and dal wadas (lentil fritters) to help raise money. After receiving numerous inquiries asking how to make these savory Indian treats at home, I recall my mother offering ad hoc cooking instruction on the spot, enthusiastically explaining how to make these tasty appetizers with only a few simple ingredients. The adventurous people kept asking if there was somewhere they could go to learn this. It was at that very moment that my mother diskovered how much she loved to teach people how to cook Indian food, so she began setting up a business to start teaching Indian cooking classes that coming fall. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSince the very start of her cooking classes, my mother  wanted to demonstrate how to prepare healthy Indian  meals at home with easy cooking methods using simple  ingredients and fresh spices. She called her cooking classes  Healthy Gourmet Indian Cooking, and her approach was  always uncomplicated. She taught about spices and how  they could be used to cook curries of depth with bold,  layered, and delicious flavors. She also added a gourmet  flair to traditional Indian foods, presenting them a little  differently, more elaborately or upscale. Cooking-class  participants delved deeply into spices, the cornerstone  of traditional Indian cooking. In her eight-week Indian  Beginner’s Cooking course, participants learned about  the storied history of spices, how spices are grown and  cultivated, how they are used and stored in an Indian  kitchen, and, most notably, that quality spices and  ingredients are essential for the best-tasting Indian  foods. During these classes in the early 1990s, I assisted  my mother in her cooking school every step of the way  (most of the classes were held on weeknights and weekends  at various locations across the Greater Toronto Area), taking  in all the cooking knowledge along with the students, who  were also eager to learn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy mother and I travelled to the exotic spice-growing  regions of India and Sri Lanka to see and learn firsthand  how spices are cultivated, harvested, and brought to  market, meeting passionate farmers, traders, and spice  merchants along the way. In the mid- to late-2000s, we  took our students to India through guided culinary tours.  Around this time, our students, noticing the freshness  and quality of spices being used in our classes, often  asked to purchase these spices directly from us. They also  sought advice on how to make Indian cooking even easier, which prompted my mother to mix together a few key  spices into a batch of masala (meaning “spice blend”)  for her students to try. She started stocking premixed  roasted and ground garam masala and chai masala at the  request of her students. The masalas became so popular  among the students that they requested that we bring  them to market. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDuring this time, I was pursuing my Master in  Environmental Studies at York University and received  a small amount of funds to start a small business. Inspired  by the Food Network’s show \u003ci\u003eRecipe for Success\u003c\/i\u003e, which  profiles entrepreneurs who were successful in bringing a  family recipe to market, my brother Paresh and I launched  Arvinda’s Indian spice blends. With a slight amount of  savings in hand, we started grinding small-batch spice  blends in a modest industrial unit in Oakville, Ontario,  that we had converted into a food-production facility.  We started marketing Arvinda’s masalas at trade shows  in Toronto and won over the likes of celebrity chefs,  who asked to buy food-service sizes for their acclaimed  restaurants in Toronto—an exciting development for  us right at the launch of the brand.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 2005, when the company started, most customers and  people in the grocery industry didn’t even know what a  masala was, often mistaking the word masala for marsala,  the famous Sicilian wine, and making it difficult to gain  traction in the market early on. Over the next decade,  Paresh and I worked tirelessly to introduce Arvinda’s  blends to customers and educate grocery buyers on how to  make healthy and easy curries from scratch using spices at  countless cooking demonstrations, cooking classes, farmers’  markets, trade and consumer shows, and culinary events  across Ontario and in Montreal, Quebec. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, with nearly 30 years of teaching others Indian  cuisine and learning our craft of spice roasting, grinding,  and blending through Arvinda’s Indian spice blends, we  share with you all our Indian cooking traditions, knowledge,  tips, and techniques in \u003ci\u003eNew Indian Basics\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJust as in our cooking classes, our goal is to encourage,  inspire, excite, and empower you to venture into the  fascinating cuisine of India so you can create your favorite  Indian foods or try some brand-new recipes with delicious  results for yourself and your family. Many of the recipes in  this cookbook are some of our most-loved family recipes  taught in our cooking classes, while others are inspired by  our travels. There are recipes for all occasions and for  everyday Indian meals. Some are rustic and home-style,  while others are extravagant, to be enjoyed during the  festival time of year and the holidays. There’s a little  something for every Indian food lover in this cookbook. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Spices are healing. Spices are powerful. Spices tell a rich  story. And spices taste incredible and are what make Indian  food so delicious. In this cookbook, we pay homage to  Indian spices, using them throughout and encouraging you  to embrace them for their mouthwatering flavors, good  health, and bold taste.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCook with spice, happy life! \u003cbr\u003ePreena","brand":"Appetite by Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305528217829,"sku":"NP9780525611318","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780525611318.jpg?v=1767733662","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/new-indian-basics-isbn-9780525611318","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}