The Calcutta Kitchen

Its a good book. It does not have all the Bengali recipies but the ones are there are mostly for Non-Bengalis. Over all the choice of recipes are world class and Pictures are great. I love it. :)

Indian restaurants in the US typically deliver good Indian food but more generic than regional. After a recent visit to Bengal and eating food in friends' homes I was stunned with the flavors and materials used. Bengali cooking is very fishy - they use lots of fresh water and sea water fish daily. Most "curries" in India restaurants in the US are chicken, lamb or shrimp, but this book has given me some exciting fish recipes to try out. Some of them have turned out to be pretty much as I had eaten in Kolkata. Filled up with interesting stories of the Raj and more recent times, a great book to cook from and to learn from.

What I love the most in this book is the photographs. Pictures of very simple day to day life have been portrayed with artistic skill. Now coming to the recipes--- The recipes included here are those that all "Calcuttans" would love (specially kathi roll/doi machh etc). Although I did miss some recipes which I was looking for, the book includes quite some recipes of food preferred there in Calcutta during rituals and celebrations. I have to admit the author spent a lot of time and energy on this book to make it attractive and useful.