When we first saw the cover of this slick, well produced, full color, hard cover book with its foreword by legendary chef Daniel Boulud, I thought for sure it would be an haute cuisine cookbook. You know, the kind that’s fun to look at and dream about cooking the dishes, but you never actually do get around to doing it (Thomas Keller’s French Laundry Cookbook and Michael Mina’s book Michael Mina come immediately to mind). But the old proverb about not judging a book by its cover proved true. The recipes in Modern Indian Cooking are all relatively simple and quick to prepare. Even more surprising is that they’re made – for the most part – from ingredients easily found in any American supermarket.

This traditional Indian tart salty drink is the perfect thing to quench the thirst on a hot summer day.