Mumbai Modern: Vegetarian Recipes Inspired by Indian Roots and California Cuisine

In this debut collection, food blogger and recipe developer Gurbani (creator of The Jam Lab) makes fun, approachable Indian cuisine with a California flair. The Mumbai-born author focuses primarily on vegetarian food from the northwestern state of Gujarat, but also includes dishes more heavily influenced by her current home in Northern California; the recipes are categorized as breakfast dishes, appetizers, mains, snacks, desserts, or drinks. Some recipes are lengthy, with sub-recipes and lots of steps--partly due to Gurbani's careful instructions clarifying each part of the process. Many of the recipes for spice mixes and chutneys are used in more than one of the Gurbani's dishes, which adds an element of practicality to the cookbook. As on her popular blog, recipes such as three-lentil daal are accompanied by the chef's beautiful photographs, along with notes on equipment and storing leftovers. There's also a pantry section detailing the recipe's spices and Indian ingredients.