A must for first-time cooks who had neither the time nor the inclination t learn from their mothers how to manage kitchen and now find themselves as a loss in their little flatlets. Setting up a kitchen, shopping for the store cupboard, peeling an onion or preparing the most delectable meals, The First-Time Cookbook has it all. For the experienced cook there are about 250 easy-to-cook, no-fuss recipes form around India, ranging from the everyday basics of dal, rice and vegetables to more exotic fares like Baingan ke Bharte ka Raita, Shorshe Maachh and Murgh Khus-khus. Classic dishes that once took hours to minimize working time without compromising on the original taste. A selection from European and West Asian cuisines teaches you how to make a perfect white sauce as easily as Spaghetti alla Marinara, Gazpacho, Hummus-bi-tahina and Banana Flambe. With suggestions for one-dish meals and packed lunches, this is the book for the busy office-goer. Easy to read and liberally sprinkled with tips, shortcuts and variations, it will tempt even the most reluctant cook to enter the kitchen.

Cambridge-educated Janet Rizvi is a freelance historian and writer specializing in Ladakh and the western Himalaya. She is the author of Ladakh: Crossroads of High Asia; Trans-Himalayan Caravans; Merchant Princes, and Peasant Traders in Ladakh. Janet was obliged to aquire the rudiments of desi cooking the hard way, by 'just doing it'. Thus, in site of her status as a senior citizen, she has a lively appreciation of the problems of novice cooks.