Keep Calm & Cook

The world of cooking has undergone massive transformation in India. With television shows and celebrity chefs, right from Masterchef to Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson, showcasing new techniques and flavour combinations, home cooks and amateur chefs have been enthused with the desire to craft beautiful and exotic dishes, and to wow with their creations. This is where The Foodhall Cookbook comes in, a collaboration between five renowned chefs. Each of the authors picks a theme that is their forte and curates gorgeous yet simple recipes for home cooks to try in the confines of their own kitchens.

The pantry essentials for the recipes come from Foodhall stores, which has been providing consumers with world-class ingredients spanning various cuisines since 2011. The volumes modern European recipes come from Gresham Fernandes (Salt Water Cafe and Smoke House Deli), Asian from Kelvin Chueng (Bastian), contemporary Indian from Zorawar Kalra (Masala Library), Mediterranean from Sabyasachi Gorai (winner of the Best Chef award at the National Tourism Awards in 2012), and desserts from macaroon queen Pooja Dhingra (Le 15).

The pictures that accompany the recipes are warm and beautifully shot, enough to make one salivate even before one looks at the listed ingredients. The best part is that each recipe included in this collection is easy to reproduce. There are no fussy, complicated steps that are likely to trip you up and make you lose interest halfway through cooking.

Start with the warm mushroom salad garnished with peppery scallions and watercress from Fernandes, then head to Chuengs Kung Pao shrimps, a spicy dish from northern China laden with peanuts for some extra crunch. Discover avocado papdi chaat or baingan bharta ratatouille in Kalras section, and then move towards more Mediterranean flavours such as vine leaf dolmas, chicken and sausage paella from Gorais recipes. End a fabulous meal with Dhingras falooda-inspired rose chia pudding or kesar pista cupcakes