Mumbai modern Vegetarian recipes inspired by Indian roots and California cuisine

JamLab blogger Gurbani takes readers from Mumbai to California and back in this enticing if clunky collection of recipes inspired by her heritage. Gurbani effortlessly melds cuisines and flavors in such dishes as homemade Pop-Tarts with apple, fennel, and cardamom, and a dahi papdi chaat where tortillas replace puri. Main dishes such as vegetable kofta in cashew sauce are complex and layered, while Gurbani's talent as a baker is made apparent in a stunning black sesame Bundt cake decorated with slices of candied kumquats, and colorful "peacock" macarons with apricot buttercream. Mumbai street food such as lentil fritters, and a beet, potato, and mint chutney sandwich stand out among the numerous delicious dishes on offer. Indeed, no fault can be found with the fare. The trap Gurbani falls into is information overload; many headnotes fill an entire page, while the tips set off in callout boxes are often unnecessary: one suggests eating potato curry with flatbread, advice repeated in the three-paragraph headnote two pages earlier. Snacks and salads, such as mung bean salad, appear in a chapter on appetizers, but a later chapter on "accompaniments and snacks," contains more snacks and another salad. This stylish collection bursts with ideas--occasionally to its detriment. Agent: Leigh Eisenman, Wolf Literary. (Nov.)

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. VERDICT For home cooks looking to get started recreating innovative Indian and Indian-American-fusion dishes, this accessible collection will set them well on their way.--Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH