Ismail Merchant’s Passionate Meals

With over 200 tantalizing recipes, this new Indian Cuisine is intended for fearless cooks and adventurous eaters. Ismail Merchant’s Indian Cuisine, the celebrated producer’s first collection of recipes, was hailed by the New York Times as one f the ten best cookbooks of the year. Now, in Ismail Merchant’s Passionate Meals, the author leads fellow cooks further along on his odyssey, offering over a hundred new, tantalizing recipes. The collection opens with a series of delicious appetizers to whet diners’ appetites, from refreshing lassi to spicy vegetable fritters. Main courses, including meat, poultry, or seafood, represent the author at this most creative, lending American staples like veal, turkey, and even hamburgers exciting new dimensions. Passionate meals closes with a selection of India’s superb breads, pickles, chutneys and sweets, which Merchant, following Indian custom, shares as a gesture of goodwill and friendship. For grand entertaining, as well as for casual delicious cooking out of the ordinary, Ismail Merchant’s Passionate Meals is a welcome reminder that food still has the capacity to nourish and be an adventure.