What We Call Masala : A cook's practical guide to the poetry of Indian spices

Through more than 70 spices and fats, and 80 recipes, What We Call Masala shows readers that masala is spice but it's also so much more. It offers lessons in both culinary mechanics and magic to any level of cook — from can't-boil-water to cordon bleu.

Sarina's mission is to construct and share a library. First floor? Aromatic practicalities. The things you need to know to build flavour that tastes good, and to know how that deliciousness happened. Start with taste. Keep the spices by your side. Chew the seeds. Rub pinches of ground powder against the roof of your mouth with the push of your tongue. Swallow fats in slippery mouthfuls. If all you get to is proper use of salts and fats this book will have paid for itself.

Move past the palate next (If you like). Ayurveda is as old as masala itself. The Indian tradition of food as medicine. Peaceful soul. Feeling heart. Calm mind. What We Call Masala allows you to choose this adventure, too. Second floor—a step into regional Indian domestic practice, and how Indian cooks use food in their homes: masala as a vehicle to eat well and to live longer and quieter.

Past the palate and the body is Sarina's home. A Kashmiri Hindu kitchen. The third and final tier. The poetry of any family is personal, but Sarina shares how they made masala theirs, so readers can make it theirs.