Indian in 6: 100 Irresistible Recipes That Use 6 Ingredients or Less

Mango, nuts, yogurt and sugar: blend and serve. For cooks intimidated by long lists of ingredients, Bharadwaj follows her acclaimed Stylish Indian in Minutes with a second limitation: six or fewer ingredients. Her emphasis on just a few fresh ingredients allows even inexperienced cooks to tackle authentic projects from Sviyan Usli, a savory breakfast of rice noodles, nuts and spices, to fermented lentil dosas. Though she includes a few Northern specialties like Chandi Kalia (Creamy Silver Lamb Curry) and Tandoori Murgh (Tandoori-style baked chicken) that rely on pre-blended garam masala and tandoori spice powder, it is in the Southern Indian recipes that limiting ingredients becomes an asset. A punchy Lasne Chitni, coconut and garlic fireball relish, and Hyderabadi Baingan, tangy chunks of fried eggplant with tamarind, provide flavors that transcend the short list of ingredients. Readers will also appreciate recipes that use easy-to-find ingredients in a new way, like Makkai Tamater, a sweet corn and tomato curry, and Choclat burfie, made of condensed milk and cocoa powder. The index lists types of dishes rather than sorting recipes by ingredients, making finding unfamiliar recipes difficult, and the distinction between relish and raita or salad, or between lentil and bean dishes and bread dishes can be confusing. But leafing through the book to find recipes is a pleasure-sexy photographs appear on almost every other page. Bharadwaj's flavors are complex, her instructions simple and the ingredients accessible.