India is a vast country, a subcontinent that is one-third the size of Europe with perhaps a greater diversity of people. In this country of multiple cultures and varied perspectives on food, the range of cuisines is also extraordinarily extensive. This collection of recipes from Sunita Kohli’s friends highlights the immense variety of Indian food. Every region has its own cooking methods, ingredients—oils, tempering, spices—and its own particularly designed utensils, the shapes of which have evolved over generations.

Divided into six sections—North, South, East, West, Central, and Subcontinental India (from friends across the border)—the book features recipes from friends of the author right from her school and college days and from all walks of life, including Vinod and Chinna Dua, Nalini Singh, Sagarika Ghose, Shobita Punja, Shabana Azmi, Aruna Sairam, Shashi Tharoor, Shobhaa De, Visalakshi Ramaswamy, Meenakshi Meyyappan, Nalini and P. Chidambaram, Pheroza Godrej, Prem Patnaik, Renuka and Pavan Verma, Nita Khanna, Sharmila Tagore, Richard Holkar, William Dalrymple, Zarine and Sanjay Khan, Najma Currimjee, Shirin and Priya Paul, and many others.

This cookbook is an account of how culture most intimately expresses itself—there are dishes for all occasions and for all seasons. There are recipes that can be used for dinner parties with friends as well as ones for relaxed family meals. It features familiar comfort foods like Pakora Karhi, Pongal, Butter Chicken, Dhansak, Vangi Bhaat, and others as well as unusual, special dishes such as Sat Saag, Nimona, Santula, Mutton ki Karhi, Fesenjan, Mohan Maas, Baked Crabs, Yakhni, and more.

The follow-up to the bestselling The Lucknow Cookbook, The India Cookbook: From the Tables of My Friends is a celebration of warmth and friendships and the enormous variety of cuisine across India.