Mistress of spices

Vegetables: The Indian Way is a lavishly produced coffee table book, which announces itself as “a definitive collection of recipes from the simple to the special”. It is not a book designed just for die-hard vegetarians. Au contraire, meat eaters need it the most! It is a comprehensive compendium, packed with nutritional information one rarely finds in similar volumes.

- SHOBHAA DE

Camellia Panjabi's first book, 50 Great Curries of India, sold two million copies internationally and was translated into several languages. Camellia's credentials are as impeccable as her palate is discerning. As marketing director for the Taj Group of hotels, Camellia built a formidable reputation as a no-nonsense perfectionist with a nose for all things culinary. She attributes her abiding passion for food to her upbringing,; her mother, a doctor, placed immense importance on the nutritional value of food served at home. This early exposure is reflected while she discusses the different categories of vegetables, pointing out that in a vast country like India, each district, each caste and each community has its own traditional dishes, “with an unquantifiable number of cuisines”.