Customer Reviews

Miss Masala: Real Indian Cooking for Busy Living

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I'm interested in North Indian courtly (Red Fort) cuisine of the Mughals and am always on the lookout for the latest on the subject. I regularly visit bookstores in Saudi Arabia (where I teach) and the USA. I've come across Salma's Husain's tiltles on Mughal cooking.

A part of my interest is in finding out material on Bengali Muslim cuisine (esp., what they, in Bangladesh, serve at weddings, the two Eid festivals, state dinners, annual feasts in university dormitories and military barracks, circumcision ceremonies, funerals, and other occasions when they feed guests in large numbers. I'm trying to absorb the style and principles of the Bengali Muslim cuisine (much of which owes its origin to "mughlai").

Recently, Mallika Basu's MISS MASALA drew my attention and I bought it. From its appearance and title, at first, I thought it was a novel (fit for a teenager because of the design and choice of colors) written by a South Asian. After a close look, I found that it's a cookbook and contains some mughlai recipes.

I like Mallika Basu's English; it's very readable. Also, I found the material quite authentic, interesting, and educational for me. It's worth the money, although I may not agree with her illustrations. I expected some color pictures of dishes but was disappointed. I wonder if it's the cost of publication that was the rationale for not using pictures.

Mallika Basu appears too Calcutta-centric and has not at all mentioned the independent Bengali republic -- the People's Republic of Bangladesh, although she claims she's a Bengali. Dhaka is rich in traditional Bengali and Mughlai culinary traditions. Maybe, in the next edition, she could enhance the book title, design, and content (by covering Bangladeshi cuisine).

-- Dr. Solaiman Ali (an expatriate Bangladeshi)
King Abdulaziz University (Faculty of Engineering)
Language Unit.