Spices and Seasons by Rinku Bhattacharya

As I've gotten older, I've started to fall more and more in love with cooking. Especially doing keto, I eat 90% of my meals at home, so I love experimenting and tweaking recipes to keep things interesting. Because of that, I obviously had to jump at the chance to be part of the blog tour for an exciting cookbook! 

Synopsis

Cover Art Courtesy of
Rachel's Random Resources

Rinku Bhattacharya combines her two great loves―Indian cooking and sustainable living―to give readers a simple, accessible way to cook seasonally, locally, and flavorfully. Inspired by the bounty of local produce, mostly from her own backyard, Rinku set out to create recipes for busy, time-strapped home cooks who want to blend Indian flavors into nutritious family meals. Arranged in chapters from appetizers through desserts, the cookbook includes everything from small bites, soups, seafood, meat and poultry, and vegetables, to condiments, breads, and sweets. You’ll find recipes for tempting fare like “Mango and Goat Cheese Mini Crisps,” “Roasted Red Pepper Chutney,” “Crisped Okra with Dry Spice Rub,” “Smoky Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Puree,” and “Red Harvest Masala Cornish Hens,” to name a few. As exotic and enticing as these recipes sound, the ingredients are easily found and the instructions are simple. Rinku encourages readers to explore the bounty of their local farms and markets, and embrace the rich flavors of India to cook food that is nutritious, healthy, seasonal and most importantly, delicious.

My Review

The book itself is high quality and full of glossy pictures that just make your mouth water! There is a wide variety of recipes that fit a ton of different occasions, ranging from super simple to elaborate. I love that the book also codes each recipe, allowing for those with dietary restrictions to easily find recipes that work for them. It has a fantastic introduction section that helps you learn the basic concepts of Indian cooking as well.

This past weekend, I tried the recipe for the Herb and Spice Roasted Chicken. Instead of roasting it in the oven however, we wrapped the chicken in foil packets and stuck it on the grill to reduce the cooking time. It was absolutely delicious and incredibly simple to make! I didn't even have time to take a picture of it before we dove right in. I can't wait to try out more recipes in this fantastic cookbook. My only reason for taking off a star is that some of the ingredients are a little obscure, and some recipes require just a tiny amount of an expensive ingredient that has to be bought in large quantities.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

About the Author

Photo Courtesy of
Rachel's Random Resources

Rinku Bhattacharya (spicechronicles.com) was born in India, and now lives in a house with a vibrant backyard in Hudson Valley, New York with her husband, an avid gardener, and their two children. Rinku’s simple, sustainable approach to Indian cooking is showcased on her blog, Spice Chronicles, and in her Journal News column “Spices and Seasons.”

Rinku has been teaching recreational cooking classes for the past nine years, and works extensively with local area farmer’s markets on seasonal demonstrations and discussions. Rinku is also the author of The Bengali Five Spice Chronicles (Hippocrene Books, 2012), winner of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2013 for Best Indian Cuisine. She writes for the Poughkeepsie Journal, the Journal News, and several online sites, and is a frequent guest on CT Style TV.

Twitter // Instagram // Pinterest // Facebook

Thanks so much to Rachel's Random Resources for a copy of this beautiful cookbook, and for allowing me to be part of this blog tour! You can purchase Spices and Seasons here (US) and here (UK).