This is not a conventional cookbook, and it’s not a food memoir either. It’s a punk masaalchi’s kitchen manifesto: a book about flavour, instinct, rhythm and confidence. Arun Kapil looks at food, culture and the everyday kitchen in a fresh way for modern lives. He also shares practical templates designed to help you think in flavour patterns, deploy spice with intent and turn whatever you’ve got – eggs, tins, leftovers, freezer bits, half a loaf, a spoonful of yoghurt, the dregs of a jar of chutney – into dinner. And the best part is that you won’t just cook tonight. You will cook better, faster and with more joy. You will begin to trust your own hand more. You will understand a little more about balance, flavour and memory and how culture lives in the pan as much as on the plate. Most of all, Masaalchi shows you that cooking is not a test to be passed, but a life to be lived – sometimes quickly and sometimes scrappily, but always with appetite.
