Heartland Masala
Heartland Masala
Heartland Masala
Heartland Masala
Heartland Masala
Heartland Masala
Heartland Masala
Heartland Masala
Heartland Masala

Auyon Mukharji • Jyoti Mukharji

Heartland Masala

An Indian Cookbook from an American Kitchen
$35.00
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About the Book
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About the Book

Take a delicious deep dive into Indian cooking and culture with a Midwestern mother-son duo.

Jyoti Mukharji has been teaching cooking classes out of her Kansas City kitchen since 2010. Heartland Masala is an artfully photographed collection of her favorite recipes, enriched with droll, illustrated vignettes authored by culinary historian Auyon Mukharji.

Inside you'll find restaurant staples like Saag Paneer, regional specialties like Murgh Rezala (Chicken Curry with Water Lily Seeds and Cashews), and creative originals like Masala Brussels Sprouts. A feast for culturally curious readers and adventurous cooks alike, this inventive collaboration is unlike any Indian cookbook you’ve seen before.

Awards and Press

Niloufer Ichaporia King

cultural anthropologist and curious cook

Heartland Masala is one of those rare books on food that can keep you enthralled far into the night...Not only is this book fun to read and to anticipate cooking from, it’s a valuable cross-cultural document.

Hetal Vasavada

cookbook author and blogger at Milk and Cardamom

A must-have for home cooks who love bold spices, tips and tricks to make cooking less stressful, and a touch of history!

Sandra A. Gutierrez

award-winning journalist

A book for serious and fun-loving cooks alike, Heartland Masala, is a gift to the palate and a symphony for the senses.

Adrian Miller

James Beard Award-winning author

Heartland Masala is an approachable creative, informative, and flat-out fun look at a rich array of regional Indian dishes. Whether it's the classics or new interpretations, Jyoti and Auyon Mukharji make any cook feel right at home in their kitchen.

Arnab Chakladar

author of MyAnnoyingOpinions.com and Associate Professor at Carleton College

Heartland Masala...is the best introduction to Indian cooking that I have read in a while

Farah Yameen

historian and ethnographer

I defy you to find another Indian cookbook that gets it right on all counts: food that promises to taste like it came from a home kitchen, excellent technique advice for the uninitiated, gorgeous artwork, and that warm fuzzy feeling that a cookbook should leave you with.

Colleen Taylor Sen

author of Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India

This book by a mother and son is a wonderful masala of personal reminiscences, historical facts, and well thought out instructions for preparing classic dishes of Indian cuisine.

Hrishikesh Hirway

host of Home Cooking and Song Exploder podcasts

This cookbook, a beautiful collaboration between mother and son, contains a generous helping of all of those ingredients.

Lizzie Collingham

author of Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors

Once you enter Jyoti and Auyon's kitchen you will not want to leave. From homely daals to sumptuous biryanis, it is a mouth-watering medley of Indian flavours.

Aparna Kapadia

historian of South Asia and Associate Professor at Williams College

...evocative illustrations and photographs make Heartland Masala a feast for the eyes as well as the palate—a vibrant mother-son collaboration that bridges continents and generations.

Sharanya Deepak

New Delhi-based writer

But herein are extensive and customisable recipes that actually do justice to what it is like to eat within an Indian family.

Mark Forsyth

author of A Short History of Drunkenness

Authentically delicious, and deliciously authentic.

Raj Tawney

author of Colorful Palate: A Flavorful Journey Through a Mixed American Experience

Complete with radiant illustrations and photographs, as well culinary and cultural gems sprinkled throughout, this book will live on your kitchen counter for years to come.

Jill Silva

James Beard award-winning food editor

There is no place like home, which is exactly where Heartland Masala begins.

Linda Duerr

four-time James Beard nominee: Best Chef of the Midwest

This is not a cookbook to simply go to the index and then directly to your favorite recipes. It's fun! It's fascinating! This is a cookbook to actually read!

Vivien Jennings

founder of Rainy Day Books

Heartland Masala invites you to enjoy the cooking experience as a feast for the senses instead of a chore.

Jenny Vergara

Kansas City-based food writer

It is clearly the culmination of many hours teaching people not only to cook Indian dishes, but to really understand each of the ingredients and the role it plays in each dish.

Leslie Newsam

co-owner of The Antler Room

The most unique and interesting collection...of perfected recipes and ideas...organized to suit any level of cooking interest.

Nancy and René Bollier

co-owners of André’s Chocolates

We are thrilled to see the processes and devotion come alive in this cookbook– not only for us to enjoy, but also to give others access to all the wondrous tips, ideas and ancestral knowledge from Jyoti and Auyon.

Meet the Author

Auyon Mukharji is a musician, writer, and culinary historian who spends most of his time thinking about food. He studied biology at Williams College and was awarded a Watson Fellowship in 2007 to study self-expression in folk music. Since 2009, Auyon has toured with, and cooked for, the acclaimed indie-folk band Darlingside. He otherwise finds time to work in and around kitchens (and farms) in both his hometown of Kansas City and his adopted state-of-residence of Massachusetts.

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Meet the Author

Jyoti Mukharji is a chef, teacher, and retired physician. She immigrated to the US from India in the late 1970s, and she began teaching weekly Indian cooking classes out of her home in Prairie Village, KS in 2010. Jyoti has since welcomed several thousand students into her kitchen, and her writing and teaching have been celebrated in press and radio outlets across the Midwest. Jyoti's team includes her husband Jhulan (art director), her eldest son Arnob (grocery shopping deputy), her middle son Auyon (musical guest), and her youngest son Aroop (copy editor).

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Meet the Illustrator

Olivier Kugleris a German-born London-based editorial illustrator and visual journalist. He has travelled to Iran, Laos, Iraqi Kurdistan, Cairo, Ghana and many other places on assignment for a variety of publications including The Guardian, New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, French journal XXI and German GQ. He has done extensive reporting on Middle Eastern refugees in Europe and a book collecting this work called Dem Krieg Entronnen was published in German by Edition Moderne – and in the UK and North America as Escaping Wars and Waves. The book has won two major European design and illustration awards. Oli is also a past winner of a V&A Illustration Award and World Illustration Award. You can visit his portfolio at www.olivierkugler.com. 

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Meet the Photographer

Kevin Miyazaki’s food, interior and travel assignments have taken him to 23 countries and 37 states. His passion is shooting cookbooks, and he loves the unique collaboration involved with each project. His publishing clients include Collective Book Studio, Knopf, Clarkson Potter, Rizzoli, House Beautiful, Smithsonian and The New York Times. Kevin is a past IACP finalist and a member of Diversify Photo.

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