Prakash Bhandari

Rajmata Gayatri Devi’s book, Gourmet’s Gateway-A Royal Collection is one of the many souvenirs which for­eign tourists often take back with them after a trip to Jaipur. The book, which is a collection of recipes by emi­nent people, like Thukranis, Begums, singer M.S. Shubha­laxmi, late Governor Padma­ja Naidu, is a foodie’s delight.

Sushma KK, wife of mul­ti-talented city jeweller Kr­ishna Kumar Agarwal, has now come out with a book titled "Vegetarian Indian Homestyle Cooking". The book by this Jaipur lady is unique in more than one way as it has been written with the spirit "hunger is aroused not only by fragrance but also by the look of the food."

"In this book every recipe is presented with a photograph so that we can get a feel of the dish before it is made.

 Khana

Dishes are illustrated with close range photographs so that it is convenient to understand the text which too have been designed with a view to simplify cooking," says Sushma.

 And Sushma’s husband, K.K. Agarwal has photographed each of these dishes painstakingly. KK himself is an internationally renowned photographer on cacti and has developed hybrid variety of water lily at his C-Scheme home in Jaipur. Agarwal is known for his collec-tion of succu­lents and some of them are of record sizes.

This recipe book published by Macro Designs and priced at Rs 490 is being picked up by people who are finding it an ideal gift for young brides and brides-to-be. On second thoughts, why not young grooms as well!

Khazana

Sushma is not looking at tourists to pick up her book, but believes those who profess vegetarianism, should keep this book as a Bible.

"Almost three years ago, Sushma became interested in writing. She began inno-vations in cuisine and started writing on them. As photo- graphy is my first love I’ve been enthusiastic about being creative. During this period many of her recipes were published in different magazines. Many of them even won awards. At home, Sushma prepared different delicacies and I made sure that those were kept photo graphed by me," informs KK.

Both Sushma and KK selected the dishes keeping in mind everyone’s liking. They have picked up old and forgot-ton dishes and given them a watering look.

Probably it is for the first time a husband and wife team have worked together in contrasting way to produce a book. While Sushma did the recipes and the writings, the husband took the authentic photographs of the sumptuous food. There are ways to make soups, snacks, dishes in jiffy vegetarian kababs, chats, vegetables, paneer dishes, paranthas, typical Marwari dishes and even Chinese dishes.

Sushma chose to feature vegetarian dishes only as not many books on Indian vegetarian dishes have done justice to these preparations.

Her book is also available in Hindi and she has tried to describe the ingredients and the methods in the simplest possible way. The talented couple have coined a phrase Jeene Ke Liye Nahin, Khane Ke Liye Jeena Hain