Home Cooking of India: Recipes from the Indian Cultural Society of Urbana-Champaign

Home Cooking of India: Recipes from the Indian Cultural Society of Urbana-Champaign is a collection of recipes contributed by members of the Indian community and friends of India who reside or have resided in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. It is offered to the wider community as an introduction to local Indian home cooking. The book features a choice of foods, ranging from authentic regional dishes to the unabashedly fusion. This effort fulfills in part the mission of the Indian Cultural Society to promote awareness of India’s cultural and social heritage and to raise funds for charitable purposes, in this case, the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen, Champaign. As a print publication, the book was received both by the Indian and non-Indian communities with unmitigated enthusiasm. Our original print run and subsequent reprints sold out, and all proceeds, save for production costs of reprints, went to the soup kitchen. From this current on-demand publication as well, all proceeds will continue to be donated to the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen in Champaign, Illinois. This second edition offers a few additional features. We have added a contributor list to the index. Additionally, we include a few personal “Kitchen Memories” from our contributors, which are scattered throughout the book—a feature that fits well with the home-cooking character of the cookbook. “Many of these recipes come from our mothers’ kitchens in India, and we have adapted them to our new homeland. Some were simply made up in a kitchen in Champaign-Urbana as we adjusted to our new environment. Whatever their evolution, these dishes represent our way of life in this diverse and welcoming community—one that has embraced us and one that we now call home. And that is something to celebrate.” ——Zarina Hock, from the Preface