Grains, Greens, and Grated Coconuts (2007)

Most Kerala cookbooks lean on seafood; Ammini Ramachandran's goes the other way, recording the vegetarian cooking of her Hindu family alongside the holidays and rituals of her childhood. Grated coconut is everywhere, as it should be. Look for the pacha sambar, made with fresh green spices instead of sambar powder: it shows how far south Indian cooking sits from the packet mixes many cooks start with. A few specialty ingredients look daunting at first, so plan a trip to a South Asian grocer before you start.