This book gives one hundred thousand exciting Indian menus to choose from, and in a rather novel way, it helps the reader to make infinite permutations and combinations.

In a land so rich in tradition which has seen the rise of so many civilizations, it would be surprising if Indian food had remained untouched by the hands of history. The ancient Indian were a wheat-eating race and gave the world that essentially Indian bread, the chapati, - a small flat thin cake of unleavened whole meal bread.

The Mughals made a culinary coup by bringing in the tandoor - an oven made of earth and heated by a slow charcoal fire - and creating the delectable Mughlai cuisine of biryanis- an exquisite rice preparation with meat, herbs and seasonings and Kormas - a spicymeat or vegetable preparation.

The British raj spawned an interesting Anglo-Indian gastronomic culture of which the Jhaal Frezi - stir fried vegetables or meat cooked with onions and chilies - and the mulligatawny soup - a soup made of lentils, meat pieces and rice - are still eaten with relish.

The recipe pages in this book are sliced into three: starters, main courses and desserts and every dish is illustrated. The time required to prepare each dish is marked by colored bands. If one wishes to create one's own menu for a special meal, all one has to do is to choose a starter from one page and the main course and dessert from another using the time bands.