Masala Lab

Indian home cooking is full of habits that nobody ever explained. A grandmother drops a teabag into the pressure cooker with the chickpeas. She measures by the knuckle of her index finger. A pinch of salt goes into the kheer, which sounds wrong and somehow makes it taste better. Krish Ashok asks why these things work, and he turns to science for the answers.

Masala Lab is a science lover's tour of the Indian kitchen. It looks at what the Maillard reaction is and how it connects to fenugreek, and it shows how the chemistry you half remember from school can help you brown onions properly. Ashok's argument is that following a recipe without understanding it is a bit like memorizing an equation to pass an exam: you may get through the test, but you have not learned the subject.

The aim is practical. By understanding the reasoning behind each step, the reader becomes a more confident and capable cook, free to improvise and experiment instead of sticking anxiously to instructions. The kitchen becomes a place to play and try things out.

The book is the product of extensive testing and research, and it is written with curiosity and good humour. Along the way it makes the case that much of the traditional wisdom handed down by grandmothers holds up.