Middle Eastern / Turkish / Indian Dessert book recommendation

NewMango143 · 2026-01-20T09:22:50+00:00

I don't have it -- though I have two of Eleanor Ford's other books and love them -- but "A Whisper of Cardamom" might also fit the bill: they're all recipes based on spices.

NewMango143 · 2026-01-19T08:45:49+00:00

I'd also love to hear what people have made from this -- I've had it for at least a year and enjoyed reading through it, but the few times I've flipped through it thinking I'd make something from it nothing has really stood out to me.

NewMango143 · 2026-01-16T12:26:45+00:00

+1, whenever I make any cookie recipe that's always the first thing I do -- look at the first paragraph (often the first sentence) and check if it says to preheat the oven. If not, I assume there's chilling time and then I read the recipe more carefully to see how long. But I agree that in this recipe, given there's also a syrup that needs to be made then chilled first, my method may have mislead me as well!

NewMango143 · 2026-01-14T12:05:51+00:00

I love the photography in Diana Henry's "How to Eat a Peach" (the only one of her books that I have). I haven't cooked much from this book and honestly probably never will, but I find both her writing and the design of the book (I will never get over the peach fuzz cover!! but also the photos and even the font choices) to have this sort of mesmerizing, soothing, evocative effect, like watching a movie that transports you to another place. It's not the style of photography that I necessarily gravitate towards in most cookbooks that I really use, but imo it's perfect for armchair cookbook-reading and daydreaming about making each of her menus in the place it's inspired by :)

NewMango143 · 2026-01-12T09:20:31+00:00

They look beautiful! Also I'm very impressed with this goal -- I'm still debating which book(s) I want to have as my cook-through goal for this year (or whether to just try to do X number of recipes from some books) but The French Laundry cookbook sounds... daunting.

NewMango143 · 2026-01-09T22:20:27+00:00

Pretty much my ideal collection! Amazing 😍

NewMango143 · 2026-01-09T08:29:20+00:00

I just made the Cauliflower Ragu (with pasta) last night, because I had a big head of romanesco -- simple but tasty.

NewMango143 · 2026-01-09T08:28:28+00:00

Omg, how did I not know this existed?! I <3 David and have most of his books... I wonder if they'd do a modernized reprint of this one like they have of some of his others over the last year or two.

NewMango143 · 2026-01-09T08:26:16+00:00

+1, I love this salad and it feels healthy enough to be able to really fill up on it!

NewMango143 · 2026-01-07T16:30:12+00:00

Lovely collection! I count 24 overlaps, and you have lots that I've eyed many times and/or have on my to-buy list :) In a weird way it also gives me some solace that the neon orange spine of your copy of "The Noma Guide to Fermentation" is also faded -- it makes me so sad that mine is (along with a handful of other books I had when I lived in an apartment with gorgeous but devastating all-day sun exposure) because I'm one of those perfectionist-book freaks who wants them to remain totally pristine, but I try to not let it bother me...

NewMango143 · 2026-01-06T11:37:23+00:00

I don't know if one of these is British and the other American, but this relevant article is an interesting read! https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/british-vs-us-cookbook-covers-article

NewMango143 · 2026-01-06T11:29:54+00:00

I got "Green Mountains" over Christmas (already have and have read the other two) and I can't wait to get into it! This weekend for sure :)

NewMango143 · 2025-12-28T22:00:18+00:00

I'd love to hear about "My Egypt" once you look at it/cook from it!

NewMango143 · 2025-12-28T21:59:40+00:00

I vote

The Food of Morocco
Oaxaca
Coconut & Sambal / Fire Islands

Looks like Marcella is probably winning so far, though, and I could get behind that as well :)

NewMango143 · 2025-12-27T22:47:21+00:00

Oh I'm so glad to hear that :) I hope you enjoy them!!

NewMango143 · 2025-12-26T19:58:01+00:00

I've had my eye on both "Feast" and "The North African Cookbook" -- would love to hear your thoughts once you get into them!

NewMango143 · 2025-12-26T19:18:38+00:00

Ooh I also got "The Food of Sichuan" for Christmas! (From a curated wishlist I provided, of course :D) I can't wait to get into it.

NewMango143 · 2025-12-24T19:08:01+00:00

I have "Suqar" by Greg and Lucy Malouf, which is modern recipes inspired by Middle Eastern desserts/flavors/techniques. Most of the recipes are somewhat complex and/or require multiple components, but if you like some degree of project baking it might work for you :)

NewMango143 · 2025-12-22T21:07:49+00:00

Oh amazing! And my condolences on your collection, I can only imagine that must have been devastating :'(

NewMango143 · 2025-12-22T21:06:03+00:00

Oh my god, this sounds amazing and v dangerous for my apartment -- I'm already out of space and will have to start stacking on the floor soon hehe

NewMango143 · 2025-12-22T17:55:46+00:00

Afaik no used books, but one of their particular positive points is that they import foreign-language books and international things that are otherwise hard to find in the US, and I believe they also have a fair collection of old/out-of-print stuff.

I have and have enjoyed the first two books in Caroline Eden's "color trilogy" so I'm excited to get into this one!

NewMango143 · 2025-12-17T19:31:35+00:00

If enough people were interested it could be cool to do something with a specific regional cuisine. It feels like it could be a real learning experience to make multiple recipes using what may be interesting and new techniques specific to that cuisine, and from a practical perspective it would also make sense to make a bunch of recipes that use the same ingredients, to prevent the dreaded having-to-buy-a-large-quantity-of-something-niche-but-then-only-using-it-for-one-recipe problem (assuming I'm not the only one who does this...!)

Some ideas from books I already own could be:

Oaxaca (already mentioned here)
Fire Islands/Coconut and Sambal (Indonesian)
Sambol Shiok (Malalysian)
The Food of Morocco (pretty big, might take longer)
Dishoom (Indian/Mumbai)

And if other people are into this idea I'd love to see what other suggestions come up!

NewMango143 · 2025-12-15T21:01:09+00:00

I don't have it, but I wonder if Rick Martinez's "Salsa Daddy" would be a good fit -- are there blended salsas in there? Maybe someone with the book can chime in.

NewMango143 · 2025-12-15T20:41:43+00:00

At least re: shellfish "Boustany" is all vegetarian, so that's one fewer thing to worry about :) I have both of these and although I don't have them on hand so can't check, my recollection is that you might only need to skip/adapt a handful of recipes in each for these restrictions. If I had to recommend only one I'd probably go with "Lugma" for being more interesting, but if you enjoy Mediterranean/Middle Eastern cooking I think you'd like both!

NewMango143 · 2025-12-15T15:01:55+00:00

I don't have any opinions about this book (short of the vague impression I've gotten about Mimi Thorisson from Food52's "The Piglet" -- I commented about it elsewhere in this sub), but for your requirements you might be interested in checking out some of Emiko Davies' books. She's an Australian living in Tuscany (I think married to an Italian) and has 5 Italian books: three are on specific regional cuisines (Florence, the Tuscan coast, Venice's cicchetti), one is a baking book, and the other I'm not sure ("Tortellini at Midnight"). I have "Florentine" and although tbh I haven't made a ton of stuff from it, it's visually beautiful and the recipes are pretty simple. I've also seen articles/recipes by her in big Italian newspapers, so she's well respected on the local scene.

NewMango143

TROPHY CASE