In the South Asian culture food is not simply a necessity; it is an expression of love, a medium of creativity, the beginning of a colourful story and a magnet for loved ones to join you by the warmth of the stove.

At a very young age I remember my Nanni making aromatic and colourful masalas and curries while telling me stories of how her father used to cook, or about their Gujrati neighbour who used to make the wonderful masalas for fish and how she adapted it for the colourful seasonal vegetables grown in their gardens.

Veronica Sidhu has ingeniously taken what we all love about food, the taste, the stories associated with each dish and the people we hold dear, and has created a book that weaves all of these experiences together. I hesitate to call this a “cook book” as it is more than that. As I made the “Vegetable Cutlets - Subze Tikee” (pg 89) and the “Cashew Coconut Chutney - Kajoo Khopa Chutney” (pg 90) with my dearest friends it was as if we were learning about Veronica, her life and her experiences through these easy to understand recipes. She has appropriately titled this book “Menus and Memories from Punjab: Meals to Nourish Body and Soul” as it sheds light on what a food truly means to the heart.