COOKBOOK WATCH

Cookbooks titled “introduction to” are often so simplified they contain little of interest to those who know food. Not so “Julie Sahni’s Introduction to Indian Cooking” (Ten Speed Press; $16.95), which presents enough interesting regional and historic recipes to attract experienced Indian cooks as well as novices.

Sahni, the author of “Classic Indian Cooking,” was born in Pune (Poona) in the state of Maharashtra, but her father came from south India, and so she has included several southern dishes. Among these are a Tamil Christian rice pilaf, Madras hot fish curry with tamarind, peanut soup from Bangalore and a green chile corn bread characteristic of the Guntur chile pickers, a southern migrant group.

Other recipes explore Bengali fish cookery, the cuisine of the Parsis of Bombay and the cooking styles of Gujarat, Goa, the Punjab, Bhopal, Kashmir and Assam. There are Raj-style Anglo-Indian dishes too. One example is mutton curry with Brussels sprouts, a vegetable introduced by the British in the 19th century. The recipe is from Ootacamund in a mountainous area where the sprouts thrive. And, of course, Sahni has included the familiar northern dishes that compose most Indian restaurant menus in the United States, including tandoori chicken and naan bread, which she has modified for the home kitchen.

Rather than adapting her recipes to common supermarket ingredients, Sahni does not hesitate to call for panch phoron, a five-spice blend typical of Bengal; ajowan (ajwain), nigella, mustard oil, chapati flour and curry leaves. These are readily available in Indian shops in Los Angeles.

What makes the book introductory is the clear, simple way the recipes are written. Sahni can do this easily because she has years of experience in teaching. She periodically gives classes in Southern California and has her own school in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she provides concentrated instruction to as few as three students at a time.