Yamuna Devi's Lord Krishna's Cuisine is a great place to start if you are looking for simple but stunning soup recipes. I have tried most of the soups in her dal soup section, and not only are the majority of them very easy to make, they are absolutely delicious besides. Yamuna Devi says this is her favorite recipe for urad dal, although I'm not sure I can choose between this elegant and fragrant fennel-flavored urad dal soup or her equally tasty and beautiful urad dal with tomato soup. Alas, I guess I must continue to make both soups as I don't think I will ever make up my mind.

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Coconut chutneys are almost an essential feature of south Indian kitchens, and after making a roasted toor dal and coconut chutney from Yamuna Devi's Lord Krishna's Cuisine I must say that I'm hooked. In this Keralan "nariyal podina chatni", also from Ms. Devi's cookbook, fresh mint adds a cool and refreshing flavor and tantalizing color to the creamy coconut chutney, making it ideal for serving with almost any light or peppery Indian flat bread, savory or pastry. For these savory rice and urad dal pancakes, it was a perfect dipping sauce.

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Potatoes and cauliflowers were introduced to India relatively recently — potatoes in the 17th century and cauliflowers not until the early 1800s — but as one would expect, Indians have taken these vegetables and made them uniquely their own in an array of what are now classic dishes. In fact, India is the world's third and second largest producer of potatoes and cauliflowers respectively.

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One of the highlights of Yamuna Devi's Lord Krishna's Cuisine is the large and extensive chapter on snacks and savories featuring dozens of tantalizing recipes for pakoras, koftas, samosas, kachoris, dosas, cheelas, pooras, idlis and other steamed or fried patties and puffs from all over India. Add one of the scores of chutneys from her book and you're in culinary nirvana.

These thin, soft and savory rice and urad dal pancakes, otherwise known as "sada dosa", are to South Indians what crêpes are to the French, according to Devi, suitable for rolling and dipping into all kinds of chutneys or dips for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack. Instead of using a flour, egg and milk batter, however, these pancakes are made from nothing more than ground and fermented basmati rice and split urad dal with water and a little salt.

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