I dedicate this book to my mother and motherland—
my creator and my heaven
I thank each and every person who has shared the treasure of her heirloom recipes and trusted me so much for bringing these to the world.
I thank my family, for always standing by me and supporting my dream of spending my life in the kitchen. RAJESH BHARDWAJ and the JUNOON FAMILY for their hard work and passion for this book.
My heartfelt thanks to STAR PLUS for bringing me back to my country through MasterChef and giving me an opportunity to reconnect to my roots. Tanya Bami for introducing me to CHIKI SARKAR and the PENGUIN FAMILY.
Lastly, and most importantly, I thank VAISHALI MATHUR for working so hard to bring this book to life and making it such a special milestone in my life and giving me the gift of My Great India.
I would like to also thank my dear chef, BISHAMBHARJI; Chef JEEVAN SINGH, Chef de Partie, Maya, The Trident, Mumbai; Chef DHAWAL KARANDIKAR, The Trident, Mumbai; JALAL SHEIKH, GANESH SHEDGE, PRATHAMESH DALVI and KUSH ARORA for their inputs to the book; DELZAD AVARI AND FAMILY for hosting a wonderful lunch and spread, and for the opportunity to meet his grandfather who came to India from Aden and told us of his wonderful adventures there. A special thank you to MR KISHORE of Kenwood Appliances, who was a great support in the project.