East to East: Recipes and Stories from Mumbai to New York
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Growing up in Mumbai, Rachel Gurjar was surrounded by the many regional cuisines of India, but moving to New York introduced her to an even wider range of flavors and cooking traditions. In East to East, the former chef and Bon Appetit food editor draws on both cities to create 101 recipes that reflect her experiences as an immigrant and her curiosity about the foods of other cultures. Alongside the cooking, she writes about leaving India, adjusting to life in America, and discovering how familiar ingredients and techniques could take on new possibilities in a different setting.
The recipes move freely between Indian traditions and the cooking Gurjar has encountered in New York. Her Farmers Market Chaat combines summer peaches, tomatoes, and charred corn with the spiced, tangy flavors of pani puri, while a whole fried fish takes inspiration from both her father’s semolina-crusted mackerel and a Thai dish she first tasted in New York. Other recipes include paneer with Sungold tomatoes and basil, shrimp biryani with pineapple raita, spicy butter masala pasta, and cardamom sticky toffee cake. An achaari melon salad dresses fresh fruit with mustard seeds, fenugreek, Kashmiri chile, and lime, borrowing the assertive seasoning of Indian pickles.
Gurjar’s background in recipe development informs her approach to home cooking, with dishes ranging from quick weeknight meals to more involved projects for entertaining. Personal essays and photographs taken in Mumbai and New York accompany the recipes, connecting her food to the markets, neighborhoods, and people that have shaped her life. Rather than treating the cooking of either city as fixed or separate, East to East reflects the way Gurjar continues to discover new flavors while remaining connected to those she grew up with.
Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.
Published on October 13, 2026
