Ever wondered why your grandmother threw a teabag into the pressure cooker while chickpeas, or why she measured using the knuckle of her index finger? Why does a counter-intuitive pinch of salt make your kheer more intensely flavorful? What is the Maillard reaction and what does it have to do with fenugreek? What does your high-school knowledge, or what you remember of it, have to do with perfectly browning your onions?

 Mad La by Krish Ashok is a science nerd's exploration of Indian cooking with the ultimate aim of making the reader a better cook and turning the kitchen into a joyful, creative playground for culinary experimentation. Just like memorizing an equation might have helped you pass an exam but not become a chemist following a recipe without knowing the rationale behind it can be a suboptimal way of learning how to cook