Yummer Reading

Jasmine in Her Hair: Culture and Cuisine From Pakistan

by Huma Siddiqui

White Jasmine Press, 152 pp., $29.95 (paper)

In general, trends in modern cookbooks are as fickle and fleeting as high fashion, but our appetite for memoir cookbooks is not yet satiated. A particularly charming and unaffected example of this popular genre is Huma Siddiqui's book of Pakistani cooking: Not only is it a compendium of recipes, but it's a loving tribute to the author's family, her formative years in a politically unsettled Pakistan, and the traditional values of Muslim culture.

Sandwiched between a sweet foreword by her son and an equally touching afterword by her daughter, Siddiqui presents more than 50 traditional Pakistani recipes that are well-written, flavorful, easy to follow, and, with a few exceptions, made from readily obtainable ingredients (the gram flour, nigella seeds, tamarind pulp, and garam masala spice mix can all be found in specialty grocery stores).

Interspersed among the recipes are Siddiqui's memories of her Pakistani childhood (the book's title refers to weaving flowers into her invalid mother's hair). She muses about the education of Muslim women, the pros and cons of arranged marriages, the bonding of "scarf sisters," and the days-long, elaborate wedding ceremonies and feasts, as well as her own history as an educated Muslim woman and single parent making her way in the American Midwest. Siddiqui, who is a CPA, entrepreneur, and cooking teacher in Madison, Wisc., has self-published this beautifully produced, beautifully photographed book as a companion to her local TV show Curry and Coriander With Huma in Wisconsin. It is both a straightforward, delicious introduction to the cooking of Pakistan and a window into the mind and heart of a modern Muslim woman in the United States.