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Heartland Masala

An Indian Cookbook from an American Kitchen

Illustrated by Olivier Kugler / Photographs by Kevin Miyazaki
Published by The Collective Book Studio
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

Heartland Masala features 99 recipes from Indian cooking instructor Jyoti Mukharji paired with droll, illustrated vignettes by cultural historian Auyon Mukharji. A heartfelt celebration of Indian cuisine and the American immigrant experience, this mother-son collaboration is delicious, inventive, and utterly original.

Take a delicious deep dive into Indian cooking and culture with a Midwestern mother-son duo.

Jyoti Mukharji has been teaching cooking classes out of her Kansas City kitchen since 2010. Heartland Masala is an artfully photographed collection of her favorite recipes, enriched with droll, illustrated vignettes authored by culinary historian Auyon Mukharji.

Inside you'll find restaurant staples like Saag Paneer, regional specialties like Murgh Rezala (Chicken Curry with Water Lily Seeds and Cashews), and creative originals like Masala Brussels Sprouts. A feast for culturally curious readers and adventurous cooks alike, this inventive collaboration is unlike any Indian cookbook you’ve seen before.

About The Authors

Jyoti Mukharji is a chef, teacher, and retired physician. She immigrated to the US from India in the late 1970s, and she began teaching weekly Indian cooking classes out of her home in Prairie Village, KS in 2010. Jyoti has since welcomed several thousand students into her kitchen, and her writing and teaching have been celebrated in press and radio outlets across the Midwest. Jyoti's team includes her husband Jhulan (art director), her eldest son Arnob (grocery shopping deputy), her middle son Auyon (musical guest), and her youngest son Aroop (copy editor).

Auyon Mukharji is a musician, writer, and culinary historian who spends most of his time thinking about food. He studied biology at Williams College and was awarded a Watson Fellowship in 2007 to study self-expression in folk music. Since 2009, Auyon has toured with, and cooked for, the acclaimed indie-folk band Darlingside. He otherwise finds time to work in and around kitchens (and farms) in both his hometown of Kansas City and his adopted state-of-residence of Massachusetts.

About The Illustrator

Olivier Kugler is a German-born London-based editorial illustrator and visual journalist. He has travelled to Iran, Laos, Iraqi Kurdistan, Cairo, Ghana and many other places on assignment for a variety of publications including The Guardian, New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, French journal XXI and German GQ. He has done extensive reporting on Middle Eastern refugees in Europe and a book collecting this work called Dem Krieg Entronnen was published in German by Edition Moderne – and in the UK and North America as Escaping Wars and Waves. The book has won two major European design and illustration awards. Oli is also a past winner of a V&A Illustration Award and World Illustration Award. You can visit his portfolio at www.olivierkugler.com.

Product Details

  • Publisher: The Collective Book Studio (October 23, 2025)
  • Length: 288 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781685553289

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