Summers Under the Tamarind Tree is a contemporary Pakistani cookbook celebrating the varied, exciting and often-overlooked cuisine of a beautiful country.

Winner 'Best First Book' - Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2016

Former lawyer-turned-food writer and cookery teacher Sumayya Usmani captures the rich and aromatic pleasure of Pakistani cooking through more than 100 recipes as she celebrates the heritage and traditions of her home country and looks back on a happy childhood spent in the kitchen with her grandmother and mother.

While remaining uniquely its own, Pakistani food is influenced by some of the world's greatest cuisines. With a rich coastline, it enjoys spiced seafood and amazing fish dishes; while its borders with Iran, Afghanistan, India and China ensure strong Arabic, Persian and varied Asian flavours.

Experience the wonderful flavours of Pakistan with:

Aloo ki bhujia (spicy potatoes with nigella seeds and fenugreek)
Hyderabadi-style samosas, filled with red onion, mint and green chilli
Sweet potato and squash parathas
Attock chapli kebab (mince beef flat kebab with pomegranate chutney)
Cardamom and coconut mattha lassi, and many more sensational recipes.
Learn to cook some of the rich, varied and delicious Pakistani dishes with this beautiful showcase of the exotic yet achievable recipes of Pakistan.

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Recommended by

Louise Gray

Environmental journalist

I went to a talk by Sumayya recently and it transformed how I see Pakistan. It has opened up a world of spices and smells and peoples and landscapes I didn’t even know existed: Chickoos and falsa berries, whole chickens cooked in 24 spices and rose milkshake. It showed me the power of food writing to reach across cultures and help us understand and appreciate one another. It made it seem important and as a relative new comer to the scene, that was very important to me at the time. I am going to give it to my sister for her birthday (after I’ve cooked a few more of the recipes).

Dina Begum

Food writer

Growing up I hadn't seen too many Bangladeshi cookbooks or Pakistani ones for that matter – at least in English. So when I laid my hands on this beautiful book it filled me with excitement. Finally we were moving away from ‘Indian’ cuisine - that catch-all for all food from the Indian subcontinent. There are recipes I’m familiar with as a person of Bangladeshi origin such as Firni... A feast for the eyes and palate.

Shehar Bano Rizvi

Cookbook author and blogger