We had been expecting a book like this for a long time, and this one is well worth the wait. Mrs. Sahni has a clear mind, the talent for explaining the most delicate techniques, and, above all, an excellent taste. She relies less on the southern Indian tradition for fiery meals than on the exquisite style of northern Indian cookery, deeply influenced by the taste of the Moslem Moghul conquerors. Every dish we tried was delicious. We could eat forever the Chicken in Creamed Coconut Sauce (a great favorite of our little boy), although we have to confess we do not prepare the milk from a "fresh unshelled coconut." The Shrimp Poached in Coconut Milk with Fresh Herbs is outstanding. The Dry-Cooked Spicy Ground Meat is one of the best preparations one can use to stuff fresh vegetables, especially when made with ground lamb. It has the great merit of stretching one pound of meat to six servings, and we have used it, as well, to make meatballs. We could go on with this list. Let us just mention one more: the Fish in Velvet Yoghurt Sauce, for which we used filets of the firm-fleshed monkfish. It was a delight. The cook should take the time to read carefully the first chapter, devoted to seasonings, meal planning, techniques, and so forth. This is the first time we have seen thorough guidelines on how to brown onion slices, a technique we now use for our French onion soup. The cook, we suggest, should also use all the ingredients listed for each recipe. Exotic spices, such as cardamom, are now readily available. Fresh coriander (or cilantro) leaves, which release an addictive fragrance, can be found regularly in many chain supermarkets. The lazy cook can even find some canned, unsweetened, coconut cream, imported from the Philippines. It will not destroy the recipes. The publisher thinks this book will rank with Irene Kuo's The Key to Chinese Cooking, Marcella Kazan's Classic Italian Cooking, and other basic cookbooks. We agree.