I'm Francis Lamb and this is the splendid table from APM.

You know, two of my absolute favorite cuisines on this planet are Korean and Indian.

And there are two new cookbooks out that really show us different sides of these cultures than what you usually see in books or even restaurants.

The book Korea World goes into the funky, spicy, delicious food of Korea today, where you'll find food that's both ancient, like the

unbelievably tasty meals made by Buddhist monks, and where Korean barbecue may well be a smoked

beef rib like you might find in Texas. That's by authors Dookie Hong and

Matt Robbard. We're gonna get to them later. First, it's our good friend Cushibu Shah.

When Cushibu was last on our show, she was constantly crossing back and forth America as the restaurant editor of Food and Wine.

For years, she led the team in selecting the candidates for their annual class of best new chefs,

and she would often find herself,

say eating breakfast in a restaurant in Miami and then having a tasting menu in Nashville that night.

Well, since leaving that role, she's turned her sights in a completely different direction.

Back home, literally, to write the fantastic new book, Amri Khan.

It's all about the home-cooked foods of the Indian American diaspora,

complete with grocery store hacks, ingredient substitutions,

and make-do shortcuts that end up making up their very own,

very delicious twists on traditional Indian food.

But Cushbu joined me in my home,

just as a thunderstorm was about to hit,

to talk about this book and to cook one of her favorite simple recipes from it,

chili cheese toast.

Cushbu, welcome!

...