Actor, Cook, Food Writer, Madhur Jaffrey has accomplished a lot during her life (and is still going strong). Her memoir Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India bridges it all, giving us a look into growing up in India and, of course, a few recipes to bring India into your own home. Although the book was published in 2006, it is still gaining fans, with a recent mention on Splendid Table. Audio of that interview and an older one from KCRW's Good Food is below with links to the full shows.

Here is the audio of her interview on March 8, 2008 on the Splendid Table. You can listen to the entire show on the Splendid Table archives:

Here is the older October 14, 2006 interview on Good Food:

There's also an excerpt from the book and more interviews on npr.org.

If all the talk is making you hungry, AADL has plenty of Madhur Jaffrey's books to keep you occupied. There are also some recipes on BBC Food. Here are just a few of the books we have:

• Madhur Jaffrey's quick & easy Indian cooking
• From curries to kebabs : recipes from the Indian spice trail
• Indian Cooking
• Madhur Jaffrey's step-by-step cooking : over 150 dishes from India and the Far East, including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia
• Madhur Jaffrey's world vegetarian
• A taste of India

A word of warning: some of the older cookbooks were before many of the traditional spices were readily available, so they make substitutions.