Beyond the Chilli

Stories that keep the light on.

Books about Indian food, family memory, and festival traditions—made to be cooked from, read aloud, and carried forward.

Meet the books Read free festival stories
  • 2books on the first shelf
  • 8free festival readers in English & Telugu
  • 1little flame named Deep

The first shelf

Two books. One living archive.

One begins in an Andhra kitchen. The other follows Diwali’s light from India to a new home in North Carolina.

Cover of Amma's Kitchen: Recipes and Memories from an Andhra Home
Cookbook & family memoir

Amma’s Kitchen

Recipes and Memories from an Andhra Home

A collection of recipes, kitchen wisdom, and family stories preserved from an Andhra home. It is both a book to cook from and a record of the hands, habits, and memories that made those meals matter.

Written by
Ambica Pawan Khandavilli & Chandrabhotla Annapurna
Best for
Home cooks, family keepsakes, gifting

Author royalties from retail sales support cancer research.

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Cover of Diyas Around the World: A Diwali Story from India to Garner, North Carolina
Children’s picture book

Diyas Around the World

A Diwali Story from India to Garner, North Carolina

Follow Deep, a tiny flame, through distinct traditions across India and the diaspora. The journey ends in Garner, where old customs glow in a new home and every family brings a different light.

Written by
Ambica Pawan Khandavilli
Best for
Reading aloud, classrooms, Diwali gifts
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From the Mana Pandagalu collection

Festival stories, carried forward.

These stories draw on the older Telugu book Mana Pandagalu and the ways families celebrate today. Read Ambica Pawan Khandavilli’s companions for children and adults here on the site.

Ganesh Chaturthi

Family shapes a clay Ganesha and prepares offerings together

For adults · Longform

Beginning, Belonging, and Community

A longer reading companion on Ganesha’s names and stories, pooja, food, public celebration, and caring for shared spaces.

Read online

Deepavali · దీపావళి

An elder rolls cotton wicks beside a diya, an old book, and festival food

For adults · Reading companion

The Light We Carry

A reading companion based on the restored Telugu text of Mana Pandagalu’s Deepavali chapter, with source page notes, family prompts, and context for distinct traditions.

Read online

Made to be used

Books that live off the shelf.

  • Cook from it

    Real recipes from real kitchens, written the way they were taught—with the small tricks that never make it onto a card.

  • Read it aloud

    Warm, carefully researched stories for bedtime and classrooms, so children meet traditions as something joyful and their own.

  • Carry it forward

    Family knowledge that once lived only in memory, set down on the page so the next generation can pick it up.

Indian food is so much more than heat.

Why Beyond the Chilli

Start with the food. The culture follows.

The name says it plainly. Indian food is too often reduced to one thing: how hot it is. But beyond the chilli there is so much more—regions, seasons, festivals, families, and the hands that taught each dish.

Start with the food and the culture follows: the stories, rituals, and memories that give every meal its meaning. We make warm, carefully researched books that hold on to those details, so children and adults can see where they come from and what they can carry forward.

Beyond the Chilli was cofounded by Ambica Pawan Khandavilli and Aaramya Nath.

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