Kurma Dasa is an Australian TV chef, and, being a Hare Krishna (and having learnt his trade in their kitchens), he is quite up to speed on vegetarian and Indian cuisine (he was
Head Chef at Melbourne's
Gopal's Pure Vegetarian Restaurant).
While
not purely Indian cuisine, we have his book
Cooking With Kurma and I can recommend it, particularly as a "beginner". You will note the apparent lack of onion and garlic in his recipes, which is related to his beliefs. Although not a direct substitute, you will see mention of
asafetida powder instead. In most cases, the use of onion and garlic in place of
asafetida works for me, though the yellow asafetida powder he uses is no doubt worth trying it if you can easily get it.
Cheers,
Marc