Product Description

Immerse yourself in the rich flavours and spices of India to create truly tantalising vegetarian dishes. A billion people can't be wrong - over 80 per cent of India is vegetarian so the cuisine is blessed with the most varied, imaginative and tasty vegetarian dishes in the world. What's so fascinating is that every region in India uses its vegetables differently depending on its geography, history and culture. In Kerala they make use of the coconuts, bananas and rice that grow in the area with curry leaves and mustard seeds to temper the dishes. Kashmir, because of its proximity to the Himalayas, was a natural passage for invaders and so its cuisine is a mix of Persian, Indian and Afghan styles. And in the north, when it's cold, they use the garam masala blend instead of chillies because chillies cool the body by promoting perspiration whereas masala creates heat within the body, keeping it warm. The hitsory, tradition and ritual associated with food come alive in this comprehensive celebration of India's vegetarian fare. Enjoy a feast of Vegetarian Dum Biryani, which was brought to north India by the Mughals; make fragrant Fenugreek Leaf Bread to be eaten with Spicy Mango Chutney; or serve up Smoky Lentils with Tomato, a tasty dish made by the Saraswat community of Karnataka - the choices are endless. With notes on chillies, varieties of pulses and how to make your own spice blends as well as exceptional location and food photography, this book offers flavoursome and exotic dishes to brighten up your vegetarian repertoire. Spice up your life with this inspirational guide to the vegetarian feasts of India!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18433 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Review
'A widely varied and totally delicious collection... a truly beautiful book.' --The Bookseller

Tandoori Magazine, March 2006
...award-winning food writer Monisha Bharadwaj has compiled some of the most creative and traditional [vegetarian dishes] in this stylish hardback.

Health and Fitness, May 1 2006
This is a gorgeously-illustrated book that will bring a touch of real India to your table.

Customer Reviews

Beautifully photographed, great visual and cultural intro to India's regional cooking
I love this cookbook so much that I have now bought it for my sister, boyfriend, mum and step-mother! I was prompted to write a review when I saw another review that only gave it three stars... as you may be able to tell from my extreme purchasing habits outlined above, I am a big fan and I think this book deserves the full five stars. I want to tell you why I like it so much.

First of all, it's a good read. I like to lie in bed and skim through cookbooks, it's one of my little pleasures in life! This one is particularly aesthetically pleasing. A jacketed hardback, it is filled to the brim with enticing and beautifully photographed recipes.

Rather than lumping all Indian cooking together, or just looking at one type, the book looks at the different types of cooking in India's regions - it's divided into four parts: the North, the West, the South and the East. Each part starts with a description of the cooking in all the regions, from particular flavours to types of food that are found in that part of India. Each section has recipes in the following categories: vegetables, breads, rice, pulses, dairy, accompaniments and puddings. So you can compare the different types of, say, lentil dal or desserts. It's really interesting to get a sense of the different 'feel' of the food in each region.

At the end of the book there's a useful section with advice and information about different ingredients, from herbs and spices to rice or types of chilli. I found this helpful, as I'm not used to cooking Indian food and felt I needed a bit of extra advice on choosing chillies, for instance.

I've used this cookbook a lot and have always got good results from the recipes. There are a lot of fairly easy recipes that don't take too much work or require too long a list of ingredients - always appealing as I'm a lazy cook!

If you are looking for an Indian vegetarian cookbook, I think this is a wonderful one. Madhur Jaffrey's Eastern Vegetarian Cooking probably can't be beaten for being comprehensive (and indeed it is a great book too), but this is definitely the book for you if you appreciate lavishly illustrated cookbooks that offer readable explanations and interesting facts as well as recipes. It's a very nice visual and cultural introduction to Indian food.

A good book for lentil lovers
I like this book.

It's not the most glamourous recipe book, nor the most accurate (be prepared to make a few attempts before achieving results that equal the photography).

There is little padding around the recipies. The author does manage to squeeze in short pieces regarding India's different culinary regions, but without sufficient detail to make them particularly informative. If you're looking for a read that goes further into ingredients, then try Ms Bharadwaj "India's Kitchen". Some of the recipies are indeed shared between the two books.

While this book isn't an all-encompassing bible, it does contain a nice range of dahl recipies. I've been looking for an Indian recipe book with a good selection of lentil and bean dishes, and this book neatly fits the bill.

Plenty of flavours, plenty of textures, just what I'd been looking for. Certainly a useful book for bean loving people, but useful also to those looking for veggie accompaniments to larger meals.

Jolly tasty stuff, just persevere with the recipies that don't come together on the first try.

Excellent, inspiring book!
This is one of my favourite cooking books so far! Every recipe has its own little description of its origins and how it should be eaten. The recipes are very nutritious, exotic but easy to make in your own kitchen. +they are delicious! If you are into Indian cuisine then this is definitely a must buy!