Shortly after I became a vegetarian, I became very bored of bland vegetables and beans. Then one of my friends kept bringing her mother's Indian cooking over and I was instantly in love and decided vegetarian dishes really can taste much better than meat dishes. Whenever I asked her for the recipes, she would say they were very complicated or I would never find the ingredients or she doesn't even know because none of it is written down. So I began my own search for vegetarian Indian recipes and was becoming very frustrated at the laundry list of ingredients they all required. Stumbling across this book was a true blessing. Here's what I love about this book:
- ORGANIZATION: This cookbook has the best organization of any cookbook I have seen. Each chapter features a cooking technique and all the recipes from the chapter use this technique. Each chapter also has similar types of recipes (like Chapter 2 is mostly vegetables, Chapter 3 is mostly dals, etc.). At the beginning of each chapter is a short list of spices and fresh ingredients. As long as you have these on hand, most recipes will only require one or two additional ingredients.
- INFORMATIVE AND CONCISE: The author provides enough information without making the reading overwhelming. Each chapter begins with an introduction and helpful tips necessary to make the recipes in that chapter. Then each recipe has an English name and Indian name and a sentence or two on how to prepare and serve the recipe. The last chapter called Tips and Techniques has a lot of useful information too, and should probably be read first. This cookbook is more than just a book of recipes.
- UNIQUE RECIPES: The recipes are similar enough to each other that you do not need an abundance of ingredients, yet they are all very unique. I really like how the author focuses on changing the main ingredient but keeping the spices relatively consistent. This allows you to eat a variety of different foods without spending too much money on ingredients you rarely use.
- EASY TO FIND INGREDIENTS: While there are some ingredients which can only be found in Indian grocery stores, this book uses relatively few compared to other books I've seen. The ingredients used in this book which are not easy to find are: ghee, asafetida, curry leaves, paneer, and some dals. There are some other ingredients, but they don't appear in many recipes.
- VEGGIE-FRIENDLY: This isn't a book for vegans, but vegetarians will love it. When I was first looking for an Indian cookbook, I was limiting my search to books with vegetarian in the title. I'm glad I broadened my search because this book is nearly all vegetarian recipes. The meat recipes are almost all in Chapter 5, leaving Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 6 full of vegetarian recipes. There are great seasoned vegetables ranging from corn and potatoes to okra and mustard greens. There's a recipe for almost all beans and dals.
- LOOK AND DESIGN: The book is very pretty and colorful. It has pictures throughout but you can tell they are not used as fillers. The book conveniently lies flat so that it's easy to read while cooking. The font and layout for the recipes is consistent and readable.
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