Nandita Iyer - The Everyday Healthy Vegetarian: Delicious Meals from the Indian Kitchen

THE EVERYDAY
HEALTHY Vegetarian DELICIOUS MEALS FROM
THE INDIAN KITCHEN NANDITA IYER First published in 2017 by Hachette India (Registered name: Hachette Book Publishing India Pvt. Ltd) An Hachette UK company www.hachetteindia.com Copyright 2017 Nandita Iyer All recipe photographs copyright 2017 Nandita Iyer Photograph on pages vi, xix courtesy Bharath Moro All nutritional information courtesy HealthifyMe. Book design and layout 2017 Hachette India Book design by Tara Upadhyay Illustrations by Pia Hazarika Nandita Iyer asserts the moral right to be identied as the author of this work All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system (including but not limited to computers, disks, external drives, electronic or digital devices, e-readers, websites), or transmitted in any form or by any means (including but not limited to cyclostyling, photocopying, docutech or other reprographic reproductions, mechanical, recording, electronic, digital versions) without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. The views, opinions and recipes provided in this book are the authors own and the facts are as reported by her. The publishers are not in any way liable for the same.

Print edition ISBN 978-93-5009-827-1 eBook edition ISBN 978-93-5009-833-2 Hachette Book Publishing India Pvt. Ltd 4th & 5th Floors, Corporate Centre, Plot No. 94, Sector 44, Gurugram - 122003, India To my family Contents Fifteen years ago, for a brief period of time, I lived in Shivaji Park, Mumbai, in a shared paying-guest accommodation with four other women. A terrace converted into a large hall-like room with five single beds, five small steel almirahs and a bathroom it was the most basic of spaces to live in. A cudappah (stone) slab in one corner of the room with a two-burner gas stove and a couple of stone shelves underneath it constituted the kitchen. The five of us took turns cooking, and the constraints of space, appliances and ingredients ensured that the food was utterly basic essentially dal-rice, khichdi, poha or anything else that could be made in a small pressure cooker and/or a kadhai.

My studies and job left me with no time or energy to experiment in the kitchen, after all. During that phase in my life, there was neither the time nor the wherewithal to cook anything beyond the basics. Perhaps to compensate for this and to nurture my passion for food I started scribbling down recipes or ideas for dishes in the form of a makeshift cookbook. However, these armchair cooking escapades in a foolscap notebook seemed silly even to me. After I got married, I moved to the United States and my books, along with other sundry items, were packed in cartons, left at my parents home in Mumbai, and consequently forgotten. This move brought food back into my life, and I started cooking a great deal more.

Thankfully, my husband was a fuss-free eater and welcomed my culinary experiments with enthusiasm. His encouragement pushed me to let loose my creativity in the kitchen and, in March 2006, I started my food blog at a time when food blog wasnt even a legitimate term. The blog, which I named Saffron Trail, began as a place where I could record the recipes I had created on an impulse and tried out on my husband. Given my medical degree and study of nutrition, the food I prepared always followed the basic principles of healthy eating, but did not compromise on taste. Over the years, my focus shifted to recipes that would benefit people who wanted to lead a healthier lifestyle. Saffron Trail slowly grew in terms of both content and audience, and today has over 700 recipes with a wonderful and loyal reader base that keeps encouraging me to invent, cook and share more of my cooking. Saffron Trail slowly grew in terms of both content and audience, and today has over 700 recipes with a wonderful and loyal reader base that keeps encouraging me to invent, cook and share more of my cooking.

When I shared the news of signing a book deal with my Amma, she unexpectedly brought up the forgotten notebook of recipes I had left with her. I saw that notebook with your handwritten recipes among your packed things years ago. Im proud that your dream has turned into reality, she said. Her gentle praise brought back memories of the girl who had dreamt of writing a cookbook even when she had a barely-functional kitchen. I strongly believe that every little dream, even those that are buried deep within our subconscious, become building blocks for our future. This book is proof of that.

This book aims to guide you in the concepts of healthy cooking and eating, to help you appreciate the versatility of easily available Indian ingredients and superfoods that can be incorporated in your diet. Healthy food does not have to be tasteless or break-the-bank expensive. It is also not meant to be time-consuming. This book is not about fancy recipes or haute cuisine; its about using everyday ingredients to create simple meals, but with a healthy twist. Most of these recipes will have you cooking from scratch, but that does not mean you will spend the better part of your day in the kitchen. The only meals I cook are the ones that do not take more than 30 minutes, so you can trust me not to subject you to arduous cooking procedures.

Within these pages, you will find interesting meal combinations that are also nutritionally balanced. For example, a boiled potato, roti and rice are all carbohydrates. Dal, sprouts, eggs, beans, cheese, tofu, etc. are all protein-rich foods. What nutrition elements we choose to combine for a balanced meal, however, is totally up to us put together potatoes, beans/eggs and vegetables in a bowl and you have a balanced meal with carbs, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals. Keeping the nutrient groups in mind, I have divided the book into four sections, each of which contains recipes that can be combined with recipes in other sections to prepare a balanced meal.

The Good Carbs section includes hearty recipes featuring starchy vegetables such as potatoes and sweet potatoes, and grains like millet, barley, unprocessed rice, oats and more. The Eat the Rainbow section shows you interesting ways to use the same old vegetables and fruits, including a host of satisfying salads with bright flavours that use locally-available ingredients and will make you fall in love with the salad-a-day concept. The Protein Punch section takes care of the hardest-to-incorporate nutrients in a vegetarian diet. Armed with the right knowledge, it is easy for vegetarians to get the required quantity of protein in their daily diet. Use the recipes from this section to amp up your protein intake. Here, you will find some traditional ingredients used in modern ways, for example, black-eyed peas (lobia) in a salad or a burger.

For those of you who eat eggs, I have included a few egg-based recipes, though I have tried to give egg-replacement ideas for some of them. The