Peter Kuruvita - Lands of the curry leaf: a vegetarian food journey from Sri Lanka to Nepal

A culture of food and friendship flows through my veins. This is the culture of the subcontinent, where a curry leaf tree grows in the garden of just about every home.

Acclaimed chef, author and TV presenter Peter Kuruvita shares over 100 vegetarian and vegan recipes that take us on a culinary journey of discovery through the subcontinent from Bhutan, Nepal and Afghanistan to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and his home country of Sri Lanka. All the dishes in this deeply personal collection, spiced with the flavours of Peters life and travels, reflect the diversity of the regions, their legendary hospitality, their energy and excitement, extraordinary landscapes and rich history.

Peter explores a goldmine of plant-based flavours in recipes for street foods; pulses and legumes; salads; dairy-based dishes; curries, stir-fries and stews; rice; soups; chutneys; and sauces. They are supported by detailed glossaries of ingredients, as well as advice on setting up a subcontinental pantry, tempering and blending spices, and adapting authentic regional cooking methods for the home kitchen.

This book is a reflection of the changing dialogue about what we eat, as the world embraces the idea of a meal where meat is not the main event. Lands of the Curry Leaf is a celebration of all things vegetable and their growing prominence at our tables. Showing that vegetables, grains and pulses can be culinary stars, Peter takes simple, honest, health-giving ingredients, adds a host of exciting spices, and transforms them into a complete and joyous meal.

Ayubowan!

(A traditional Sri Lankan greeting, meaning long life.)

To say this collection of recipes, gathered from across the subcontinent, is deeply personal would be an understatement. Food and the memories of food who it was eaten with, the taste, the location, the physical need, and the emotional associations they carry are my lifeblood. A culture of food and friendship flows through my veins. This is the culture of the subcontinent, where a curry leaf tree grows in the garden of just about every home.

When we look back at our personal histories, there are very clear moments and events that create our food stories. At the age of four, my Austrian mother lost her mother in very tragic circumstances, as do many during times of war. It set in motion the story of a woman of great independence, who left for London, alone, at the tender age of seventeen. Soon afterwards she met my dad, who was from Sri Lanka. He had ridden to London with three friends on his Indian motorcycle with side car in 1952 to see the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, and had stayed on to study engineering. And that was it. The connection. The immersion. A beautiful clash of cultures. Where my story began.

My earliest food memory is of my father feeding me with his fingers. Little balls of rice and dhal delivered on rough, cracked hands that smelt and tasted of the diesel from his engineering workshop. And my grandmother, in our kitchen in Sri Lanka, cooking with other women, all so passionate about food and produce; all teaching me that there is so much more to food than just filling our bellies.

Growing up, food and cooking were simply natural extensions of self. The ingredients, family and food collided in ways that make it difficult for me to imagine how one could exist without the other. There were no recipes: just conversation and a reliance on the senses. The art of watching. The fragrant smells. The heat, the flavours, the feelings of respect for food and where it came from, and an indescribable energy that swirled and buzzed around the kitchen like spices tempered in a pan.

The food in this book is the culmination of my upbringing and my travels through the subcontinent. Ive brought together recipes that reflect the diversity of the regions, their landscape, their history and my life. This is the food I grew up with. I have done my best to distil the local colour, quite literally, into the local flavour; to express the energy and the excitement of the regions cuisines and hopefully to expand your flavour repertoire.

These recipes are also a reflection of the changing dialogue about what we eat. They are a celebration of all things vegetable and their growing prominence at our tables. I want to show you how they can be the star. As the Sri Lankans are fond of saying, you can curry anything and I want you to embrace the idea of a meal where flesh is not the main event. Vegetables and grains and pulses can shine. And here they do. Very brightly.

Cooking with vegetables is a very natural thing for me. My grandmother was a vegan all her life and Sri Lankans would usually have only one piece of meat, if any, in their meals, along with lots of different vegetable curries. Growing up in Sri Lanka, I was exposed to a multitude of vegetables, pulses and grains, and saw how these elements are celebrated in the subcontinents different cuisines. I am not a vegetarian, but I do love vegetables. They can become such a complete and joyous meal, and my motivation far above those associated with choice based on taste, environmental or moral reasons is just to cook with more vegies.

The time is right. There is increased availability of a wider range of vegetables (including exotic and heirloom varieties) and a better understanding of how to grow them or source them sustainably. I hope this book contributes to a heightened interest in vegetarian food within your weekly recipe repertoire.

Writing a book brings a lot of pressure. A desire for honesty, for accuracy, and ultimately for usefulness. From the first to the last page, this is not a cookbook for your coffee table. This is a cookbook for your kitchen. I hope it becomes well-thumbed, splattered with oil and smelling faintly of curry, cumin and a heady mix of spices. I hope its pages are filled with ticks, additions and your own personal edits as my recipes become yours.