Lakshminarayan - The Essential Vegan Indian Cookbook: 100 Home-Style Classics and Restaurant Favorites

Copyright 2021 by Rockridge Press, Emeryville, California

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Interior and Designer: Amanda Kirk
Art Producer: Hannah Dickerson
Editor: Anne Lowrey
Production Editor: Andrew Yackira
Production Manager: Holly Haydash

Photography 2021 Hlne Dujardin, food styling by Anna Hampton Decorative pattern used under license from Shutterstock.com
courtesy of Cassandra Boryszak, Rooted Love Photography

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-63807-201-0
eBook ISBN: 978-1-63807-176-1
R0

To my Amma, Shyamala, and my Appa, Lakshminarayan, who taught me to persevere. Thank you for giving me wings to fly.

Contents

CHAPTER 1
The Vegan Indian Kitchen

CHAPTER 2
Salads, Starters, and Snacks

CHAPTER 3
Dals, Legumes, and Soups

CHAPTER 4
Rice

CHAPTER 5
Curries and Stir-Fries

CHAPTER 6
Drinks and Desserts

CHAPTER 7
Basics and Flatbreads

I f someone had told seven-year-old me, as I stood by my mother in the kitchen watching her cook, that I would author a cookbook someday, I would have believed it!

In fact, looking back at my life now, it feels as though I was always working toward this very moment.

When I was a child, my mothers okra recipe was published in a leading newspaper. Everyone in my family was thrilled to see her name in print. My father even saved that newspaper clip. I remember her beaming face and how proud she was.

It was then the desire to see my name in print was born.

As a child, I loved watching cooking and craft shows. I would host my own pretend cooking shows at home when no one was around. Those are some of my fondest childhood memories.

When I entered college, I chose home science as my major. I finally got a formal understanding of the science behind food and nutrition. By then, I was cooking regularly for my family and friends, and it boosted my confidence when I saw how well my food was received. I began getting cookbooks as birthday gifts, and bringing dishes from those books to life was, and still is, one of my favorite pastimes. I secretly wished to be a cookbook writer.

But then life happened, and my dream got pushed to the back burner.

Fast-forward to 2016, post marriage and settling in the United States, when I started a website to document my mothers recipes and my culinary experiments. Soon, I realized that this is what I wanted to do. This is how my blog Cookilicious (name coined by my brother) was born. This is my sacred place where I share vegetarian and vegan recipes, among other things I like to do.

I feel that my culinary palate is heavily influenced by my parents. My mother hailed from Trichy, a town in South India, and then settled in Bombay. Her cooking reflected her experiences with different cultures. My father, also from Trichy, lived most of his life in the west of IndiaBombay and briefly in Gujarat. Naturally, his food choices were a little different from my mothers. Growing up, my brother and I were treated to this wonderful mix. My father would prepare dishes such as tomato omelet or French toast, whereas my mother would stick mostly to traditional South Indian fare.

Growing up in a cosmopolitan place like Bombay also worked in my favor. I got to sample many kinds of Indian cuisine, courtesy of my neighbors and close friends, who hailed from different parts of India.

Cooking vegetarian food comes naturally to me because my family has been vegetarian for generations. India is home to many vegetarians, yet veganism is a relatively new concept that is just taking root there. In a country where dairy products are an integral part of the cuisine, going vegan can be a daunting prospect. However, when I started blogging, I realized that most Indian recipes are naturally vegan or can be made vegan with just a tweak or two.

Many people may feel overwhelmed by the breadth of Indian food and limit their knowledge to just a few dishes. Moreover, vegans may eschew Indian food altogether because they feel the cuisine lacks vegan options or is too much work to make.

This book is here to show you that cooking vegan Indian food is not only possible, but easier than you might expect. The recipes primarily present a vegan take on traditional Indian recipes.

Through this book, I hope to take you on a journey through India and show you that Indian cooking can be made vegan without compromising on taste or convenience. I hope you find this book useful and enjoy dipping into some wonderful vegan Indian dishes.

Happy cooking!