Jaffrey - Vegetarian India: A Journey Through the Best of Indian Home Cooking

As many of us try to eat less meat and, instead, eat more of the natural grains, vegetables, and fruits that spring out of our good earth, people are turning to whole or partial vegetarianism as an answer.

Vegetarianism already exists in a widespread manner in several Eastern nations. But among them all, only India has a robust history of it that covers the different classes and regions of an entire subcontinent, from pauper to billionaire and from the mountainous Himalayan peaks in the north to the lush tropics of the south. Hundreds of millions of people in India eat traditional vegetarian cuisines. Indian vegetarian foods are perhaps the most flavorful and the most varied in the entire world. Many dishes are of ancient origin or inspiration, and they are seasoned with an array of spices carefully blended for both health and taste. Every housewife knows that turmeric is an antiseptic, ginger is good for colds and nausea, and asafetida is a digestive. This knowledge is used daily, almost automatically. What is more, Indian meals are always put together so they are nutritionally balanced: a grain is always served with a vegetable and a dairy product, not only because they taste good together but also because together they are nutritionally complete.

With this book, I want to take you on an adventurous ride through India, tasting the real vegetarian dishes that Indians eat in the privacy of their homes, in their local cafs and temples, at the parties they throw for each other, and at their wedding banquets and religious festivals.

Just imagine crisp okra fries dusted with chili powder, turmeric, and chickpea flour, or grilled portobello mushrooms flavored simply with green chilies, a couple of squeezes of lime juice, and salt, or a hot, sweet, and sour mash of eggplant on toast. You will find all these in the very first chapter, .

The chapter holds more good things. Some of you may, just may, have already had the sweet, sour, hot, salty, and coconut-enriched Kodava Mushroom Curry, which originated with the hunter-gatherers of the forested regions of Coorg in southern Karnatakathough I doubt it. Even Indians who live in North India are not familiar with this dish as it is a specialty of just one community, the Kodavas, who live in the heart of a specific wet, forested region in the hills that rise from the Arabian Sea in southern India. And it is never on any restaurant menu in the West. Yet it is so easy to make. You will find that recipe here. You will also find a sublime spinach stir-fried with garlic, cumin, and fenugreek seeds, and some potatoes from Goa studded with mustard seeds and refreshed with green chilies and cilantro.

Indians eat more dalsdried beans and legumesthan perhaps any other country. From black-eyed peas to chickpeas to mung beans and even soy granules, dals are eaten every day, and each time in a different manner. A dal might be boiled by itself and then brought to life with a tarka, a quick seasoning with whole spices dropped into hot oil. It could be cooked with other dals in a glorious mlange or cooked with vegetables. It could be transformed into a savory pancake for breakfast, or made into a flour and used in a batter for fritters. For Indians, dals are a protein-rich mainstay. They are cheap, highly nutritious, safe to eat, and an easy way to get a daily quota of protein. You will find dozens of recipes in these pages that might well change the look of your daily meals forever.

An American friend once told me that she had eaten an exquisite poha upma in a hotel in Madhya Pradesh. A