Eastern Vegetarian Cooking

by Madhur Jaffrey

Cooking Curry.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Cooking, Reference

531 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 1983

About the author

Madhur Jaffrey CBE is an Indian-born actress, food and travel writer, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing Indian cuisine to the western hemisphere with her debut cookbook, An Invitation to Indian Cooking, which was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame in 2006.

Reviews

[Matt Kelland · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute favorite which has traveled with me everywhere for 20 years - and I still haven't tried everything in it. If you thought veggie food was bland and boring, try some of these recipes. I'm not a vegetarian, but I often turn to this book just to add more variety to my food. It's my go-to book when cooking for veggie friends, and many times I've cooked huge feasts for hardcore carnivores and they haven't realized until afterwards that they'd just eaten a meatless meal.

This and Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible are why Madhur Jaffrey is referred to in my household as "the blessed Madhur". Nigella Lawson may be a domestic goddess, but Madhur Jaffrey has literally transformed my culinary life. I want her as my auntie so I can visit her and see what she's cooked up.

[Margaret]

Not inspiring me at all.

[Jeremy Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book that helped me transition into my brief vegetarian phase.

Very spicy delicious chickpeas (yes that’s the name) is a stock standard for me.

[Tatjana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay.
I don't know that many Indian people.
A few.
Those few don't really cook much Indian food. They get take away, usually. They could tell you if the Indian food was like their family's or like a restaurant in India, but beyond that... it's a bit like asking Americans if the hamburger is good.
So I made my first Indian food from this book.
It was AMAZING.
We are *mostly* vegetarian, and are always looking for recipes that entail more beans and stuff we get in our CSA boxes. Protein always seems to be an issue, so beans are an important part of my recipe gathering process. We don't eat a huge amount of grain, so if you are looking for that sort of thing, there is plenty to be had in this book as well. Lots of emphasis on fresh ingredients, tasty spices and step by step instructions. If you have tinned beans, that's okay too.
This book is a panoply of Asian recipes: filipino, korean, japanese, indonesian, cantonese...
Definitely one of my favorites!
Buon Apetito!

[Gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first cookbooks I got when I moved out of home. Actually that's a lie, my housemate had it and when he moved out, my then boyfriend bought it for me. I still use it. I know most of the chick pea recipes by heart. It's the book you need when someone gives you a big bunch of green beans and you think 'what can I do with these? Turn them into a main course of course!

I tried to buy it for someone recently, and it appears to e out of print. Such a shame.

I have a different version, a big thick paperback. Looks like a novel in fact.

[Alistair · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my first vegetarian books. I made soy milk and learned about tofu. It's not full colour pictures but the little illustrations were very informative.

The recipes are introduced with context and it's a delightful read - not something that you can always say about a recipe book!

[Steve Clark]

Edition: Re-issue