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

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

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  Jo

  I won't review this book as it wouldn't be fair. I will just warn anyone who already owns Madhur Jaffrey's Curry Easy Vegetarian that this is almost identical, but Americanised (eg. only includes old fashioned measurements). I did not know this when I bought it online. Curry Easy Vegetarian is an excellent book (and contains metric as well as old fashioned measurements), so if you are American, go ahead and buy this version. I would recommend the UK version to everyone else.
  
  The best recipe I've tried so far is the Paneer Makhani (Fresh Indian Cheese in a Butter-tomato Sauce, but everything has been good.
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  Highlyeccentric

  This is a delight to read, and a logistical pain in the ass to cook from, unless you live somewhere with access to really good Indian grocers. Asfoetida, where do you even BUY that?
  
  Still, I'm getting there. My cupboard is now home to four different kinds of daal. I've even put my coffee grinder to work grinding spices, because that's the kind of person I have become.
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  Sara

  I learned to make banjan bharta and chapatis, and I shopped for ingredients at a specialty store so altogether I had a very fun experience with this book!
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  Kira Nerys

  As of September 2021, we've cooked--as best as I can tell--at least 60 recipes from this book. We haven't disliked any of them. We've owned it 3.5 years so far and still have plenty of recipes to explore.
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  Queerromani

  There is so much to love about this book. The attention paid to a whole meal and the many variations on each set of dishes gives a richness that I’m sure just touches the surface of all there is to learn about Indian food. This is my second book by Jaffrey and she just gets better with age.
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  Ania Gaska

  I was hoping that this cookbook would make me less reliant on the amazing restaurant in my neighborhood that feeds me - and I feel empowered to cook more vegetables, better!
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  Becky

  I came across this cookbook in my most recent issue of Martha Stewart Living which had some recipes from the cookbook and I was intrigued. We enjoy Indian food and I thought that some of the side vegetable dishes and flavored rices looked interesting. I did find some side dishes and rices that I would like to try. I have already made the fried potato puffs which we all enjoyed. I was disappointed that there was not a recipe for potato bhajias or naan. After a while some of the recipes just started to sound like they would taste about the same as they used the same spices. Also, some of the drinks just did not sound appetizing. However, I'm looking forward to trying some other recipes in the cookbook and hope my family will enjoy them too!
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  Preethi

  That's a great collection of veggie recipes. Am definitely going to keep this book on my dining table to remind me of the recipes I bookmarked.
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  James

  I'm a bit tossed up whether this book should be a purchase. When compared to her book from 35 years ago,
  Madhur Jaffrey's World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking, it now has pretty pictures and more on exotic ingredients that you can now get in the US. This book is focused on India as a whole, which is like European cuisine, a very broad category. I like this, at home I'm not required to cook for a specific part of India. The recipes are updated, for example; the Chapati/Roti recipe has been updated and the technique more thoroughly explained, it might be a workable recipe for other than 5 year old Indian children. While there's not a lot of overlap between the previous one and this one, it looks like she's cut the oil used in half, so it's probably a tad healthier, though like the previous book, there's no nutritional information given. Most of the recipes are straightforward, a decent cook can make most of these without issue. The ones I've made from her previous book were tasty, so I expect that remains true in this one. There's still a fair amount of oil and frying in this book, so if you watch your weight, watch out!
  
  
  My Standard Cookbook Rant
  
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  Sara

  This is now the fourth cookbook I own by this author and I think I will be using it as often as I do the first three. Jaffrey has collected recipes from home cooks around India, often by looking over their shoulder as they made a dish. As always, her recipes are carefully written and tested: they work. Most of them are simple, not terribly time consuming for the experienced home cook, and I have yet to try one that hasn't been delicious. Most have even been a hit with the kids. Many of these recipes are actually vegan, or could easily be made so (while ignoring the chapter on eggs and dairy), often simply by leaving out or substituting the yogurt (which I love).
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  Aja Marsh

  i've enjoyed flipping through this book. the majority of recipes seem simple and approachable, which is a nice change from many indian cookbooks that seem to overwhelm you with ingredients (though all of the ingredients really do add a special something, not a criticism, it's just nice not to get that "aack!" feeling when you open the book). i can't yet decide if this is one i'd like to add to my collection more permanently or not-- i do have another indian cookbook, but i could see reaching out for this one more often.
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  Lara

  This one...is a little overwhelming. It's huge, there's tons of stuff in it, and a lot of things aren't pictured, so it's hard to get an idea of what they actually are. But a number of the recipes sound really good. I think this is just a little more intense than I'm looking for. Also, at some point somebody clearly made the Tomato Rice because on that page (and the ones surrounding it) there's a bunch of oil, a big ole piece of tomato skin, and several colonies of mildew--ew! The perils of checking out cookbooks from the library......
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  TLP

  A wonderful addition to my cookbook library both from an Indian and vegetarian perspective. I'm learning about Dals, loving okra and enjoying healthy, creative snacking.
  
  In cookbook reviews, I often see concerns about the availability of ingredients but I have found that once you have stocked your pantry with Indian spices and dried goods... you have only to grab your favorite vegetables and cook!
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  Salvatore

  Solid recipes, even with tinkering (which was necessary. Bright flavours throughout - the bhagara baigan only gets better as it matures. The book itself is gorgeous. Worth it for the vegetarian and the Indian food love. She even has chili paneer...I also would have never thought that toasted sesame seeds on top of warm caramelized bananas would be a perfect combination.
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  El

  This is probably my favorite cookbook now, and absolutely the best Indian cookbook I have ever used.
  
  I've made so many of these recipes, and everything has turned out really well. I don't consider myself anything more than an average cook to a house of 4, so I was pleasantly surprised how often the recipes seemed fairly easy to execute.
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  Michelle

  Beautiful and endlessly fascinating. There are a lot of things I either can't make, or need to substitute, as Midwestern towns aren't always good places to find fresh curry leaves. But enjoyed every minute of this book!
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  LemontreeLime

  Read this quickly, but predict will be buying it and reading it again. Jaffrey showcases recipes I've never seen or heard of, and even if I don't use all the spices, I will definitely be using the new (to me) methods!
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  Nina

  Very cool. I like that Jaffrey divides sections regionally and by type of dish, plus the inclusion of interesting anecdotes about where she learned the recipe and the differences between types of Indian cuisine. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet though!
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  Ambur Taft

  Beautiful cookbook. Some ingredients may be a little harder to get if you live in a small town on the peninsula, but the execution of the dishes seems fairly reasonable. All of it looks extremely delicious.
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  Jennifer

  I've cooked through many of Madhur Jaffrey's books, but this might be the best one up to now. Hands-down the best photography of her delicious food. I made 15 recipes for a dinner party. Every one turned out well. Who misses meat when vegetarian food can be so filling and beautiful?
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  E

  Five stars is for the clarity of recipes & reliability of results, as well as the excellent photographs and commentary. This is not an encyclopedic cookbook but a functional one, and a joyful one as well.
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  Kate

  Things I bookmarked to make: chili paneer, quinoa "upma" with corn and mint, paneer in butter-tomato sauce.
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  Dana

  Signed copy from Omnivore in San Francisco :) First recipe tried: Chickpeas in a Fresh Cilantro Sauce, easy and delicious. I used 2 Thai bird chilis and a bit more ginger.
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  Sushma T.

  Pretty authentic recipes and thorough explanations of ingredients.
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  Naomi

  Beautiful, with careful and compelling descriptions of where each recipe originates, inviting readers on a tour of India through the tastebuds.
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  Katy

  Very accessible and delicious recipes! made the aloo gobi and it came together very quickly. i liked the descriptions before each recipe, too.
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  Vishal Agarwal

  Great read
  
  Great recipe for first time Indian cooks. Highly recommended to know different regions cooking in diverse country of India. T