Book: Curry Easy Vegetarian, by Madhur Jaffrey

By Madhur Jaffrey

Indian vegetarian food is probably the most complex and varied meatless cuisine in the world - perhaps unsurprisingly, coming as it does from a country where an estimated 20 to 40 per cent of the population eschews meat. With Indian cuisine, I prefer the vegetarian dishes to the meaty ones (although I'd never say no to good, moist tandoori chicken).

As with many long-established vegetarian cuisines, the food is filling and nutritious. You don't have to worry about combining grains to get enough protein; that kind of thing was figured out ages ago.

In Curry Easy Vegetarian, Madhur Jaffrey reverts to a subject she's covered in several of her previous cookbooks. Jaffrey writes, "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 very local cafés and temples, at the parties they throw for each other, and at their wedding banquets and religious festivals."

Her enthusiasm is catching; I plan on visiting an Indian provisions shop to find poha, which she calls "a great new ingredient to learn about. [It] is a version of rice that has been magically cooked, flattened and dried in such a way that it retains all its nutrients".