Healthy Indian Vegetarian Cooking. Shubhra Ramineni
with what they find!
Shubhra has met some wonderful farmers like Stacey Roussel from All We Need Farms and has gone to visit her farm with her daughter. Stacey is a very special mom, wife, and farmer who puts into her farm all the love and goodness she can. For me, Stacey has been a wonderful partner in growing inspiring food like fresh chickpeas, baby kale, and sweet potato vines that will easily find their way into Shubhra's recipes I'm sure!
If I had to label" my food, I would call it global comfort food with local ingredients" and I believe Shubhra's book will encourage people to discover new vegetables and fruits at the market and use her easy recipes to enjoy them. People don't always know what to do with the fresh fruits and veggies, or aren't inspired, but Shubhra's easy recipes give an option to enjoy them with easy to find Indian spices.
I've enjoyed cooking and sharing techniques and sources with Shubhra and I'm sure you will too! Enjoy her latest book and get into fruits and veggies and share with your family!
Sincerely,
Monica Pope
Dear Readers,
While working on my first cookbook, Entice with Spice, Easy Indian Recipes for Busy People, I knew my next book would be a healthy vegetarian cookbook. I have always had a great appreciation for a meatless diet because of its many health benefits. Having recently become a new mom, I am even more interested and encouraged to cook healthy dishes using fresh produce for my family. For two years I've been creating, cooking, and tasting recipes, and now I'm happy to share my collection of quick and easy, healthy, flavorful, and satisfying vegetarian recipes here.
This cookbook has a wide variety of recipes prepared from fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, lentils, legumes, tofu, and paneer (Indian homemade cheese) inspired by Indian cooking styles and flavors that I learned from my mother. My mom is not only a dietician but a fabulous gardener and a good cook as well. I am simply amazed at how she can prepare a nutritious and delicious dinner by picking vegetables grown in her own back yard and cooking them with Indian spices that have natural health benefits and healing properties.
As we continue to seek out healthier and sustainable lifestyles we have greater knowledge of our food sources and its implications and are leaning towards eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. However, many people may not have an idea of how to prepare and cook these fruits and vegetables. My recipes will enable you to cook scrumptious vegetarian and vegan dishes so you can enjoy incorporating fruits and vegetables into a healthy, balanced and wholesome diet.
I also wanted to share my experiences in shopping for, storing, and cutting up the fruits and vegetables you can find in your grocers, co-ops, farmers markets, and CSA's. I have included time-saving tips so you can cook and prepare ahead of time.
I am certain that after cooking with this book, you will see fruits, nuts, vegetables, grains, lentils, legumes, tofu, and paneer in a different light. You will realize the fun, ease, and simplicity of cooking with them and will appreciate how nutritious, delectable, and environmentally friendly they can be. Even my three-year-old daughter enjoys eating her fruits and vegetables when I use them in these Indian-inspired recipes. I hope you will too!
Enjoy!
Shubhra Ramineni
Enjoying Nature's Bounty
I grew up on a predominantly vegetarian diet, and appreciate the freshness, health benefits, taste, and variety of meatless dishes that can be easily made. After having my daughter, I have become more aware of our food and the ingredients on food labels. I want to ensure that my family eats wholesome, natural foods. My daughter's love of vegetables led to my creating recipes to incorporate her favorite veggies, such as adding broccoli to my original Vegetable Rice Pilaf (page 65) dish.
Like my mother, one of my most enjoyable hobbies is gardening, and my daughter is following in my footsteps. I have learned some great growing tips from my mom for a bountiful garden full of tomatoes, opo squash, eggplants, and okra. It is so fun and rewarding to plant fruits and vegetables, watch them grow, and then harvest them and cook them into delicious dishes for my family and friends to savor. My daughter was so excited when she first saw the oranges on my tree growing bigger and bigger and even more excited when I plucked it for her and peeled it open for us to enjoy!
I find it so exciting when I cook and share vegetarian dishes with my friends from different ethnicities and they are pleasantly surprised at the ease of preparation and great flavors. My Indian friends also are amazed at how vegetables not native to Indian cuisine, such as collard greens and parsnips, can be cooked with Indian spices to create unique and tasty dishes.
With people becoming more health and environment conscious and more aware of where their food comes from and what is in it, cooking and eating more vegetarian meals prepared from fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, lentils, legumes, tofu, and homemade cheese is becoming the norm of healthy living today. Whatever the reason for following the growing trend of vegetarianism, or at least reducing the amount of consumed meat (raised ethically and farmed humanely), there are definitely benefits for your health and the environment. Using Indian influences for cooking techniques and flavors, this book will guide you to easily making healthy and tasty vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free dishes to dine on from breakfast to dinner and from appetizers to desserts. With my simple, nutritious recipes you can enjoy delicious, fresh, unprocessed food without hormones, preservatives, and other chemical pesticides and fertilizers. If you only have frozen vegetables on hand, feel free to use them as well.
Are You a Locavore?
You might be a locavore, and not even know it! Locavores are trying to support local farmers and the planet by being aware of where their food comes from in the world. Locally grown food has a shorter transportation distance, resulting in fresher food and fewer emissions in the environment.
Many people shop their neighborhood farmers markets and food cooperatives (co-ops) for fresh, locally grown seasonal produce, or are joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to receive weekly shares of farm-fresh fruits and vegetables. The contents of their bounty vary depending on seasonality and availability.
Locavores follow the slow food movement that encourages the enjoyment of regional produce that are often grown organically and by sustainable farming methods that protect and conserve natural resources.
If you were ever at a loss of how to prepare your fresh bounty of produce, this book will help to prepare the produce into delicious, flavorful, and satisfying dishes using Indian spices….perhaps juicy pears to make a delightful chutney to spread on your breakfast toast, tender yellow squash to make a spicy curry to enjoy with Basmati rice, or fragrant sweet mangoes to make an unforgettable ice cream for dessert, and so many more recipes for you to relish!
About Indian Spices
My recipes in this book use fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, lentils, legumes, tofu, and cheese that are prepared