At the heart of every one of my recipes is a place called Gujarat. It’s where, as long as anyone can remember, our family came from. And although my family has now settled in England, we are still Gujarati, and day in day out we talk, think, and eat like Gujaratis. I have tried some of the recipes, I tend to tweak them a bit, I did the sweet potato vindaloo and substituted the sweet potato for aubergine and it was delicious. The method for cooking samosas worked really well. There are lots that I'm really excited about trying and there's plenty here you can get ideas from. Most are vegan but the handful of egg and paneer recipes suggest you could substitute with tofu. Most of the ingredients are easy to source from a supermarket. Several recipes use tamarind and fresh curry leaves which I will have to wait until I go to the city to get these, but most are easily achievable without fancy or hard to find ingredients. If you’re using fresh corn, pull off the husks and any loose silky threads. Bring a pan of water to the boil and carefully lower in the cobs. Boil for around 8 minutes, until tender. Drain, then wash under cold water. To slice off the kernels, make sure the cob sits flat (slice off the stem on the bottom of the cob if not) and place in a shallow dish. Hold the pointy end firmly with one hand and, with the other, slice close to the core, letting the blade move down the cob.

Fresh India: 130 Quick, Easy, and Delicious Vegetarian

In Gujarat, cabbages and potatoes are near deities. In Lincolnshire, where they are the main crops, the same is true. A great cookbook with such a wide variety of traditional Indian dishes which you won’t find at your local takeaway. Gujarat, a small state on the western coast of India, has had a very big impact on Indian food culture. It all started in 269 BC when Emperor Ashoka banned the slaughter of any living animal in the name of peace. Since that time, the majority of the millions of Hindus in the state have been vegetarian. Over thousands of years, a rich and resourceful vegetable-first way of cooking has evolved. Home cooks, restaurant chefs, and street-food stallholders alike have all been creating simple but extraordinary dishes, using just what grows on the land and is in season. Put a tablespoon of oil into a large lidded frying pan over a medium heat and, when hot, add the cubes of paneer. Fry for a couple of minutes until golden on all sides, turning regularly, then remove to a plate.

From the book: Fresh India: 130 Quick, Easy and Delicious Recipes for Every Day

Discover everyday recipes using easy to find ingredients, delicious showstoppers and luscious puddings including: Sodha wanted to shine a light not only on Gujarati food, but on the rich variety of Indian cooking, so at odds with the brown, indistinct rogan joshes, kormas and baltis of some high-street curry houses. “Brits have this fierce love of Indian food and I think those restaurants took that love for granted,” she says. Increasing interest in food in the UK means people travelling to India are emboldened to discover the diversity of the cuisine, and she thinks British people are also excited to use local produce in new ways. When writing recipes for Fresh India, Sodha would consider whether to use the vegetable in a twist on a traditional recipe – her matar paneer dish uses two types of peas – or to use Indian spices to create something new. “The salad section is entirely new because India doesn’t really do salads.” To celebrate the release of Meera Sodha’s hotly anticipated cookbook, Fresh India, a team of Happy Foodies have been cooking from the book all week. Find out how they got on with Meera’s recipes in their kitchens at home.

Meera Sodha - The Happy Foodie Meera Sodha - The Happy Foodie

My second book, Fresh India, was published in July 2016 and is a celebration of India’s love of vegetables. It won The Observer Food Monthly’s Best New Cookbook. Meanwhile, put 2 tablespoons of oil into a large lidded frying pan over a medium heat and, when hot, add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the chillies and onion. Cook for 12 minutes, until the onion is soft and golden, then add the garlic. Cook for another couple of minutes, then add the beans and stir to mix together. Add the tomatoes and cook for a few more minutes until soft and jammy around the edges. In this collection, Meera serves up a feast of over 130 delicious recipes collected from three generations of her family: there’s everything from hot chappatis to street food, fragrant curries, to colourful side dishes and mouth-watering puddings. MADE IN INDIA will change the way you cook, eat, and think about Indian food, forever. Praise for Made in India Indian cuisine is one of the most vibrant vegetable cuisines in the entire world, and in Fresh India Meera leads home cooks on a culinary journey through its many flavorful dishes that will delight vegetarians and those simply looking to add to their recipe repertoire alike. What I thought:Hara Bara kebabs are so easy to make with common ingredients and taste super delicious. All ingredients can be found in a local supermarket.Put the oil into a large lidded frying pan and, when hot, add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the onions and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, until soft and golden brown. In the meantime, peel the potatoes and cut into 2cm cubes. When the onions are ready, add the ginger and garlic to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the potatoes and 200ml of water. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. I grew up here in England in a small farming village in Lincolnshire. Behind our house were fields bursting with potatoes, leeks, corn, and chard, and down the road, mustard, cauliflower, and all sorts of greens. Mum adopted and adapted, spicing all this produce to make our very own special dishes, from zucchini kofta to green bean bhajis, rhubarb chutney, and even rainbow chard saag. With every dish, you could see the Gujarati resourcefulness and creativity at work.

Meera Sodha Books – Meera Sodha

Whether you are vegetarian, want to eat more vegetables, or just want to make great, modern Indian food, this is the book for you. This is a perfect finger food that can be served as a starter or as a main meal. Me and my friends stuffed the kebabs into garlic pitta bread added chilli sauce and lime Raita. I’ve written three best-selling cookbooks, and, since 2017 I’ve written a weekly column for The Guardian called The New Vegan. Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the “Settings & Account” section. What happens at the end of my trial?Sodha is a former vegetarian, and more than half the 60-million population who live in Gujarat eat a meat-free diet. “As a result, this incredible cuisine evolved that was very innovative.” Agricultural Lincolnshire was also an inspiration: “It’s like a giant larder.” Add the crushed coriander and cumin, followed by the potatoes. Cook for 10 minutes, turning every now and then until crispy. Add a couple of tablespoons of water, cover with the lid and cook for a further 5 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and no longer resist the point of a knife. Others have come from my experiments in the kitchen, taking classic Indian techniques and flavors and imagining something new. After all, I’m sure I’m not the only one who has wondered what an Indian salad could look and taste like. Although Gujarat in particular is famous for this, a similar story exists all across India. For hundreds of millions of people in India, vegetarianism is not a choice but a way of life. In her stunning new collection, Meera Sodha puts vegetables at the centre of the table. Drawing from her ‘New Vegan’ Guardian column, East also features plenty of brand-new recipes inspired by a wide range of Asian cuisines, from India to Indonesia, China to Singapore, by way of Thailand and Vietnam. There are noodles, curries, rice dishes, salads and bakes, all surprisingly easy to make and bursting with exciting flavours. East will show you how to whip up a swede laksa and a chard potato and coconut curry; how to make Kimchi pancakes or silken tofu with pine nuts. There are sweet potato momos for starters and unexpected desserts like salted miso brownies.

Fresh India: 130 Quick, Easy and Delicious Vegetarian Recipes Fresh India: 130 Quick, Easy and Delicious Vegetarian Recipes

You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. The recipes are unpretentious and were immediately promoted by my family of critics into must-makes for the monthly dinner rotation, new staples for a season of chill and damp." —Sam Sifton, The New York TimesThis is the best cookbook I've ever used. Recipes are all excellent, easy to follow and adapt to available ingredients. Has introduced me to loads of new ideas. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. But my aim with this book is not to preach or to write only for vegetarians: it is to inspire you to cook a different, fresher, vegetable-led type of Indian food. To honor the seasons and what grows in our fields, and also to celebrate the way that hundreds of millions of Indians eat, and the Gujarati way of thinking. This is a beautiful book to look through! I love looking at great food, this has lots of very attractive pictures of vegetables and bright images of Indian art and illustrations. If you enjoy looking through cookery books for fun this is highly recommended.