East: 120 Easy and Delicious Asian-inspired Vegetarian and Vegan recipes

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Once upon a time, pumpkins were the preserve of fairy tales and Halloween. They were admired for their ability to make great props, not for their ability to make great dishes. Today, things are different. The tastiest, liveliest, spice-infused fare this side of the Sabamarti river Guardian on Fresh India

Enticing, inviting and delicious. Vegan and vegetarian dishes that are hard to resist (and why should you?' YOTAM OTTOLENGHI Drain all but two tablespoons of oil from the pan, then fry the cumin and onion for 10-12 minutes, until soft and sweet. Add the garlic, ginger and the chopped and whole chillies, fry for five minutes, then add the ground pepper, tomato puree, soy sauce, sugar and salt. Stir to mix, cook for five minutes, then add the pepper strips and 100ml water. Cover and leave to cook for eight minutes, stirring every now and then, and adding more water if need be: there should be just enough “sauce” to coat the tofu. Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/220°C/425°F/gas 7.Wash the rice in a few changes of cold water until the water runs clear, then leave to soak in cold water.Leave for 10 minutes, then peel the eggs (it sometimes helps to peel under the water to keep them perfect) and drop them into the soy mixture. Add the chillies and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Then add the tamarind and coconut milk, stir, and transfer half the mixture into your second large frying pan. This could and should be a cheap meal, especially if you buy the ingredients from an Asian supermarket (or one online). If you buy more curry leaves and lemongrass than you need, keep them wrapped up in the freezer for next time. Serve with paratha (you can buy these from the freezer section of many Asian supermarkets) or steamed rice. Put a piece of kitchen paper over the eggs to keep them submerged, and place in the fridge. Leave overnight, then remove the eggs from the solution and transfer to an airtight container in the morning. Add the beetroot, salt and 6 tablespoons of water, pop on the lid and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally; if the curry looks a bit dry, add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Take off the lid, stir in the coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes, until the beetroot is tender and the sauce has reduced. Finally, stir in the lime juice and turn off the heat while you get on with the beans.

Thirdly, I’d just had a baby who was a few weeks old. Not only had life just been thrown into chaos with her arrival, but I’d planned to take a whole year off to get to know her. Line an oven tray with baking paper. Put the aubergines on a plate. Put 8 tablespoons of flour on a second, lipped plate, then slowly mix the flour with 180ml of water and ½ teaspoon of salt to make a thin paste. Put the panko on a third plate. Cover both sides of each aubergine slice in the flour paste, shaking off any excess, then press into the panko to coat. Lay the coated slices on the prepared tray and drizzle both sides with oil. Bake for 15 minutes on each side, turn the heat up to 220°C fan/240°C/475°F/gas 9 and cook for 10 minutes more, until crisp, then take out of the oven.I’ve written three best-selling cookbooks, and, since 2017 I’ve written a weekly column for The Guardian called The New Vegan. That’s how I felt when Melissa Denes, an editor at the Guardian, called me. She said they were introducing a new vegan column into the weekend magazine and she wanted me to write it. In my most private moments I had dared to dream about writing a column, but I never seriously thought it would happen. As I weighed up the options, I realized there were a few small problems. There are no frighteningly long ingredient lists or recherché spices - just simple recipes that really work. It's become my go-to Indian cookery book The Times (Books of the Year) on Made in India Sodha, who has written three cookbooks, excels at fresh, vegetable-forward cooking, which often pulls from the Gujarati cuisine she grew up with, as well as other Asian cuisines, but always with results that are entirely her own.”

If you love Asian-style food, then East is a wonderful resource if you want to start cooking more of it at home – without the meat. A lot of the recipes are great for time-poor cooks and, although the odd recipe does ask for more specialist ingredients, it primarily caters to those who can only make it to their local convenience store. If you’re looking to expand your repertoire of vegetarian dishes or want to learn a bit more about how to use spices, then East will do that for you. The biggest limitation of all was not being able to travel to the countries whose food I wanted to explore further. When writing my Indian cookbooks, I had traveled for months at a time, taking sharp turns when someone recommended a new dish, or a cook I had to meet. But Arya was still so young and dependent on me, and I didn’t want to leave her. This time, I traveled by reading: I followed Fuchsia Dunlop around the streets of Chengdu and saw 1990s Jakarta through Madhur Jaffrey’s eyes.

This was an amazing opportunity that had come at the worst possible time. I had every reason to say no, but I said yes. She has a seemingly magic ability to tell you exactly the detail you need to make a dish sing. This book is a godsend Bee Wilson, Sunday Times

I landed first on a paneer, tomato and kale saag. The photo was the lure for me – cubes of fried cheese nestled in a creamy coconut sauce – as well as the fact that I already had most of the ingredients in my cupboard. Meera explains in the introduction that this recipe persuaded her to finally fall in love with kale – and persuasive it is. Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in the same pan and, when hot, return the ground spices with the onions, salt and curry leaves. Fry for 10 to 12 minutes, until the onions are golden and crisp-edged. Meanwhile, cut the vine tomatoes into eighths and the baby tomatoes in half. Heat a large frying pan on a medium flame and, when hot, toast the fennel, mustard, cumin and coriander seeds for a minute or two, shaking the pan every few seconds, until the coriander seeds turn golden (coriander always takes first). Tip the seeds into a mortar and bash until fairly well ground. To cook the eggs, take a saucepan just big enough to hold the eggs snugly (so they can’t rattle around too much), fill it half full of water and bring to the boil over a medium-high heat. When the water is at a rolling boil, gently lower the eggs into the water using a large spoon.Something happens to me when I get within 10 miles of Leicester. I crave chilli tofu: the urge is so strong, I swear I can smell it the closer I get to into the city. To serve, divide your noodles between four bowls and ladle the broth and greens over the noodles. If you’re serving the eggs, halve and pop on top, along with some chilli oil if you like. Enticing, inviting and delicious. Vegan and vegetarian dishes that are hard to resist (and why should you?).” The book is divided into 11 sections; you can search by a specific meal such as salads, noodles and curries or take inspiration from the ingredient-lead sections for recipes with rice, tofu, pulses and eggs. Next, take a bowl that will fit all the eggs and put a couple of handfuls of ice in it. Add cold water to the bowl so it’s three-quarters full, and leave to one side.