For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. 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. Use the additional contents to find First-Timer Recipes, 30-Minute Midweek Meals or Freezer and Store-Cupboard Cooking and follow the seasons with dishes that use ingredients in their prime. 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.

Meera Sodha’s grand vegetable biryani | Financial Times Meera Sodha’s grand vegetable biryani | Financial Times

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. 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. The smell of roasted pumpkin, and curry leaves sizzling in coconut oil, is enough to make anyone want to go to Kerala, which is where a variation of this dish, known as “olan”, originates. 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. Discover everyday recipes using easy to find ingredients, delicious showstoppers and luscious puddings including:

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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. 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 Times Whether you are vegetarian, want to eat more vegetables, or just want to make great, modern Indian food, this is the book for you. 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.

Meera Sodha Cauliflower Korma | Easy Vegetarian Curry Recipe Meera Sodha Cauliflower Korma | Easy Vegetarian Curry Recipe

Walk the streets of Ahmedabad or Rajkot and you’ll come across simple but heavenly potato curries cooked with garlic, mustard seeds, and tomatoes. Or sweet corn cooked in a deeply savory sauce of ground peanuts and yogurt and eggplants that have been smoked over red coals until they become deeply mysterious and creamy.Meera Sodha has made turmeric lattes and a type of mithai (Indian sweet). Rather apologetically, she notes that while things may seem to have gone a bit hipster cafe when we meet in her east London kitchen, both are old Indian recipes. She’d grown up drinking “golden milk” as a cure-all (though health claims on its behalf remain unproven, she hastens to add), and had been busy developing her own spice blend including turmeric, cinnamon and pepper. The sweets are khajur pak – traditionally made by heating dates and nuts, likely cashews, in a pan on the stove, but she blitzed them in a food processor before rolling them into balls and dusting with pistachio and cocoa. “And I added pecans because … well, who doesn’t love pecans?” This pursuit of flavour over tradition has contributed to the success of Fresh India, this year’s winner of Best New Cookbook. 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. 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.” 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.