Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking

It took me a long time to write this review. I first bought this book back in 2000, as a student new to the United States. While I still relied on a few key regional cookbooks that I bought from India for my everyday cooking , along with some recipes jotted by my mother, I hungered for a book that would take away the guesswork and assumptions and improve my hit rate ( Which was quite dismal when I began). I did not want to waste time and precious $ on flop recipes.Also, I now had to work with a selection of ingredients, esp veggies, that were a little different than what I was used to before. Thus, needed to find a cookbook that was more relevant.After looking through the selection of cookbooks available on amazon, I bought "Lord Krishna's Cuisine".Simply put, it was a revelation. I got an insight into many basic things that the cooks I learnt from, including my mom, never articulated (because its second nature to them).For example, Poori / Puri - The fried bread. You need to roll out the dough into uniform thickness else, you wont get the proper ballooning effect when you fry. Maybe common sense to many - not to me. That explained why parts of my poori puffed up and the other parts remained flat.Or Paneer - its important to maintain the correct ratio of the cutting acid to milk to ensure that you get a sweet tasting paneer. I did not know what the ratio was until I saw the clearly laid out table in this book.Now, that I am experienced cook, I depend on my instinct more than measurements but I still use this book as a solid reference to turn to whenever I need to make a dish that's more complicated.The section on sweets is also very thorough and excellent - However, some Americans may find Indian sweets a little cloying because of the high sugar ratio.To Sum it up:1. This book is a very very worthwhile addition. It focuses a lot on technique which is great for newbies or for people that are trying to perfect their recipes .2. Its mostly focused on North Indian cooking ( A good companion south Indian cookbook, for ex , could be Dakshin).3. The use of ghee in this book is excessive in my opinion. I tend to use ghee as a flavoring agent than a main medium.4. The repeated references to Yamuna devi's Guru & all his culinary demands is a little too much for me , but its a small price to pay for this gem.

I love this cookbook so much i have it twice. I first bought hard copy -- but i found it difficult to read -- the book was SO large it was heavy to hold -- and the print seemed microscopic! I saw the kindle version on sale and bought it too. What an incredible repertory of Indian vegetarian cooking!! No onion or garlic (ayurvedic or Jain cuisines do not have these -- and for dietary reasons that suits me best). I go back to this cookbook again and again. The kindle version allows me to bookmark and make notes on dozens of recipes. If you are only going to get ONE Indian cookbook, this should be the one. Usually i love glossy pics -- this doesnt have it or need it. I have tried MANY recipes from it and some are so incredible i make again and again -- the moong dal soups (look, just buy it!) and I just tried the creamy potatoes with lemon pepper. (Just get it.) This is an encyclopedia. I HIGHLY recommend. You deserve this book.

Hands down, probably the best Indian vegetarian cookbook you can buy.

I LOVE THIS BOOK!! Without a doubt the most well loved and used cookbook in my kitchen. I received it as a gift over 12 years ago when I was just learning to cook and was exploring the world of vegetarian and Indian cuisine. For a long time I was very intimidated by the long list of spices needed for many of the recipes and so it languished. After a few years I moved across the country and still recognizing its huge potential, brought along the cookbook. I found myself in a new job cooking for a large and varied group of people in a kitchen well stocked with all those spices I never knew where to find before. I threw fear out the window, dove right in, and never looked back. I'm so glad I did! I honestly can't remember a single time when I was let down by a recipe in this book. I love the large selection of griddle baked breads, also chickpeas in a creamy karhi sauce, char-flavored spiced eggplant and potatoes (definitely try making a charchari!), pumpkin pakoras, piquant lemon rice, golden pumpkin toovar dal soup, just to name a few. Devi did a great job writing this book, describing techniques, ingredients, menus, and a sprinkling of culture in detail, without making assumptions and leaving you behind to wonder what exactly she meant. The range of recipes is still astounding to me, yet she includes recipes and thorough instructions for very basic things like ghee and paneer. There is a detailed glossary for ingredients, equipment, and techniques, even a small section of Hindi terms and translations. Be aware that this is a vegetarian AND vedic cookbook, so no meat. Also no onions, no garlic, no mushrooms. However, I have yet to find this to be a detriment in any way. If you are also looking for Indian cookbooks that include meat and onions etc, check out Madhur Jaffrey, her books have also never failed me.

Highly recommend this book. Indian and Non-Indian will benefit from this book. Reminds me of the long ago "Joy of cooking" cookbook in some ways that someone gave me as a gift - Lots of very clear instructions. Everything you need to know all in one book, about spices, what are they, etc, about cooking any recipe, etc.. very educational.The recipes for the samosa's are as they are supposed to be and taste. Follow to a "T" any of these recipes and you won't go wrong. I am now buying this for my kindle access (but still keeping my hardcover book!)

Best vegetarian recipes book

The media could not be loaded.  Srila Prabhupad used to say if we have rice, dals and milk products we can make 1000 dishes.. and we get a clear idea of how it can be done through this book!We get to know some amazing tricks to keep rice piping hot for an hour, to make moong dal divinely aromatic we add some powder after switching off the gas and many other interesting tips even for experienced chefs!Pros:1. We have all details about cooking including the whole india Map to get an idea from where the recipe or garam masala comes!2. Rice varieties 25 kinds like Sada Chawal, Khara Chawal, obla Chawal, haldi Chawal, masala Hari Mataram Pulav, Gobi Pulav, Baigan Pukav, Choti baingan Pulav, Sabji ki Chawal, Badam Sabji ki Chawal, Gajar Pulav, Nimbu Bath, Dahi bath, Dadhydhana, Aloo Pulav, ...Badi Barbatti Pulav.. etc... Unimaginable!3. 33 kinds of breads like : chapati, dahi chapati, Chenna Chapathi, phulka, papita phulka, taza makkai roti, makkai roti, moti roti, began thepla, paratha, aloo paratha, gobhi paratha, Hari Matar paratha, moola paratha, meeta paratha, makai paratha,werki paratha, poori, dahi poori, masala poori, aloo poori, til poori, methi poori, luchi, bhatura, baati, dhokla naan etc -4. VEGETABLES - 103 KINDS!!! Some of them are : Badaam shukta, toray hari Matar charchari, panic bhara baingan, bhara Bhindi, baingan bharta, kacha Kela sak, pudina dahi shorba, sabji doodh shorba, aloo dum, gobhi aloo dum, panir maharani, Hari mirch bhaji, gobhi aloo bhaji, bhona baingan bhaji, mooli kaddu foogath, aviyal,barbatti badi sabji, Gajar sabji, neem baigan, khatte aloo methi, khasa aloo bhaji, ekadasi arbi aloo bada... and many Many more..5.Dairy products and dairy based dishes - 53: like: home made butter, cardamom orange butter, aam makhan, sada ghee, jeera ghee, adrak ghee, dahi, dekhin, Chennai, khatte panir, khoa, danedar, kabhi Chana Kari,toovar kofta karhi, palak raita, Bhindi raita, palak panir sak, Chenna malai Dalna, Chenna khas khas Tikka and many more...6. Salads - 25 kinds!!7. Chutneys: 30 varieties!!8. Sauces and Relishes: 25 kinds!!!!!9. Light meals and savories: 17 kinds like aloo tikki, ekadasi saboo aloo tikki, sooji upma, kaji muri chiwda etc.10. Snacks and nibblers: 20 kinds!! Like sakarpara, masala sev, nimkin, mathri,chakli, giantha, moong dalmot..etc..11. Sweets: 64 kinds!!!!! Like burfis, Laddus, halvas, Sandeshs, rasagollas, peras, dilbar, malpoora, gulab jamun, jilebi, mysore pak, gaja, payasas, kheers, phirni, mithais, tilkuta, kuliya etc..12. Beverages: 34 kinds like: ekadasi khara nimbu Pani, sharbats, lassis, panch amrit, badaam doodh, thadai, seb ras etc!!13. Even under A-Z General information there are all recipes for chat masala Garam masala - 8 kinds based on different states!!! All required details for a novice in cooking are given here and all through the book as and when required! Even experts in cooking will learn a lot about cooking only from this book..This book is written from the heart as learnt from an expert Indian Sanyasi Srila Prabhupad by his disciple matchlessly!!I am going to try out different dals and different subjis and different menus from this book daily and learn the art of cooking as taught by this kind hearted author of the book!Cons:For those who are looking for making bread 🍞NO RECIPE OF BREAD( as breads are not recommended for daily consumption but rotis are more healthier and the author teaches only only healthy stuff..Even gulab jamun butter ghee are taught from scratch as a healtgier option, which many people may not find time to do, when ready made gulab jamun mix are available in market though ready stuff is always unhealthy!I suggest just buy the hard bound version as we will use it daily and we will be able to maintain the hardbound book very nicely as it's a very very useful book and THE BEST BOOK FOR A COOKING ENTHUSIAST!! If you can afford you can give this to your near and dear ones on their weddings and they will fall in love with the book.The recipies may not appear very authentic but THEY ARE TRULY DIVINE and divinity in taste and aroma overtakes even authentic food for the open hearted cooks and open hearted foodies..

The story:Having decided this Autumn/Winter I would learn to cook wholesome Indian fare, I needed to obtain books able to teach/inspire me. Whilst reading reviews regarding a book I was reviewing myself, I stumbled across one posted in 2017 which stated: ‘If you want a great comprehensive Indian vegetarian cookbook then you probably can't go past The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi. It's 10 times the book that ... is and without all the glossy pictures’.My initial reaction was that the review was somewhat harsh, so decided to get the book and see why it was deemed so praiseworthy ÜThe book:Comprising of 799 pages in hardcover, with gaudy ©1960/70s style font type to front board and boasting the IACP cookbook of the year logo; International Association of Culinary Professionals (who annually celebrate the year's most outstanding food and beverage publications) with backboard outlining the features of the book.Measuring H26.5cmxW19.25cmxD5.25cm. this is a heavy tome of a book.Following on from the dedication to Srila Prabhupada, About the Author and Acknowledgements pages, there is a monochrome map of India. The table of Contents lists everything one can expect from an Indian repertoire. The Introduction, How to Use the Recipes, How to Measure the Recipes and the Weights & Measures pages precedes the initial chapter covering Rice.There are 25 different rice recipes to try! I didn’t know this, but you can par-boil rice and then finish it off in the oven, for guaranteed fluffy separate rice; learn something new every day and that was only page 7.Dal: 37 recipes, Breads: 33 recipes, Vegetables: 103 recipes, Dairy Products & Dairy based dishes: 53 recipes, Salads: 26 recipes, Chutneys: 30 recipes, Sauces & Relishes: 25 recipes, Light Meals & Savouries: 83 recipes, Snacks & Nibblers: 20 recipes, Sweets: 64 recipes and finally Drinks: 34 recipes.Follow this by the A-Z of General Information which commences with a ‘dictionary’ starting at Aduki beans (American spelling) and ending with Zest. There is then a two-page narrative regarding Srila Prabhupada. The Glossary of Hindi Terms & Pronunciation Guide covers 6.25 pages followed by the General Index of 26.25 pages.The verdict:Shallow as this may seem, the visual appearance of a book must be appealing for me to even consider looking at the content, let alone buy it. This definitely is a book which I would have otherwise bypassed.It is known, Indians LOVE their salt. So as this purports to be of authentic Indian fare, there is a lot of salt, by Western standards. Therefore, don’t go willy-nilly adding the quantities specified, you can’t take it out once it’s in, Taste as You Go and make note of what you’ve used so next time you know how much to add or whatever is useful to you.I was surprised at the variety of oils used. Ghee, as far as I was aware is THE oil used in that part of the world. Yet Corn oil, Sesame oil, basic Vegetable oil and mustard oil are used, which threw me somewhat. Of course as experimental cooks one does not have to follow instructions to the letter and can stick to the authentic Ghee or use coconut oil or whatever your preference/health conscience choice may be. For vegans who miss the taste of ghee, there are Indian produced vegan ghee alternatives available from the larger supermarkets.Garlic, Leeks, Mushrooms, Onions and Shallots are not used in any of the recipes, both as foods and seasonings. Vedic vegetarians avoid them because they are considered ‘rajasic’:Rajasic foods are irritants and stimulants, making the mind more agitated and susceptible to temptation, which means it tends towards anger, hate and manipulation © nithyananda.orgOnion and Garlic are not offered to Krishna (God) and they are in the mode of passion. They also increase blood circulation and garlic is known to be an aphrodisiac and therefore not recommended for those trying to remain celibate or practising forms of bhakti yoga. Mushrooms are in the mode of ignorance, Prabhupada did not allow them and they are considered unclean © jaladutaexpress.blogspot.comAgain the experimental cook does not have to follow a recipe to the letter and if you love garlic, use it. I noticed that one reviewer stated that the book would not be used for lack of alliums ... what a shame. I absolutely adore garlic, but to eat Indian fare without it may not be so bad occasionally. There are a lot of spices in the foods which will compensate anyway and the addition of hing which is liken to leeks and onion will increase this compensation.There is a reference to something called half & half; I had no idea what that was but the good old net informed me that it’s half whole milk and half heavy cream. Whoa.Within the recipes, suggestions are made with regard to other dishes in the book that would pair. However, the pages where to locate them are not indicated; meaning that one has to go to the lengthy index to find them; whilst not the end of the world, it could be inconvenient for those who would prefer to flick through to the other recipe(s) in a thrice.There are absolutely no photographs, monochrome line drawings/illustrations only and not many of those. So if you are the type that relishes pictorial narrative and end product views, this is not the book for you.Being vegan myself I won’t be partaking in making dairy products or dairy based dishes, but there is plenty here for vegans to use.My personal niggling gripes:Having been raised within a religious doctrine, time coupled with awareness has altered my belief system to embrace science and forego my early learning in this regard. Therefore the spiritual concept enshrined within the book, for me, is rebarbative (off-putting).There are many recipes that call for asafoetida (hing). The writer uses a specific brand and with each mention an asterisk is added. Follow the asterisk to be advised: Reduce any other asafoetida by three-fourths.Who says three-fourths? Three-quarters yes but three-fourths! For some reason, this has irritated the heck out of me ÖThe author has spent years researching the recipes throughout India and has featured the history and culture of each dish and recommended food pairings. Traditional recipes have been adapted for preparation in modern kitchens and from what I have seen all ingredients are readily available in the UK. This is a reference book as well as a recipe book and if I decide to keep it, one which I will use - often.This is an adults’ cookbook comprehensive in its content along the lines of Larousse or Beeton containing all the fundamentals to create from scratch Garam Masala, of which there are 8 styles to choose from, Ghee, chapattis, paneer and everything else you can think of. This tome will last a lifetime and you will need a lifetime to cook everything in it.So, is this book 10 times better?The two are worlds apart and each has its merits. I enjoy the ‘glossy pictures’ of the other book, but equally the lack of pictures in this book has not made it less enjoyable for me.

I was in search of an Indian cooking bible, something like Julia Child's Art of French Cooking. Of South Asian origin myself, I was taught that Madhur Jaffrey was the go-to, but found her recipes - at least the older books - quite a palaver. Rick Stein is great if you want that huge spice kick I crave sometimes, though he's better with meat dishes. There are loads of popular Indian cookbooks for those that want to occasionally cook something Indian-ish, but despite all the 5-star reviews, these generally tend to be under spiced and targeted to western palates.What I wanted was something with the authentic flavours and spice grouping that I get whenever I go back to India, a reference that would actually show me the how-to and why so that eventually, I would be able to cook Indian dishes without recipes. This book definitely fit the bill. Clear and precise directions on the proper way to soak basmati, how to make homemade dahi and parathas and all sorts of dishes I never even knew existed. It is a cooking course in a book.No, there are no pictures - there are a few drawings - and I thought this would bother me, but it doesn't, perhaps because I'm already familiar with many of the dishes. The recipes are thorough and straightforward.I was a little miffed when I read the vegetable section and realised this was 'Vedic' cooking, i.e. no onions or garlic. This sounded like sacrilege for someone who grew up to the smell of fried onions and garlic. But I took it as an opportunity to properly learn how to handle Indian spices and aromatics.I've only tried 2 recipes so far - have marked up plenty to try in the future - and both my wife and I (both South Asian) were very pleased with the results. They were in line with what we would expect from home cooking/dhabas in South Asia and this is precisely what I wanted.

I like to cook and have a selection of receipt books. Now, about this book - when i first opened it, it looked like a very big book with hundreds of vegetarian recipes. I personally like books with lots of colour pictures, but this one has none :-). So, what is so great about this book!! Well, just to give you an example, I was trying out a sweet recipe ( a delicacy from South India).But, I went to the youtube and watched a few videos and committed a blunder trying to follow those recipes. Finally, I turned to this book and followed the recipe from this book and the dish turned out to be perfect. Now, this has become my favourite recipe book.

I bought this book in 2007 because I liked the look of an all-vegetarian cookbook of Indian food. I had not expected that it would be so completely comprehensive- it is equivalent to tomes such as Mrs Beeton or Larousse Gastronomique, in that it contains the fundamentals from the ground upwards, of how to create all the standard stuff from Chapatis and Ghee and home made yoghurt and panir, right up to complex dishes of all sorts- encompassing the entire range of what the Indian Subcontinent, arguably the world leaders in vegetarian cuisine, can create from what sometimes seem like simple ingredients.It is a grown up cookbook with no pictures, bar some simple line drawings, but this by no means diminishes its enjoyability- with more than 500 recipes it would be foolish to attempt to illustrate it more richly. I would advise starting with a few dishes which sound familiar, and prepare to be amazed. For example, the Mung Bean and Panir dish on page 69, whilst sounding potentially rather ordinary and maybe a bit more whole-foody than some would want from a bog standard 'curry' book, turns out to be an astoundingly delicious dish which we return to gleefully every time we get the opportunity- and its so simple.There are 50 sections which span the whole gamut of what many would consider to be the full, joyous and colorful spectrum of Indian Food, I am going to list them all here so you can see just how thorough a work this is:RiceDal SoupsWhole Bean Dishes, Dal and Rice dishes, Sun dried dal badisGriddle baked breads, Griddle fried Breads, Shallow Fried Breads, Deep fried breads, Bread VariationsDry textured vegetables, moist vegetables, fried vegetables, vegetable soups, leafy green vegetables, seasoned veegatble purees, stuffed vegetables, char-flavoured charcharis, shukta: vegetable stewsDairy: Home made butter, ghee, Home made yoghurt, cheese and other milk products, creamy yoghurt kahri, yoghurt salads, panir and chenna dishesSalads: Little salads, side-dish saladsChutneys: Fresh Chutneys, Cooked ChutneysSauces and Relishes: "A touch of sauce", Pickles, Jams and PreservesLight meals and savories: Pakoras: vegetable fritters, koftas: fried vegetable balls, deep fried savoury stuffed pastries, thin dosa pancakes, cake-like iddli dumplings, fired dal patties, puffs and balls, Pan fried vegetable patties, light-meal favourites.Snacks and nibblersSweets: Quick and easy sweets, Halva, Chenna Cheese confections, juicy chenna cheese sweets, milk fudges, syrup sweets, classic milk puddings, fresh fruit dessertsBeverages: Fruit Juices and Syrups, Chilled Dairy drinks, Warming drinksI strongly advise that if you want one, rock-solid volume to last you a lifetime, you buy this book for an ongoing voyage of discovery, experimentation- and groaning tables full of delicious Indian food. You will not be disappointed!