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Introduction

India has around 500 million vegetarians. However, dairy products are eaten extensively, especially in the north of India. Indian cuisine is nevertheless very tasty and can add interest to a vegan diet. Do be careful though, because if you get too used to the spicy flavour of Indian food you may find that food originating from other areas of the world starts to taste rather bland in comparison!

Despite the widespread use of dairy products in Indian cuisine, vegetarian Indian cookery books can be an excellent source of vegan recipes. Below, I have listed three vegetarian cookery books, which I think you will find especially useful and also a vegan Indian cookery book that contains many excellent recipes. Do look out for these books in your local library. Vegetarian Indian recipes can, in any case, usually be easily adapted by substituting soya milk, soya cream, or soya yogurt for any dairy ingredients. Similarly, if butter or ghee (which is sometimes made from clarified butter) are listed in the ingredients, then just use some vegetable oil instead.

The main disadvantage of Indian cuisine is that it can be quite high in fat. Fat is often considered to be necessary to provide texture to a curry. In addition, many Indian dishes, breads and snacks are either fried or deep-fried in oil. Personally, I don't believe that all this fat is necessary. I never deliberately add fat when I make curry and I also avoid frying spices in hot fat, a procedure that is recommended in some recipes. Frying spices in this way may indeed bring out their flavour, but heating fats to high temperatures can be damaging and is consequently best avoided. Instead I just soften my vegetables and spices in a little water, rather than frying them in fat. Alternatively, spices can simply be dry roasted in a hot pan. Fortunately, there's no shortage of low-fat Indian recipes. Do try out some of the low-fat recipes listed in The Low Fat Vegetarian Archive. Incidentally, if you decide to go out for a meal in a non-vegan, Indian restaurant, remember to check that your meal does not contain any butter and that any ghee used in the cooking of your meal was of vegetable origin. Paneer (which is the Indian equivalent of 'cottage cheese') is an important source of protein in many vegetarian Indian meals. Paneer (panir) is made from whole milk, which has been curdled with either vinegar or lemon juice. It is most commonly deep-fried in small chunks. So again do look out for it, if you eat out in an Indian restaurant.

A Typical Indian Meal

In a traditional Indian meal all of the dishes are usually served at once, rather than Western style as three set courses. The dishes are placed in the centre of the table and each diner selects a little of each of the dishes they want to eat, eating the food in whatever order they choose. A typical Indian meal would consist of two or three spiced side dishes, a pulse dish (such as a dal), maybe a curry and either a bread or a rice dish. Chutney, raita and perhaps a salad would be served as accompaniments. In the south of India though, the traditional way of serving an Indian vegetarian meal is as a thali. A thali consists of small portions of various dishes, presented in five or six small bowls known as katoris, which are served on a round metal tray (or occasionally on a banana leaf!). Each tray is a complete meal for one person and usually consists of a selection of vegetable dishes, a dal, a chutney and a raita, with a mound of rice piled in the centre of the tray. Another important regional difference is that in northern India food tends to be more mildly spiced and the meal is typically eaten with bread, whereas in southern India food tends to be much hotter and is more likely to be eaten with rice.

Spices

Spices play a prominent role in Indian cuisine, providing not only flavour and colour, but also helping to preserve the food. Many spices aid digestion and have antiseptic or medicinal properties as well. If you are new to Indian cookery you will probably need to stock up on spices. In fact it's not unusual for an Indian recipe to contain six or more different spices. Because dried spices can be quite expensive to buy (especially if they are purchased ready packaged in spice jars from a supermarket) it's well worth shopping around. Try to buy spices in small amounts if possible, as this will ensure maximum freshness and help to reduce your costs. Loose dried spices are sometimes sold in packets in health shops, but are best purchased from a local Asian store if there's one near you. It's also worth looking out for them in fair trade shops. Fresh spices (such as ginger root, garlic and chilli peppers) can often be purchased cheaply from a local vegetable market stall. (Such market stalls sometimes offer a good selection of Asian vegetables, too.) If possible purchase whole dried spices and grind them yourself, just before you use them, in a small coffee grinder. Always store dried spices either in an airtight container, or in individual spice jars. Fresh spices are best stored in the fridge, although ginger can be frozen.

The spices most commonly used in Indian cookery include: cardamoms, chillies, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, coriander, curry leaves, fenugreek, garam masala, garlic, ginger root, mango powder, mustard seeds (black and yellow), nutmeg, saffron and turmeric. According to a recent article in The Times (7 January, 2004) turmeric has many beneficial properties and may help to counter digestive problems such as bloating, stomach cramps and irritable bowel syndrome. It contains curcumin, which not only has a potent anti-inflammatory action, but has also been shown to have anti-cancer properties and to stimulate bile production too (bile being necessary for the proper digestion of fats). All in all then, turmeric is a pretty powerful spice. So don't be afraid to use it liberally in Indian recipes in order to provide both colouring and flavouring.

Breads

Bread forms the basis of most meals in the north of India. It is usually made from chapati flour, or sometimes from gram flour, which is made from chickpeas. Most Indian breads are unleavened, the exception being naan bread, which uses yeast and/or yogurt as a rising agent. The bread is cooked in many different ways. Puris and bhatura are deep fried Indian breads, whereas naan bread is usually cooked under a hot grill or in a tandoor oven. Chapatis are probably the most famous of Indian breads, commonly being used to scoop up and eat spicy curries. Measuring 15-17 cm in diameter, chapatis are usually cooked on a hot griddle (also known as a tava or thawa), although in India they can be cooked on a naked flame until they puff up. Similarly, parathas and rotlis are also cooked on a hot griddle. Most traditional Indian breads resemble flat discs of varying diameters. If you are unfamiliar with the many different kinds of Indian bread, then most supermarkets now stock a wide selection. To familiarise yourself, do pop in and take a look. (Although, of course it's much more fun to make your own!) Bread is best eaten with a nut or pulse dish for good protein balance, but it can be eaten with most kinds of curry.

Rice Dishes

In the south of India rice is more likely to accompany a meal than bread. Basmati rice is the best kind of rice to serve with an Indian meal, although patna, or a brown or white long-grained rice could be used as an alternative. Also look out for pawa (puffed or flaked rice), which has a short cooking time and is often available from Asian stores. Rich Indian dishes are best accompanied with plain, unflavoured boiled rice. However, rice dishes certainly don't need to be dull! Popular flavourings that can be used to add interest to rice dishes include: spices, fruit, vegetables, nuts, coconut, pulses and saffron, the latter adding colour as well as flavour to the rice. Saffron is grown in Kashmir and I expect that most of you know already that it is produced from the stigmas of the saffron crocus. It's fairly easy to buy saffron in the UK, although it can be expensive. Occasionally, turmeric (which is much cheaper) is used to colour rice instead. Exotic Indian rice dishes include pilafs (pullav), khichadi (made from basmati rice and split green moong lentils) and biryani, which originates from south-central India. Incidentally, I would heartily recommend the Kashmiri Pilau recipe in Linda Majzlik's book: A Vegan Taste of India. This rice recipe contains pineapple (I use fresh pineapple instead of tinned) and dried fruit and is so tasty that I usually eat a double portion of it by itself for a main meal. Incidentally, when cooking rice it is well worth cooking rather more than you need, as plain, leftover rice can easily be stir-fried with other ingredients to quickly produce an exciting new dish. In addition, many Indian rice dishes taste nice when served cold as a salad and could perhaps be eaten the following day for lunch.

Pulses and Legumes

I am not going to cover legumes in great detail in this article because I expect that most of you are already quite familiar with them. High in fibre, they are an important source of non-animal protein in the vegan diet. Peas, chickpeas, mung beans and black-eyed beans are the legumes that you are most likely to come across in vegetarian Indian recipes. Don't forget that legume and lentil dishes are best eaten with either rice or bread to make a complete protein.

However, because it is possible that some of you may be unfamiliar with the different kinds of lentils that are used in Indian cookery, I intend to cover these in more depth here. You may have already come across masoor dal, which is just another name for the commonplace split red lentil. But there is also toor (toovar) dal, which is a yellow split lentil and urid dal, which is a whole black lentil. Moong dal, chana dal (a small dark chickpea) are also extensively used in Indian recipes. These lentils are sometimes sold in large supermarkets, but you are much more likely to come across the more unusual ones in a Asian grocery store. Whole green and brown lentils are also frequently used in Indian cuisine and are usually readily available from health food shops and supermarkets. Lentils can simply be cooked in with a rice dish. However, they are more commonly used to make a dal (also known as daal, dhal, etc), which resembles a thick soup and usually forms one of the dishes served at an Indian meal. Cooked lentils are also found in some ready-prepared Indian snacks such as Bombay Mix - more about this later though.

Curries

The main dish served at an Indian meal is usually a curry. Vegetarian Indian cookery books contain many delicious recipes for vegetable curries. Often these recipes are suitable for vegans, or they can easily be made so by substituting soya yogurt, milk, or cream for the dairy ingredients in the recipe. Despite their reputation, in fact curries are not always hot! If you are unused to very spicy food, or alternatively if you simply prefer a milder flavour, I would recommend that you try out a recipe for a mild and creamy korma. There are also many nice recipes for fruit curries that are ideal for those with a sweet tooth and these also tend to be fairly mild. For example, why not try out the one in the Spring 2004 issue? Or try making a Pasanda sauce, which is made from spices, yogurt and ground almonds. Pasanda sauce originated in the north of India, but is now widely eaten in the south of India, too. Alternatively, if you like it hot, then try a Madras!

Ground nuts such as cashews, peanuts and almonds are often used in curry sauces. Coconut can also be an important ingredient, being extensively used in curries in southern India and in Bengal. The best way to purchase coconut is as a small block of creamed coconut, which stores well and is readily available from supermarkets. Creamed coconut can be grated (or broken into small pieces) and is ideal for making a creamy, curry sauce. Alternatively, other recipes use fresh coconut, coconut milk, or desiccated coconut. Tamarind is the Indian equivalent of the date and is sometimes used to add a 'tang' to a curry. Tamarind is used as a souring agent, especially in southern Indian cookery and is usually sold either in small blocks (these need to be soaked before use) or in jars as a paste.

Of course not all curries have a sauce. Many curries are just served 'dry'. Aloo Gobi is perhaps one of the best known examples of a dry curry. This vegetable curry is made from potatoes, cauliflower, tomatoes, spices and lemon juice and is best served with a wet dal. (Note: a little water is usually added when cooking a dry curry to prevent burning, but this disappears as the food is cooked.) The following fruit and vegetables are the ones that are most commonly used to make both curries and spicy vegetable side dishes: potatoes, aubergines, onions, okra, karela (a lumpy green gourd), marrow, coconut, mushrooms, green beans, cauliflower, peppers, tomatoes, sweet corn, cabbage, spinach, mooli radish, sweet potatoes, mango, pineapple, apples, banana and dried fruit such as dried apricots, dates and sultanas.

Accompaniments:

Raita

A raita is a spiced yogurt mixture that is served as an accompaniment to an Indian meal. Often containing cucumber, mint or fruit, raitas are cooling and refreshing and go well with most curries and spicy side dishes. In addition, bowls of raita (or just plain yogurt) can be served with appetisers as a dip. Raitas can easily be made using a vegan soya yogurt such as Yofu. Do try out the Fruity Raita recipe in the Spring 2004 Issue. This raita tastes even nicer the next day!

Lassi

Lassi is a cool, refreshing drink, which is traditionally made from yogurt and water. It is usually consumed with chaat (a spicy snack), but it can also be drunk as an accompaniment to a hot, spicy curry. It can be salty or sweet and is often flavoured with sugar, mango juice or mango flesh, saffron or tamarind. Serve lassi in a tall glass with crushed ice. Sprinkle on some cinnamon, then decorate the glass with a slice of orange or lime. Again vegans don't need to miss out: simply use a soya yogurt!

Chutneys and Pickles

Add a little interest to your Indian meal by including a small spoonful of chutney or pickle. Most supermarkets now sell a wide range of Indian chutneys and pickles, but if you want to have a go at making your own it's generally quite easy. (Some pickles, for example, don't even need to be cooked.) Chutneys can be sweet or savoury, spicy or mild and are commonly made from the following ingredients: mango, plums, bananas, green tomatoes, cooking apples, dates, sultanas, peaches, apricots, pineapple, cucumbers, spices, walnuts, tamarind, vinegar, lemon juice, coconut and jaggery (a type of brown sugar). Go easy on these pickles though, as they can be high in salt and/or sugar.

Starters & Snacks (Chaat)

Well I thought I would leave the starters/snacks until last because I didn't want to stimulate your taste buds too much! These tasty, Indian nibbles are usually eaten throughout the day, although sometimes they can be served just before a meal as an appetiser. They are usually fairly easy to make, although some can be purchased ready made. Prepare them in advance and kept them in an airtight tin until required. They make great party food! The most popular Indian snacks and appetisers include:

Chana Dal (deep fried pulses, flavoured with spices)
Papadoms (pappadams, papads, popadums) - These plain or spiced, circular, savoury wafers are usually made from ground lentils. Originating in the south of India, they are most commonly eaten as part of an Indian meal. They can be deep fried or grilled, although some kinds just need microwaving for about a minute.
Bombay Mix - A spicy mixture, usually made from spices, vegetable oil, crispy chickpeas, lentils, green peas, nuts and savoury 'sticks'. Bombay Mix is often sold ready made. Look out for it in health shops and in branches of Julian Grave's. (It's high in fat and far from healthy though).
Kabli Chana - Deep fried, spiced chickpeas.
Spiced stir-fried nuts - These are usually made from spiced almonds, cashews or peanuts that have been fried in oil.
Ompadi and Murykus - Deep-fried, spicy, crispy 'sticks' made from gram flour dough and spices, using a special press.
Boondi - Deep-fried, spiced, small balls of batter, made using a circular, perforated steel spoon.
Samosas - These deep-fried, triangular pastries have a spicy vegetable filling, which is frequently made from mashed potato.
Bhajis - Deep-fried, spicy fritters that are made from gram flour and various vegetables, most commonly from onions. (Note: Pakoras are very similar to Bhajis).
Dal Mooth - A mixture of nuts, spices and either chana dal and/or moong dal.
Sali (potato straws) and Jali (potato crisps). These are usually eaten as nibbles, although sali can sometimes be used to garnish curries.

Well I hope that I have succeeded in stimulating your tastebuds enough in this brief introduction to Indian cookery to make you want to try out some of the recipes I've listed below! If you want to purchase a book on the subject, then A Vegan Taste of India is excellent value. To find out how to obtain a copy, please consult the Book Review.