One great cookbook: Madhur Jaffrey's 'Vegetarian India'
The 2015 tome will reshape how you think about both vegetables and Indian food


Madhur Jaffrey has been writing cookbooks for more than 40 years. Many of them, including 1973's "An Invitation to Indian Cooking" and 2010's "At Home with Madhur Jaffrey," are deserved classics. "Vegetarian India," published in 2015, might be her magnum opus.
It is a falsehood commonly perpetrated in the West that India is a predominately vegetarian country. In truth, only about 40% of the country's population identifies as vegetarian. But! India does indeed have a robust, electrifying history of vegetarian cooking across its 28 states and eight union territories, and Jaffrey aims to extol it.
Around the subcontinent in 416 pages
"Vegetarian India" does not quite cover all of India, though Jaffrey sure tries. The northern metropolises are featured, of course: Mumbai and its environs are showcased with the iconic toasties and a bowlful of variations of fresh, plucky koshambir, a style of zippy salad; New Delhi has a handful of recipes, like flaky, triangular parathas and a breeze of a green bean dish with cumin, chile and ginger. Then Jaffrey spreads her wings, with coconut-laced beets from Mysore in the southwest; far northeastern Nepalese pickled potatoes and simple fried eggs with fresh chile, shallots and tomatoes from Sri Lanka.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Jaffrey never cooked growing up. Her family had staff doing the kitchen work, and her privileged position shows in the book's recipe sourcing. If you were given a dollar every time she mentions a recipe being gifted to her by a Taj Hotel or a fancy businessperson friend, you could pay for your own extended India adventure. Many an Indian cook has also rolled their eyes at Jaffrey's insistence on using olive oil in her recipes, rather than a more authentic Indian cooking fat like sunflower or sesame oils.
Still, Jaffrey coming to the kitchen later in life is a boon for home cooks. She, being a comparative neophyte herself, writes recipes that make no assumptions. They are clear; they guide with a sure hand; most importantly, they work.
A great cookbook is one with reliable recipes
The book is divided into eight sections: Soups, Appetizers and Snacks; Vegetables; Dals: Dried Beans and Legumes; Grains: Rice, Semolina and Quinoa; Grains: Breads, Pancakes, Savories and Noodles; Eggs and Dairy; Chutneys, Relishes and Salads; Drinks, Sweets and Desserts. Seems obvious, no? Perhaps not.
Say you have potatoes around. Say, also, you have stocked your Indian pantry well. You could jump to the Vegetables chapter, find the "p" section and choose from six potato recipes from all over India, based on your cravings. A different book might have organized the recipes by region, an approach that has its allure but less functionality.
Best of all is the book's breadth. Yes, it covers a lot of the subcontinent's territory. It also shows how creative and diverse Indian cooking is. Common vegetables are seasoned in uncommon ways; legumes are cooked into the familiar dals but also soaked and whirred in a blender before being swirled onto a hot griddle for savory pancakes that upend everything you might have thought you knew about the humble bean.
"Vegetarian India" is both comforting and inspiring. It soothes as it reshapes your thinking. A cookbook that can accomplish one of those goals is a feat. When it achieves them all, you have a masterpiece near your stove.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Scott Hocker is an award-winning freelance writer and editor at The Week Digital. He has written food, travel, culture and lifestyle stories for local, national and international publications for more than 20 years. Scott also has more than 15 years of experience creating, implementing and managing content initiatives while working across departments to grow companies. His most recent editorial post was as editor-in-chief of Liquor.com. Previously, he was the editor-in-chief of Tasting Table and a senior editor at San Francisco magazine.
-
9 grab-and-go toiletry sets that make packing a breeze
The Week Recommends All the essentials in one place
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet undersea
Speed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
Harris rules out run for California governor
Speed Read The 2024 Democratic presidential nominee ended months of speculation about her plans for the contest
-
Time to land completely refreshed. Because it's one-and done with these pre-assembled toiletry kits.
The Week Recommends All the essentials in one place
-
Not every hike has to wipe you out. These 7 treks are easy-breezy.
The Week Recommends These trails won't leave you breathless
-
Real-life couples creating real-deal sparks in the best movies to star IRL partners
The Week Recommends The chemistry between off-screen items can work wonders
-
Aysegul Savas' 6 favorite books for readers who love immersive settings
Feature The Paris-based Turkish author recommends works by Hiromi Kawakami, Virginia Woolf, and more
-
Book reviews: 'The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century' by Tim Weiner and 'The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage That Made an American Icon' by Laurie Gwen Shapiro
feature
-
5 (free!) apps to keep that travel budgeting as smooth as your vacations
The Week Recommends Track expenses while on the go
-
5 best movie sequels of all time
The Week Recommends The second time is only sometimes as good as the first
-
Libraries are feeling the cost burden of e-book popularity
Under the Radar Certain states are working to change laws around e-book purchasing for libraries