Saturday 9 August 2014

Vegetarian grub.


I quite expect that most of us have toyed with vegetarianism at some time in our lives. I certainly have.

My problem (and what a problem) is that I really like eating meat. In fact finding a dish where one genuinely doesn't miss the meat, for me, is rare.

One exception to this rule is with Indian veggie cuisine. The haunting spicy flavours of so much Indian cookery seems to take over, and the meatless-ness becomes either forgotten or seems unimportant.

                          

BBC TV has recently been re-running Rick Stein's sumptuous Indian Odyssey food series (I also have the book), and although many of the dishes featured are with meat, he stresses that India is the world's biggest veggie country, so he features plenty of meatless recipes as well.

I should attend a course on simple Indian veggie cuisine, I think I could become a convert. I have the raw ingredients in abundance; so why not?

                            

Already my regular repertoire contains a few classic Indian veggie dishes, but I'd like a lot more. I need to experiment, be more adventurous, and to equip myself with more essential ingredients.

Goodness gracious me; I can almost hear myself speaking with an Indian accent.


24 comments:

  1. One of Stein's best series, in my opinion. He's one of the few TV chefs I really respect, he has a warmth and genuineness about him.

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  2. I also like Indian food. I am going to Google that indian seria, may be i learn more about Indian food.

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  3. I feel the same way - I do enjoy meat and very rarely cook anything without it - but I do love Indian food as well yet only have the veggie option as side dishes - I have yet to make a successful curry though.

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  4. Many years ago I was typing up a thesis for an Indian student to earn some extra money as we did in those days and he taught me to make curries using all the spices and not curry powder; he was vegetarian. I am a meat eater too and rarely go a day without meat but I love an Indian vegetable curry. (When it came to pay me for the typing he didn't want to pay up but that's another story). I liked Rick Stein's Indian travels too.

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  5. My mouth is watering! The Boss and I went on a veggie cooking course, we thoroughly enjoyed it. The tutor was sharing some on her traditional family recipes. You may have seen her on TV, Bini Ludlow, she is just lovely.

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    1. I don't know the name; there are so many TV cooks these days.

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  6. Three to four days a week, I eat vegetarian and am always looking for new 'tasty' meals. I do not particularly like curry, but I will look into these recipes. They certainly look good.

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  7. I love that kitchen he uses in the India series - next to a lake or a swamp!

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    1. I've just been watching him on BBC2, since when I've been out blackberrying with the boys.

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  8. We eat veggie a couple of times a week. There are so many Indian dishes to choose from. As you say most of the ingredients are in the garden. Our next Indian veggie will probably be Saag Aloo (both in the garden) with a chunky dahl (added cougettes or pumpkin) and home-made bread
    Gill

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  9. VEGETARIAN = Native American name for bad hunter.
    I do like curries but I favor the mild as the notion of scalding my mouth with hot chilly pepper is as appealing as drinking kerosene.

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    1. I always make 'medium' hot curries, then eat with hot pickles/chutneys/etc.

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  10. I hoped an Indian veggie recipe might pop up at the end of those tempting photos!

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    1. Best, I think, to stick with the pros like Rick Stein, They know so much; I'm just an amateur.

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  11. One of my favourites at the moment is a peach and chickpea curry from"a girl called jack" I don't miss the meat one little bit in that and its lovely. I'll have to look out for his Indian book sound good.

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    1. We often eat 'Chana masala' which is a very simple chick pea curry (without the peaches). It's in the Stein book too.

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  12. My husband has been a vegetarian for 44 years. Our children were raised vegetarian. Our son is now a chef and eats anything and everything, and our daughter eats fish. I've only recently started eating meat again...I found myself craving it after so many years of not eating it.
    Lots of culinary diversity in this family!

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    1. We have one out of three children that is veggie, so when he stays we mostly follow suite.

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