jsnyder@uw-june (John R. Snyder) (10/10/86)
Not too long ago there was a request for recommendations of cookbooks
that were good sources of dairy-free recipes. I highly recommend the
following two cookbooks:
Mary Estella, _Natural Foods Cookbook_(New York: Japan Publications,
Inc., 1985).
Annemarie Colbin, _The Book of Whole Meals_(New York: Ballantine
Books, 1983).
Estella's book is actually my favorite cookbook of any kind. Her recipes
are really creative. The book has some very good introductory material on
vegetarian cooking, "unusual" natural foods ingredients, kitchen organiza-
tion, etc. I have tried most of the recipes in the book, and I have yet to
find one I didn't like. Price: $15.95 (Oh yes, the book is built to last.)
Colbin's book is similar in many ways. (Estella has taught in Colbin's
cooking school in New York.) The book is organized as a collection of
full menus, which are in turn grouped according to season. This can be
helpful to those who are just learning to cook vegetarian meals and need
a good alternative to the meal planning strategy most of us grew up with:
choose the meat dish; decide whether to fry, mash, or bake the potatoes;
throw in some vegetable dish as an afterthought. After you are comfortable
planning your own meals, you can use the good index to get around in the
book. There are a few recipes in this book that I have not had success
with, but the important word here is *few*. Price: $7.95
Both books also have good tips on what to feed carnivorous visitors.
Estella's recipes, in particular, are often so visually appealing that
even the most suspicious meat-and-potatoes types tuck right in without
a fuss. I always take something out of Estella's book to departmental
potlucks and parties; my experience is that after the carnivores have had
a crack at it, there's little left for me and the other vegetarians.
The two magazines _East-West Journal_ and _Macromuse_ also have good
recipes columns that feature dairy-free natural cuisine.
Enjoy!
--
____________________________________________________________________________
JSnyder@cs.washington.edu.arpa John R. Snyder
Dept. of Computer Science, FR-35
Seattle, WA 98195
(206) 543-7798
"Rodney! There *is* no `yuk' in Science!" --Dr. Science
____________________________________________________________________________nandhu@ut-ngp.UUCP (Nandhakumar.) (10/12/86)
I would also suggest any vegetarian cook book from India. Most Indian main dishes and side dishes are essentially dairy free and there are thousands of recipes to choose from. The books I have were bought in India and mentioning them probably would not serve any purpose here - but I am sure a reasonably large book store would carry such books. If you are ambitious you can try some really esoteric recipes from books presenting some of the regional cusines in India, such as Udipi, Andhra, etc.
mo@well.UUCP (Maurice Weitman) (10/17/86)
In article <4122@ut-ngp.UUCP> nandhu@ut-ngp.UUCP (Nandhakumar.) writes: > >I would also suggest any vegetarian cook book from India. >Most Indian main dishes and side dishes are essentially dairy >free and there are thousands of recipes to choose from. >The books I have were bought in India and mentioning them >probably would not serve any purpose here - but I am >sure a reasonably large book store would carry such books. >If you are ambitious you can try some really esoteric recipes >from books presenting some of the regional cusines in India, >such as Udipi, Andhra, etc. I must obviously defer to nandhu's expertise here, but my experience with Indian cooking, both from restaurants (including my own) and cook books, is that lots of dairy is used. One of the more ubiquitous ingredients is clarified butter (ghee). I really might be wrong here, but most of the restaurants I've eaten in seem to use this in almost all of their dishes. Again, it's entirely possible that my experience is too narrow to be meaningful. I mean, whom would YOU believe (about matters Indian): Maurice or Nandhakumar??? %-) -- Quote: "The police aren't here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder." Mayor Richard J. Daly, Chicago, 1968 Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact or fact are transmission errors. Maurice Weitman 9600 ..!{dual,hplabs,lll-crg,ptsfa,glacier}!well!mo | 57600 (415)549-0280 voice (415)549-0388 modem-2400 this^is not 300 mcimail mweitman a pipe 110 P. O. Box 10019 Berkeley, CA 94709
nandhu@ut-ngp.UUCP (N. Nandhakumar) (10/19/86)
In article <1947@well.UUCP> Maurice Weitman writes: > >I must obviously defer to nandhu's expertise here, but my experience >with Indian cooking, both from restaurants (including my own) and cook >books, is that lots of dairy is used. One of the more ubiquitous >ingredients is clarified butter (ghee). I really might be wrong here, >but most of the restaurants I've eaten in seem to use this in almost >all of their dishes. Again, it's entirely possible that my experience >is too narrow to be meaningful. I mean, whom would YOU believe (about >matters Indian): Maurice or Nandhakumar??? %-) > I thank Maurice for pointing out the use of ghee (clarified butter). I had completely forgotten about it because I have not used it but once or twice in the last few years. Ghee is an expensive commodity in India and is used in cooking only on festive occassions, or when 'important' guests are to be entertained. It is rarely used in daily cooking and if it is, then only in very small quantities. Certain regions in India are notorious for using large quantities of ghee, the cuisine of Gujarat is one such example. I have substituted vegetable oil for ghee and have found that a recipe does not lose its characteristic individuality. The recipes from South India seem to use less oil/ghee than those from the north. A recipe to serve 4 would typically require about 2 tablespoons of oil to fry the spices in before adding the vegetables. Also, the food of south India is less heavily spiced. Unfortunately however, 99.99% of the Indian restaurants in the U.S. feature only North Indian cuisine and finding South Indian food here is difficult, and I'm not even talking about good south Indian food. A good book on south Indian recipes is one from Madras called "Cook and See" by Meenakshi Ammal (English translations of this are now available), published by Meenakshi Ammal Publications, Samaithu Par House, 188 Ramakrishna Mutt. Rd., Madras 600 028, India. The book contains 258 pages, includes an index and a useful glossary of terms peculiar to south Indian cuisine, e.g. all volumetric measurements are in terms of 'allacks' - a traditional south Indian measure equivalent to about 2.5 cups! The book costs Rs. 10 in India - about $1 when converted to U.S. currency. I have no idea how easy/difficult it is to get bookstores here to order this book. I recommend this book only for the very ambitious, who don't balk at taking a drink from a fire-hose.