[net.veg] Answers for Sue; Indian Cooking

tandy@ingres.Berkeley.EDU.ARPA (Tandy Warnow) (07/17/86)

In my opinion, South Indian food is the best vegetarian cuisine in
the world.  It is varied, subtle, and very tasty, and can be made
without "hot" spices (chilies, peppers, ginger, etc) if you do not
like hot food.  The brahmin cuisine in South India tends to be milder
than the non-brahmin cuisine, but both are delicious.  Not only is
the food delicious, it is (relatively) easy to prepare, and uses very
little fat.  Most of the recipes do not use any oil until the very end,
when the dish is "seasoned" with mustard seeds.  South Indian food
uses a large amount of dal (lentils, split peas, etc) and so it is
also high in protein.  For nutrition and taste combined, nothing
beats South Indian cuisine.

One difference between North and South Indian food is that garlic,
onions, and ginger, are not used generally in the south.  In fact,
Tamil brahmins do not eat garlic or onions at all.  As a result,
there is less need for oil in South Indian food than in North
Indian food.  Since there are more strict vegetarians in the
South, the vegetarian food is more varied and delicious, as well
as being more nutritious.  In the north, meat is much more popular
than vegetables (especially among the Muslims), and so the vegetarian
food tends to suffer.  Of course, the non-vegetarian food in the
south isn't as good, perhaps, as the non-vegetarian food in the
north, but we aren't interested in non-vegetarian food here, are we?

While most Indian restaurants cater to American tastes and serve
a lot of rich meat dishes, vegetarianism is such a basic fact of
life in India for a large portion of the population (especially
in the south) that every Indian restaurant will provide completely
vegetarian meals.  You do not need to worry about the food being
prepared with animal products at all: Indian vegetarians are as
strict about vegetarianism as Orthodox Jews are about the sabbath.  

For cookbooks, I suggest you just try any you can find.  It  is hard
to find South Indian cookbooks, but even the North Indian cookbooks
will be a worthy addition to your library.  The books that I have
that I like for vegetarian food are:

     (1) "World of the East: Vegetarian Cooking" by Madhur Jaffrey
     (2) "A Surti Touch: Adventures in Indian Cooking" by Malvi Doshi
     (3) "The Art of South Indian Cooking" by Aroona Reejhsing
     (4) "Cook and See" by S. Meenakshi Ammal

The first book is probably the easiest to find, and includes vegetarian
dishes from all over Asia (middle-east, Japan, China, Bali, India, etc.).
There is not too much in it from South India, though.  

The second book is very nice, relying upon the cuisine of Gujarat.  You
may be able to find this book also without too much difficulty.

The last two books are published in India, and so you might have some
trouble finding them.  The last book, "Cook and See" is probably the
best book for the brahmin cuisine of Tamil Nadu, but it is probably not
available generally.  

To cook Indian food, northern or southern, you will need to have an
Indian market to shop in.  If you don't know of any near to you, you
can ask me to send you information on some nearby.  (There is a list
in the back of Madhur Jaffrey's book of markets selling asian
foodstuffs, listed by nationality).  The Indian market would also
be the right place to purchase your cookbook.  

I'd also be glad to send in some recipies if anyone is interested.


           Tandy