Quick Vegetarian Dishes - Cooking With Kurma

[Jainarayan]

There's a deplorable dearth of Indian restaurants in this area. There is one that has managed to survive in a dying strip mall, for > 20 years. I haven't been there is a long time, but I think it's worth checking out again. They had a nice lunch buffet, very reasonable.

 

[Vinayaka]

You'll find that the north/south differences also apply to food. Same basic ingredients, but different style of preparing. Very much like the temples, ... same basic Gods, different style of worshiping.

 

[Jainarayan]

I've been reading up some, on the styles and regions. Broadly, I found that Gujarat is predominately vegetarian, while Karnataka and other southern coastal and river areas rely on fish. That might make sense because salt land is difficult to farm.

 

[Vinayaka]

I've been reading up some, on the styles and regions. Broadly, I found that Gujarat is predominately vegetarian, while Karnataka and other southern coastal and river areas rely on fish. That might make sense because salt land is difficult to farm.

More wheat in the north, more rice in the south, for the very same reason ... relationship between geography and food history. Those poor guys in the desert lived off sand.

 

[Jainarayan]

More wheat in the north, more rice in the south...

Yep, I saw that too. Shouldn't be surprising given the geographic size of India and its varying climates. It might be fun to eat one's way through India. It might be expensive too having those size 103 pants made.

 

[Poeticus]

I've been reading up some, on the styles and regions. Broadly, I found that Gujarat is predominately vegetarian, while Karnataka and other southern coastal and river areas rely on fish. That might make sense because salt land is difficult to farm.

Many believe that the Indian
South is largely/the most vegetarian.
But Gujarat is pretty much the
bedrock of Indo-vegetarianism,
due to the influence of Jainic,
dietary lifestyles. Outside of
this Western state, you'll find
meat left and right. Heck, India
is one of the biggest exporters
of beef.​

 

[Jainarayan]

I think only about 30% of India is vegetarian, contrary to popular belief? Of course popular belief is also that there are 330 million gods.

 

[Jainarayan]

Btw, I did order the book Quick Vegetarian Dishes - a Kurma Dasa Cookbook from KrishnaStore.com I also have these two in my B&N shopping bag Indian Vegetarian Cooking from an American Kitchen by Vasantha Prasad | 9780679764380 | Paperback | Barnes & Noble and Easy Indian Cooking by Suneeta Vaswani | 9780778804505 | Paperback | Barnes & Noble Didn't order them yet.

 

[Poeticus]

Of course popular belief is also that there are 330 million gods.

Even though there are
only 33, I don't mind
having 330 million. The
more, the merrier.

And 30% sounds about
right.​

 

[Jainarayan]

Even though there are
only 33, I don't mind
having 330 million. The
more, the merrier.

​

You should never say that to me, else out come the boxes with the packed away murthis, and the wood-working tools to build a shrine to rival any in India.

 

[Poeticus]

You should never say that to me, else out come the boxes with the packed away murthis, and the wood-working tools to build a shrine to rival any in India.

You'll get moksha if
you give them to me....​

​

(wonders if he's going to fall for
my plan to take his murti-s or not)​

 

[Jainarayan]

Deal.

No, I'm on to you.

 

[Sb1995]

Deal.

No, I'm on to you.

Just wondering, are you back to Sanatan Dharma now? I remember I asked you a while back and I forgot your reason but you were not practising or something? Have you returned to Hinduism?

 

[Jainarayan]

Just wondering, are you back to Sanatan Dharma now? I remember I asked you a while back and I forgot your reason but you were not practising or something? Have you returned to Hinduism?

Yes, I believe Sri Bhagavan grabbed me by my ear and said "OK, time to come home". Seriously, a few things hit me virtually overnight making me realize that, while I wasn't born to it or raised in it, it is in my blood. I was resisting it due to some external forces that I realized were of no consequence. What I was looking for and trying to achieve just wasn't there; it didn't exist, and I couldn't make it work. But this is real.

 

[Jainarayan]

Well, a little thinking outside the box can get one started on making some basic dishes. So far:

White beans, pasta, escarole.

Spicy black bean soup using a bit of tomato sauce and chopped bell peppers. Some rice can be added or it can stand on its own.

Swiss chard and white bean soup. OK, that came from the cafeteria at work, as did the butternut squash and white bean soup. See a pattern with the white beans? I have brown rice and/or multi-color quinoa for the soups.

Sweet and spicy coconut rice. This almost went into the garbage, but it actually turned out great. I used coconut cream instead of coconut milk. Ccoconut cream is very thick. I needed to add a lot more water than usual for the rice cooker. It came out almost like a thick rice pudding. It's not too spicy, so I think it will go nicely with a spicy bean soup.

I have pureed spinach that will become my faux saag paneer. I use queso blanco instead of paneer.

Waiting for my three vegetarian and Indian cookbooks to arrive. I have some sites bookmarked too.

 

[Jainarayan]

I got my cookbooks and have been flipping through them. I can't wait to go grocery shopping.

I finally found out what the dish is that I really like... Kadai Paneer! :danana: The cafeteria served it today with basmati rice and naan. Being a primarily Spanish catering concession, they used queso blanco instead of Indian paneer. Meh, pretty much the same. One of the Indian women who ordered it said the same thing. She told me how she makes it, which is pretty much what this recipe is... Kadai Paneer (Restaurant Style) I can easily do this. I've had a version with chick peas (garbanzos) also [edit, here it is http://www.spiceupthecurry.com/chole/]. I like that site. It seems there are slight variations on the gravies, kind of like the Indian answer to Italian tomato sauces.