[.ca] Madhur Jaffrey's World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking (ISBN 0394748670)

Something for everyone... and then something MORE:
I've had this book since the early 80s, and I return to it whenever I need a shot of inspiration to get me out of a culinary rut. Not only is it jam-packed with all the recipes needed to serve up an endless variety of flavorful vegetarian menus, but it is an invaluable source of ideas for things to serve with non-vegetarian entrees. Potatoes With Whole Spices and Sesame Seeds gets dished up with steak or roast in our home, and I have even served it for breakfast. Green Beans with Sesame Paste and Garlic graced our Thanksgiving table, and Carrot Cake With An Indian Flavor is likely to turn up instead of brownies or cupcakes when the baking frenzy comes over me. All of the chutneys and relishes are fabulous, but I am particularly fond of the Apricot Chutney with Raisins and Currants and the South Indian Coconut Chutney. This is a great book for anyone who loves delicious, interesting, satisfying food, whether you are a vegetarian or not.

Perrennial favorite:
I have owned this cookbook for about 15 years. I turn back to it whenever I get sick of food/cooking and need an incentive to head back to the kitchen and try out some new flavors. The recipes are well written, and there is an excellent glossary containing useful descriptions of the ingredients used. This is one cookbook i will never get rid of.

Great variety of recipes and cuisines:
My first taste of Indian food was from a vegetarian recipe I made at home in the South 20 years ago -- and I was hooked. When I found Madhur Jaffrey's cookbooks, I was in heaven. This cookbook vastly expanded my horizons on Indian food (I had no idea what I was doing until I read her descriptions and instructions). I also learned how to make sushi and other Japanese dishes from this book. I think her selection of rice dishes is amazing. When I finally moved to a place where there were Japanese, Indian and other Asian restaurants, I found the flavors similar to the recipes that Madhur Jaffrey had taught me to love. If you want to make a wide variety of Asian dishes, this is a great cookbook for you.

Beautiful, Easy to Read, Packed with Recipes:
This is the second Madhur Jaffrey cookbook I bought, and both are great, but this one has ten times the number of recipes. It's filled with great information about cooking methods, nice vignettes about the sources of the recipes, suggested pairings for dishes, and the most beautiful artwork of any cookbook I've seen. This is an ideal book for anyone who likes to cook Indian food, Chinese food, Japanese food, Vietnamese food, etc., etc., etc..

A Treasure of a Cookbook!:
I first flipped through this book when I was a teenager almost 18 years ago. I have to admit I was a little put off my the ingredients and techniques that were all so new to me. Years later I gave it another look through. Being a vegetarian at the time, I was missing Chinese food and wanted to try making some of my own. I bought this book and that was it for me. Every weekend I found myself exploring Chinatown, Little India, Japanese, Korean and Thai grocery stores. Afterwards I'd run home and whip up some outstanding meals. Since then, I've collected most of Madhur Jaffrey's books and my kitchen has truly transformed. I fell in love with Asian food, so much so that I packed up my cases and headed over here to Asia. This is truly an inspirational and indispensable book. Her Chinese dishes are among the best and her Indian ones are far better than any dishes I've ever had at any Indian restaurant. The tomato chutney is out of this world! This book is a great launching pad if you're a vegetarian and want to learn how to cook. It's a great alternative to the gaseous bean-filled or heavy-handed cheese recipes in other Western veggie cookbooks. It's also a fantastic cookbook if you want to venture into Asian cooking. Give it a go!