Search the Community

I have agreed to spend several hours one day a week in the kitchen, preparing items that can be frozen for later enjoyment when my partner, my housemate and I are too busy to cook. We maintain a mostly-vegetarian household (we eat fish). We are going on a fairly strict budget for the foreseeable future. Any suggestions for inexpensive freezables given these needs? I'm looking for soups, stews and items like baked pasta dishes that hold up well and won't cost a lot of money. I'm a reasonably capable cook and I have a chest freezer to hold everything. Thoughts?

Hello chefs: I confess that I haven't actually read Anatomy of a Dish yet, but based on the descriptions here and in the media, I think I understand that it has a real emphasis on building dishes with vegetables and the foundation. Based on recent visits to Verbena, though, there seems to be not very many (I think only one) actual vegetarian entrees on the menu. Also, for each of my last several visits to the restaurant it seems to have been the same choice, even while the rest of the menu changed, as one would expect for a restaurant so closely tied to the adjacent greenmarket. Do you find that there is simply not enough demand for vegetarian entrees to justify spending a lot of time creating new choices, or are there other factors involved in this phenomenon?

Hi all, we are having a huge dinner tomorrow night and I am stuck in a rut about what sort of salad to serve. The dinner menu has all sorts of fish, chicken and vegetarian recipes, all Indian. I normally do two salads, one with yogurt ( a raita of sorts) and one with onions (with vinegar and red food color )... I would like to do something different tomorrow night. Any suggestions? Maybe somehting with potatoe croutons and toasted sesame seeds Okay, I need to feed.. will be back in a few

I have been asked to bring a few Indian inspired appetizers to a friend's Thanksgiving party tomorrow night. So far I have -- Bread Rolls stuffed with spiced potatoes, Tapioca Fritters and Potato Pomegrante Chaat... looking for other suggestions.. they are vegetarians....

Dear Heston, A few of us have been having a discussion about being vegetarian and whether or not it's possible to be a vegetarian and a gourmet at the same time. I think not, but some other good people on this list seem to disagree with me! I was just wondering what you think? I've read that you run a great restaurant, so what's it like having to account for this and other limitations to what you can cook for people? Thanks, Doug

'Can you be a vegetarian and a gourmet?'... snatch of conversation overheard at The Merchant House in Ludlow. They thought not, though I was trying to be both. Who was right?

I have almost nothing to say about this. I don't even tend to notice if there are such options when I dine. However, there is a thread going on elsewhere and it might be helpful for those who are interested to have the discussion under a heading that will both draw posts by those who know something useful and be easily found by those with an interest in finding that information. I do have some sympathy for someone traveling France who cannot find a wonderful dinner no matter their restriction. La Rotunde ouiside Lyon, had a vegetable menu as one of it's printed prix fixe offerings when we were there in November 2001. I hasten to add the one caveat I'd always make to a strict vegetarian as vegetables are often cooked in stock or finished with a meat jus--the swiss chard baked with mushrooms, parmesan cheese and pinenuts had been braised in chicken stock. I assume this would ruin things for most vegetarians.

I managed to have dinner at both Leon de Lyon and Les Loges. My meal was almost excellent at Leon de Lyon and excellent at Les Loges. The difference in what my vegetarian wife had was huge. Leon de Lyon - the best you could say is that they were accomodating. Choice of soup or simple salad to strat along with a suggestion of a (seemingly simple) vegetable plate. Heres an excerpt from the email with Les Loges proposal (which was divine!!) "Hen's egg in Tio Pepe Water of Cucumber in the ceéléri and the watercress of Fountain Cream of Jerusalem artichoke in Beans coke and rapée truffle The cooked asparaguses in vinaigrette, smell of sage The Turnip of the mushrooms of wood in the Marjoran Chanterelles in the creamy italian rice and the parmesan cheese A selection of Cheeses Especially Chosen for you by our specialist Mr.Boujon An irresistible Selection of Sweet Temptations Created for you by Your Chef: Nicolas Le Bec Hen's egg in Tio Pepe Water of Cucumber in the ceéléri and the watercress of Fountain Cream of Jerusalem artichoke in Beans coke and rapée truffle The cooked asparaguses in vinaigrette, smell of sage The Turnip of the mushrooms of wood in the Marjoran Chanterelles in the creamy italian rice and the parmesan cheese A selection of Cheeses Especially Chosen for you by our specialist Mr.Boujon An irresistible Selection of Sweet Temptations Created for you by Your Chef: Nicolas Le Bec" (Well accompanied by Beaurenard 1999 CDP white) The difference in the creations of chefs who care is amazing. 'Nuff said.

My younger daughter who is 8 years old has been a solid vegetarian for almost 7 months. She has her reasons and my wife and I respect them. However as children grow they are in need of so many nutrients and we want to be sure that our little one is recieving them. As you we're growing up what are some of the things that you enjoyed that were vegetarian? How was your introduction to spices, what I mean is, are dishes prepared milder for young one's? or are they spiced at the same level as an adults taste. I have been successful with the use of cumin,ginger,chili's....not so successful with curry ( I use Madres) Any idea's tips or even recipes would be much appreciated.

Help! I'm faced with one month left to go until I become a first time MOM, and I'm trying to come up with some GOOD ideas of frozen dishes I can stock up the freezer with for the first few weeks. I'm much more of an a la minute kind of cook, and rarely indulge in casseroles...but maybe I'm missing out on some good possibilities. Or perhaps there are some great ideas for staples that I could easily be frozen and then put together in interesting ways for two exhausted, hungry new parents. I've thought about whipping up some savory crepes to freeze and fill with quickly sauteed veggies, cheese, etc... Or ye old standby of lasagne, which can just be popped into the oven to bake. But I think my brain is currently too "pregnant" to think of anything better. One caveat, or challenge if you prefer, my husband is vegetarian (though perhaps I should say "pescetarian" since he'll occasionally eat fish/seafood) so no meat please!! THANKS!

Jinmyo, I've noticed you've started using a photograph of bibimbap as your avatar. I read about this dish in a recent story in the LA Times' online food section. I'm wondering if bibimbap is a favourite of yours? If so, could you please explain how to make a vegetarian version?

I am new on this board, but I think it's a great resource and I hope some of you will take pity on me and help! I am the new "chef" at a Charter School in New Jersey (morristown) and the charter is that the menu will be vegetarian and as much Vegan as possible. Not only do I have the problem of cooking vegetarian, but I am limited by the fact that I have to cook for children! Does anyone have any suggestions for food for picky eaters that can be made on a limited school budget and still be vegetarian? (I know this is asking a lot...) Xeno

Any thoughts on making risotto without any actual stock, butter, cream, or cheese? I figure stock can be replaced with all wine, or perhaps one of those powdered stock products. Making a vegetable stock seems a bit much, though I'd do it if told it made a big difference. Olive oil should be able to pinch hit for most of the dairy fats, but is there some other product that should be added to lend lusciousness to the finished product? Ditto for the cheese.

Keema is a dish that many Indians love. Made from lamb or chicken minced meat, it is found in several versions across India. Do you ever make anything similar to Keema for vegetarians?

Like any art form, the foundation of Indian cooking is based on technique. There is a body of knowledge about the food itself - the vegetables, the spices, the herbs, the sauces - but this information is meaningless unless applied with sensitivity. I use the words sensitivity and knowledge in all of their nuances: knowing when a vegetable like the bitter melon, karela, is perfectly in season; understanding how to remove the bitterness; and, finally being aware of its healing properties. There's a perfect moment to eat karela, just as there's an appropriate time for an Indian raga to be played. There are monsoon ragas, morning ragas, and ragas that are played when the lover has gone. Music and food are always respected for their ability to cleanse the soul, and heal. Indian cooking has always found a willing companion in art and music. They always seem to go together. Any musical gathering first begins with prayers to the gods and offering of food to them. Just as emotions are a part of music so are they a part of cooking. Thus in India one finds that to evolve ones palate one also studies the appreciation of music and art. In the Indian kitchen one entertains spices or masalas. The seeds, stalks and powders are all found. There are masalas that can set ones palate to receive taste sensations in the most profound ways. There are those that can alter feelings. Grains are an integral part of cooking throughout India. A vegetarian cuisine that would otherwise be nutritionally weak is complete by the mixing of lentils, beans, rice and vegetables. Rice has been know in India for over 5 thousand years... Maize, barley, semolina, millet, countless of lentils and beans and many peas form a crucial part of the Indian pantry.

I remember a show from the early 90s called "Cooking with Korma." Korma was a Western Hari Krishna and he cooked vegetarian Indian food. He had one show on "chonks." From what I recall, he put dry spices and ghee in a metal ladel and heated it directly over a fire until the ghee flamed. Then he added this to daals or other curries. I've never seen it before or since. However, I often notice a subtle flavor in some daals, usually chaana daal or yellow lentil, that tastes almost smokey. I wonder if that's where it comes from?

In America, we think of pickles as a kind of a relish, or side dish – a cured vegetable that adds a sour or tart note to the meal. We pickle a variety of different vegetables but, for whatever the differences, pickles all have a recognizably “pickled” taste. Indian pickles use many of the same ingredients – salt, vinegar, coriander, mustard seeds, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves and ginger – but they present some of the most diverse and exotic tastes and textures imaginable. They are fiery hot, sour, pungent, fragrant, sweet- and- sour, and tart. They are crisp, silky and chewy. Flavors may be fresh, the taste of each spice distinct, or married and intensified by months or even years of aging as the textures of the ingredients melt and soften. While Indians eat some pickles (such as the Mixed Vegetable Pickle, below) in relatively large quantities, the pickles are often too intensely flavored to be eaten that way; they’re used in tiny amounts as a spice or condiment to enliven a dish. Indians also use pickles in a way that Americans never do, that is, medicinally, to cure an ailment. Indians love to taste food; they live to taste food. Indians want many layers and many contrasting tastes. No one food can satisfy that hunger except a variety of pickles. I have jars and jars of multi-colored pickles sitting on the kitchen table. One is a tiny onion pickle, picked young and fresh and pickled in rice vinegar, that is common to almost all north Indian homes. Several are pickled chilies: one is made of whole green chilies and is dangerously hot while another, made from habaneros stuffed with spices, is more savory than hot, and a third is made from chopped green chilies soured with lemon. There is a crunchy sweet- and- hot cauliflower, turnip and carrot pickle, a ginger-lime pickle and a gooseberry pickle. These pickles are made from recipes that have been handed down by the women of my family for two to three hundred years. Some of these jars have been maturing for just a few days, others for much longer than that. A jar of lemon pickles made by his family chef at home in India, a jar that has been maturing for 60 years. In India, food is understood to be intimately related to health and medicine. The Ayurveda, the ancient Hindu text that defines the relationship of food, spices, exercise and meditation for the health of the human body, gives recipes for various medicinal foods and elixirs, of which pickles play an important role. I use lemon pickle as it is traditionally used in my native country: to cure queasiness and tummy aches. In my New York household I use pickles the way that wealthier households do in India, as a condiment guaranteed to give plain foods taste. In fact, in India it’s considered rude to ask for pickles if they are not on the table; it suggests that the food isn’t savory enough. Indian homes make several signature pickles, recipes that have been passed down through generations of women. Pickles made the season before are served daily. Aged, well-loved pickles are brought out when someone is sick or when the household is hosting a special meal. With the exception of some pickles that are made with winter produce such as cauliflower, radishes, turnips and carrots, pickles are made in Indian homes in the heat of the summer. Fruits and vegetables are bought from local vendors who sell door to door. Women spend several weeks preparing pickles. The fruits are laid out on terraces on sheets of muslin for several days in the summer sun to dry, or “ripen” and concentrate their flavors. The produce is brought inside every night to protect against dew and laid out again in the morning. The pickles are put up in very large ceramic jars, each about 20 inches tall and 8 inches wide. Once jarred, the pickles are ripened again for several more days in the sun. If you ask an Indian where the best pickles are made, they will name three centers: the Marwari and Baniya trading communities in northern India, the state of Gujerat in western India, and the state of Andhra Bradesh, in southern India. The Marwari and Baniya communities are completely vegetarian and they subsist on pickles and bread. The people of these communities make pickles everyday and their meals include several different types. Pickles that are spiced with fenugreek and fennel and pickled in mustard oil, are likely to be from northern India, as are pickled cauliflower, carrots, turnips and radishes, the so called “winter vegetables” that are grown on the northern plains. Pickles represent a ritual world of food and community in India. Pickling is an ancient art and a part of Hindu spiritual practice: according to the laws of Hindu religion, pickling, or “cooking” foods with sun and air is one of the three acceptable ways to make raw foods palatable. The rituals of pickle making define a certain period of the summer in India when entire households are given over to the task of their making. Traditionally, in small towns, the women join together, spending days outside in the shade of tamarind trees cutting, preparing, and drying the fruits and vegetables. The kids play above in the dense greenery of the trees, eating the green fruit of the tamarind and tossing the seeds onto the ground below. (Stomach aches and tiny tamarind seedlings are evidence of their gluttony.) Play, food, music and storytelling combine to give the season a celebratory mood. Even in urban centers in India today, the time of pickling still invites ritual community and celebration. Women call each other on the phone to organize the making of the pickles or to ask for the gift of a jar of a favorite kind. Life slows a bit, personal connections are made, and thousands of years of ritual is repeated. --Suvir Saran and Stephanie Lyness

Hi, I am looking to host a BBQ. For meat-lovers it doesnt seem all that complicated. Kebabs and Tandoori-style chicken seems to win the day. However alot of my friends also are vegetarians. This always seems to cause a big problem for me. They end up eating oven cooked Jacket potatoes ( which dont even originate from the BBQ). Paneer Masala. Again which isnt even cooked on the BBQ. The only dish I can envisage cooking is veggie kebabs ( paneer and other vegetables on skewers). There must be some other choices we ( I ) can offer these poor people. Dishes that are spicy and cookable on the BBQ Please could somebody help by giving me suggestions. I am stuck! Thanks so much Hasmi

Reading some of the reviews, both on eGullet and other sites as well as the Blue Hill website, it sounds like one of the concepts behind Blue Hill is accessible, fresh, and simple food. Given that, why don't you offer a vegetarian entree or vegetarian tasting menus? It seems as though it would complement the restaurant nicely. Thanks, Matt Zito

A friend who works on a farm in Pennsylvania is coming to NY for the weekend and we were thinking of eating at Pongal's. She's lived in Mali and traveled throughout Africa and Southeast Asia so she is quite open to new foods. Also, we worked on a tomato and chile pepper farm together, so she likes spicy food a lot. However, she is a vegetarian, so I thought Pongal's would be perfect. I haven't eaten in Pongal's for some time now. Aside from the dosas and idlis, does anyone have any recommendations for other things to order there? I read through the thread on Dimples and now I'm torn about whether to go there or to Pongal's. My friend lives in a rural area with no chance of eating Indian food, and rarely has a chance to come into NY -- which restaurant would be a better choice? Also read through the thread on acquiring a taste for Indian food and was amazed all over again at the sheer complexity of the cuisine and the subcontinent itself. What a wonderful and informative -- I'm busy pulling my Indian cookbooks down from the shelf to look things up.

As vegetarian food in India is so wonderful, the place of meat often gets forgotten. In fact people assume you are a vegatarian unless you say that you are "non-veg" This often covers up the wonderful meat dishes that you can find in so many regions. One thing i have not been able to track down with any great success is a use of offal I love offal in all its forms. I think it is disengenuous to kill an animal and not try and eat all of it. I love the kidneys, the spleen, the hearts etc but my own cuisine seems lacking. Am I missing something? I have had a wonderful brain curry in Delhi, but that was it. Where in india do they specialise in offal and how do they prepare it. Any clues? S

I have enjoyed Veggie Heaven in Teaneck on Cedar Lane. They do a very good business. They have many dishes that contain soy and other vegetable type dishes that are in the texture of meat. The Mongolian Beef (all vegetarian) was very good but I did not care for their "chicken and shrimp" dishes. Also found their soups very good. Please inform of other good vegetarian restaurants.

I'm interested in making panir and chenna, having never attempted either. Any tips and/or basic recipes would be appreciated (to supplement the one presented in my main source Indian cookbook at home, the name and author escapes me at the moment however -- its an Vedic vegetarian cookbook though if that helps). Thanks folks.

I'm thinking of having a dinner party based around tapas. The recipe books I've seen haven't been that inspiring and a search on the internet hasn't thrown much up. One guest is vegetarian so any suggestions would be great....

Mushrooms are made quite a lot in northern India. They are avoided in vegetarian homes for people associate them with meat. Do not ask me why.. I have heard a hundred different answers. In fact in my own home, till I was 13, we never ate mushrooms. But then, my sister got a taste for them and I became lucky for that. We never stopped eating them after that and now have many recipes in our household using them. And these are age old recipes. In fact in Srinagar Club or what used to be called that they made the best Open Toast Mushroom Sandwiches. These were toasts topped with a spicy preparations of Karahi Mushrooms and it is heaven tasted at every crunchy bite. Our friend Bindiya whose family fled Srinagar would make these as evening snacks. It was nostalgia for her and a feast for the senses for me and our other friends. In my cook book I will have at least 2-3 recipes with mushrooms. In my kitchen at home, I make them in innumerable ways. All Indian and all recipes I learned at home from Panditji, a very conservative Indian chef. Mind you my father never eats mushrooms. He finds t hem meaty and enjoys looking at us eat them but cannot even fathom tasting one.