Product Description

In her most comprehensive volume yet, Madhur Jaffrey draws on more than four decades of culinary adventures, travels, and experimentation for a diverse collection that both intrigues and delights the palate. Dishes from five continents touch on virtually all the world's best loved flavors, for a unsurpassed selection of vegetarian fare.
        
More than 650 recipes exemplify Madhur's unsurpassed ability to create simple, flavorful homecooking that is well within the reach of every cook. Extensive sections on Beans, Vegetables, Grains, and Dairy explore the myriad ways these staples are enjoyed worldwide. Each section opens with a detailed introduction; Madhur describes methods for preparation and storage, as well as different cooking techniques and their cultural origins. Throughout she balances appealing, uncomplicated dishes such as sumptuous omelets and rich polentas with less familiar ingredients such as green mangoes, pigeon peas, and spelt. Madhur demystifies the latter with clear-cut explanations so that incorporating new combinations and interesting flavors into everyday cooking becomes second nature. She also offers substantial sections on Soups, Salads, and Drinks, as well as Sauces and Other Flavorings, to help round out a meatless meal and add exciting new flavors to even the most easily prepared dishes. Finally, a complete glossary of ingredients and techniques clarifies some of the little-known elements of the world's cuisines so that even the uninitiated can bring the flavors of Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and more to their tables.
        
Throughout this extensive collection, Madhur includes personal anecdotes and historical contexts that bring her recipes to life, whether she's remembering field of leeks she saw in the mountains of northern Greece or describing how corn-based dishes arrived in Indonesia through colonial trade. Committed vegetarians will rejoice at the wide variety of meatless fare she offers, and nonvegetarians will enjoy experimenting with Madhur's global flavorings. This highly readable resource promises to be a valuable addition to any cook's library, helping everyone make healthful ethnic foods a part of everyday cooking.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10802 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-15
• Released on: 2002-01-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 768 pages

From Amazon.com
The author of seven previous cookbooks, including the classic Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey is among today's most influential and authoritative food writers. Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, a meticulously researched collection of more than 750 meatless dishes from around the globe, presents its author in superlative form, culling the best vegetarian home-style dishes from virtually every culture and cooking tradition. Jaffrey's book, filled with delicious, approachable recipes, has universal appeal, and should be part of every cook's library.

Divided into sections on beans, grains, and vegetables, and including chapters on vegetables, soups, salads, and sauces, among other topics, the book brilliantly juxtaposes recipes grouped by ingredient to reveal, finally, the way that ingredient is approached globally to make food. Thus, for example, Jaffrey's section on rice offers Persian Pilaf with Lima Beans, Palestinian Rice with Lentils and Browned Onions, and Risotto with Fried Porcini Mushrooms, among other pitch-perfect dish choices in this and other chapters. Less familiar ingredients like spelt, millet, and soybeans are removed from the realm of dubious interest and presented in compelling recipes, such as Spicy Soybean Patties with Mint. Throughout, Jaffrey provides definitive notes on ingredients (her full investigation of couscous types is one of many examples) and techniques, as well as a truly comprehensive glossary. Jaffrey also offers a small but charming section on drinks; her Fresh Lime and Ginger Syrup from India, to be mixed with ice and soda water, is a simple but marvelous summertime treat, and one more example of Jaffrey at excitingly full throttle. A ten-page section of color photos rounds out this expert collection. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly
Jaffrey (author of the James Beard Award-winning Madhur Jaffrey's Taste of the Far East) offers an Asian-centered complement to Deborah Madison's European-focused Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. True to Jaffrey's title, the recipes here do hail from all over the world, but an Indian slant can be detected: a chapter on dried legumes contains Black-Eyed Pea Fritters from Nigeria, Boiled Peanuts Indonesian Style, and variations on Chickpea Flour Pancakes from India; a section on grains includes, among other things, the quickly made flatbreads of India, like Punjabi Village-Style Flat Whole Wheat Flaky Breads. Sometimes Jaffrey adopts vegetarian ingredients to make nonmeat versions of familiar dishes, such as a Mock Lamb Curry with seitan (wheat gluten), but more often she simply delves into the meatless tradition of a specific country and pulls up a signature dish (Savory Greek Pumpkin Pie). A chapter on dairy gives instructions for making yogurt, the Indian cheese paneer, mascarpone and other preparations, then describes a variety of ways these bases can be used (Yogurt with Green Mango or Homemade Indian Cheese Cooked in the Style of Scrambled Eggs). With its top-notch glossary of unusual ingredients and thorough information about vegetables, this is an excellent resource for those who like to make everything from scratch as well as those who want fast results. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Obviously a labor of love, Jaffrey's masterwork is breathtaking in scope, with a dazzling array of recipes from all over the world. Grouped mostly into broad categories by main ingredient (beans, grain, vegetables, etc.), they are as likely to come from a Palestinian restaurant in Toronto, the nuns at the Ormylia Monastery in Macedonia, or a home cook in Mexico as from Jaffrey's own Indian background or her experience as a cooking teacher. There is a separate chapter on Soups, Salads, and Drinks and a short but especially good one on Sauces and Other Flavorings. Jaffrey's recipes are always delicious, and her culinary explorations and insights make for delightful reading. A good complement to Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (LJ 9/15/97) and certainly not limited in appeal to vegetarians, this is an essential purchase.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

made my top 6 list
I became vegetarian (not vegan, yet) 10 years ago, love food and cooking, and own at least 50 cookbooks. This book has become one of the 6 food-related books that I use the most. They are (not in any particular order):

1. Company's Coming Meatless Cooking
(I have the French version, so names and page numbers may differ.)
I wouldn't recommend it for vegans, but very good for a beginning vegetarian or someone looking for old favourites. Lots of good old comfort foods that I missed, such as "Roti Favori (like meatloaf) p. 82, "Boulettes Fantaisie" (Fancy 'meatballs'?) p. 84, "Simili boulettes de Viande" (pork-style 'meatballs') p.86 and the delicious quiche p. 94. I was less enchanted with some of the recipes, such as "Pate au Presque-Poulet" (nearly-chicken pate) p. 76, which I found rather unflavourful, and the "Saucisses au Tofu" (Tofu sausages) p. 74 which wouldn't hold together, but that's ok. Maybe I should have rated it 3 instead of 4, but the recipes I like, I use all the time! Oh, and the "Dessert au Fromage et a l'Ananas" (cheese and pineapple dessert) p. 32, is marvellous!

2. The All New Purity Cookbook
Not vegetarian, but good old-fashioned Canadian comfort-food which I modify to make vegetarian. I use it mostly for baking, but also for a variety of non-desserts such as the great "Savoury Beef Stew" (I use firm tofu instead). The pineapple "Upside-Down Cake" is one of my favourites.

3. Madhur Jaffrey's "World Vegetarian"
My absolute favourite so far. Though I haven't tried the popular Moosewood or Deborah Madison books, yet, I can hardly imagine anything beating this!
Wonderful, wonderful recipes from all over the world, with lots of bean recipes that I actually can't stop myself from eating to the last bite! I find the Indian/Middle-Eastern recipes the best, here. Very much vegan-friendly. Some of my favourites are Moroccan "Chickpea Stew with 6 Vegetables", Persian "Pilaf with Lime and Green Beans", Chinese-American "Stir-Fried Sweet-and-Sour Potato Shreds"... I've tried over 40 of the recipes, many of which have become all-time favourites, most of which I've enjoyed, a few of which I found to be borderline 'duds', all of which I have learned a lot about cooking from. I'd rate this one 4.8 out of 5.

4. Thai Vegetarian Cooking by Vatcharin Bhumichitr
Yummy! Have tried at least a dozen, and not one 'dud'. Anything made with the "Red Curry Paste" p.105 has made it to my favourites list. Ingredients lists are long, but instructions are short and easy. Definitely recommended. 4.5 out of 5.

5. Becoming Vegetarian by Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis
Haven't actually tried the recipes at the back, but have found this to be the best reference book I've seen on nutrition. Lots of details and explanations which I crave and which many other books skip over, while remaining very reader-friendly. I would say a must for any vegetarian, and even for non-vegetarians.

6. Prevention Magazine's Nutrition Advisor by Mark Bricklin
Basically a book filled with nutrition labels for over 1000 foods. I just find it very handy because I like to read up on and compare various foods for nutritive value, but this is probably not everyone's 'cup of tea'. It has it's flaws, such as giving information for items such as 'blueberry pie', without giving details on ingredients. It seems to me recipes must vary considerably, no? But, I haven't found any better, yet.

I'm not vegetarian, but this book is simply the greatest
This is my first book by the author and I have to say that I eat much less meat than before, which is a good thing, for me and for global impact. Some people have written bad reviews and I guess they just don't get it, this book was a revelation to me. You can make wonderfull dishes of all styles and tastes from many parts of the world, but most important, you learn a strong basis for different culinary cultures. Which I then use with a bit of imagination to make my own depending of what I have in the fridge, and it never fails, it's like skying, once you know how to do it, you can tweak styles and inovate.

Simply the best cookbook I've come across in my whole life... and I'm not vegetarian.

This Cookbook is Inspiring and Educational
I used my local library's copy of this book before buying. When I first started eating vegetarian, a lot of ingredients and ways of thinking about food seemed weird and unfamiliar - but the way you learn, is to DO. :-) Fifteen years later, as a well-seasoned vegetarian, I think this book is a wonderful complement to the vegetarian cook's library. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is that I would have liked to see a lot more pictures; but the pictures that she *does* have in there are very helpful, showing different types of rices and grains, for instance. This book moves "American" eaters out of their comfort zones, for sure. Borrow it from the library first if you aren't sure about it, but I personally love this cookbook. The only sort of person I imagine would NOT like this cookbook is someone who really does prefer their food to be bland and boring. I also really enjoy reading the personal anecdotes she includes with a number of the recipes.