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.


Review
"This book is a priceless treasury of eclectic, fascinating, and beautifully written recipes that are unified by Madhur Jaffrey's own seductive esthetic, which is born out of her immersion in the traditions of Indian cooking and her respect and passion for the garden and the farmer's market."
-- Alice Waters

"Colors, flavors, and textures are so artfully combined in these enticing vegetable dishes, one would never have a sense of deprivation for having forsaken meat. With such a seductive diversity, it is a blessing that the recipes are explicit, and most are simple to do."
-- Mimi Sheraton

"In World Vegetarian, Madhur Jaffrey proves as exciting a travel guide as she is a cook! Her gastronomic tour around the globe is accented with useful cooking tips and lively anecdotes, while the varied and well-written recipes are a mouthwatering tour-de-force. From Azuki beans to Zahtar spice, from the Old World to the New, the scope and depth of this book are breathtaking."
-- Michael Romano

"Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian is Exhibit A in showing us just how large that world is today and simultaneously how small the globe, as we connect to cultures and cuisines on a worldwide web of flavors and ingredients. While East Indians are eating Spicy Corn with Sesame Seeds and Tomatoes, Americans are eating Green Peas with Coconut and Cilantro. Jaffrey's clarity is as perfected in small details as in large and everywhere her taste unifies dishes from lands far and near. Buy one for your kitchen shelf and one for your carry-on luggage."
-- Betty Fussell


From the Hardcover edition.


Review
"This book is a priceless treasury of eclectic, fascinating, and beautifully written recipes that are unified by Madhur Jaffrey's own seductive esthetic, which is born out of her immersion in the traditions of Indian cooking and her respect and passion for the garden and the farmer's market."
-- Alice Waters

"Colors, flavors, and textures are so artfully combined in these enticing vegetable dishes, one would never have a sense of deprivation for having forsaken meat. With such a seductive diversity, it is a blessing that the recipes are explicit, and most are simple to do."
-- Mimi Sheraton

"In World Vegetarian, Madhur Jaffrey proves as exciting a travel guide as she is a cook! Her gastronomic tour around the globe is accented with useful cooking tips and lively anecdotes, while the varied and well-written recipes are a mouthwatering tour-de-force. From Azuki beans to Zahtar spice, from the Old World to the New, the scope and depth of this book are breathtaking."
-- Michael Romano

"Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian is Exhibit A in showing us just how large that world is today and simultaneously how small the globe, as we connect to cultures and cuisines on a worldwide web of flavors and ingredients. While East Indians are eating Spicy Corn with Sesame Seeds and Tomatoes, Americans are eating Green Peas with Coconut and Cilantro. Jaffrey's clarity is as perfected in small details as in large and everywhere her taste unifies dishes from lands far and near. Buy one for your kitchen shelf and one for your carry-on luggage."
-- Betty Fussell


From the Hardcover edition.


Book 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.


From the Inside Flap
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.


From the Hardcover edition.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
We really have to thank the woman from Springfield, Illinois, who once asked Madhur Jaffrey, "What do vegetarians eat? Lots of boiled broccoli, I suppose?" With 650 mouthwatering recipes from around the globe, this award-winning book is Jaffrey's global answer to that question.

Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian is for the sometime vegetarian, the full-time vegetarian, and the cook who wants to expand his or her vegetable repertoire. Armed with this vast collection of international recipes, even the most uncreative cook will be able to fix imaginative vegetable dishes.

The book's contents seem almost like a beauty pageant, with contenders from every nation: Chickpea and Potato Curry, Caribbean Style from Trinidad; Yogurt with Spinach and Cloves from India; Bulgur Risotto with Pumpkin from Cyprus; Risotto with Dried Porcini Mushrooms from Italy; Mung Bean Thread Salad from China. All the recipes seem well seasoned; most are simple, and hard-to-find ingredients come with substitutions.

As Jaffrey points out, some ingredients, like eggplant, are used in many different cultures: If it is cooked with mustard and fennel seeds, it must be Bengali; if it is cooked with honey, Moroccan; if creamed with olive oil and lemon, Middle Eastern or Greek/Turkish. But ingredients like chickpea flour are less widely used -- Jaffrey offers chickpea fries from southern France, pizza from southern France and the Genoa region of Italy, and pancakes and stews from India.

While most of the recipes are for main or side dishes, condiments, spice mixes, drinks, and sauces get attention, too. A comprehensive glossary and resource page round out the book. (Ginger Curwen)

FROM THE PUBLISHER