Cooking with Kurma, More Great Vegetarian Dishes ~ Kurma Dasa

This cookbook accompanied an SBS cookery show of the same name, presented by Kurma Dasa. Kurma began his cooking career in the Sydney kitchens of the Hare Krishna movement, going on to become head chef at Melbourne's vegetarian restaurant, Gopal's.

Kurma's experience with vegetarian cuisine is evident in this offering which features recipes from across the globe, such as Azerbaijan-style savoury rice with broad beans and fresh dill, Mexican spicy bean and cheese stuffed burras, and Jamaican pepperpot soup. There are also of course a great variety of Indian inspired vegetarian dishes featured throughout the book, and these in particular highlight Dasa's familiarity and comfort with highly fragrant and spiced vegetarian offerings. Hearty and inviting dishes like the Chickpea and cauliflower curry and the Simple Gujarati pumpkin will leave you wondering why it was that you thought you needed meat in the first place. The book is written to cater for lacto-vegetarians, so while many of the dishes aren't suitable for vegans, they will be suitable for most other vegetarians.

Also notable in this book is the large section of sweets and desserts, such as the Flaked almond and saffron halava and the Ginger, saffron and pistachio kulfi. These are quite often overlooked in vegetarian cookbooks, however it is nice to be able to pick up this book and know there are 25 odd offerings that I don't need to go through for gelatin references (or for eggs). Very handy.

Highly recommended for any cooks looking for a variety of tasty and nutritious vegetarian recipes. If you are the vegetarian child of omnivorous parents give this book to your mother so she stops trying to just add lentils into every dish she serves you.

- kath