Good Vegetarian cookbooks (dinner, cuisine, food, Cupcake)

[virgode]

Suggestions for good vegetarian cookbooks or recipes

[tilli]

If you are ovo/lacto (or even an omnivore who appreciates vegetarian dishes), "The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook: Your Guide to the Best Foods on Earth" is a great basic cookbook. Most recipes include basic instructions, and common-sense techniques for adapting those recipes to your personal tastes. The commentary is witty and usually useful, and the recipes run the gamut from very simple single servings, to elaborate dinner party spreads.

If you are looking for strict vegan cookbooks I can't help ya.

[buni13]

all 3 of these books are by the same authors... I live by these recipes & have adapted many to come up with entirely new recipes of my own!

• ~~> VEGANOMICON (pretty much the vegan bible)
• Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World
• Post Punk Kitchen

you can also find a lot of the recipes in the books mentioned above on the PPK website

[groar]

i definitely recommend the books in the last post! they're fantastic, especially for vegan baked goods. my omni office mates beg me to bring in vegan cupcakes,and prefer them to the ones from the bakery near our office!

it kind of depends on what kind of food you like, but some of my standbys (besides the ones mentioned above) are:

the moosewood cookbooks
the vegetarian epicure
classic indian vegetarian & grain cooking by julie sahni
world vegetarian by madhur jaffrey
yellow rose recipes
nonna's italian kitchen
the voluptuous vegan

pretty much any indian cookbook will have lots of vegetarian recipes, even if it's not explicitly a vegetarian cookbook. i'd recommend any book by julie sahni or madhur jaffrey, really. i use jaffrey's "flavors of india" and sahni's "classic indian cooking" a lot.

[buni13]

Right on groar! I am loving those recommendations, especially the Indian cuisine books I will have to look into some of them!

Up until this point, I've just been grabbing a takeout menu from Indian restaurants I've enjoyed, and try to re-create the dish based on the menu description. So many things can be made vegan, even if the original dish description lists meat/dairy.

Same goes for Greek, Middle Eastern, Ethiopan/Eritrean cuisine.

[plaidmom]

On my bookshelf:

For new cooks (and/or new vegetarians) I recommend "The Clueless Vegetarian" by Evelyn Raab. It's a little paperback, with quick, easy recipes perfect for the beginning cook. I give this one away often.

"Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison is a classic. Again, non-intimidating for the new vegetarian and her dishes just plain taste good.

Personal oddball favorite: "3 Bowls: Vegetarian Recipes from and American Zen Buddhist Monastery" by Seppo Ed Farrey.

"The Joy of Cooking"---not vegetarian, but a classic

Rodale's "Natural Foods Cookbook"--again not veggie, but a great reference.

Other than those, I do what the other's have mentioned. I just pick a cuisine and adapt.

I enjoy using local produce as much as possible and really ejoyed both "Local Flavors" by Deborah Madison and "Outstanding in the Field" by Jim Denevan.

Right now I'm reading "The New Portuguese Table" by David Leite and "The Indonesian Kitchen" by Sri Owen.

My very favorite "cookbook" though has to be google.

Bon Appetit !

[buni13]

Originally Posted by plaidmom

My very favorite "cookbook" though has to be google.

LOL... that's a fave of mine too!

[groar]

buni13, if you want some easy indian recipes, try this site: Manjula's Kitchen | Indian Vegetarian Recipes

her recipes are simple, they include videos, and they're very similar to what you get in restaurants. all of them are vegetarian and most are vegan. they do require some esoteric ingredients, but that's pretty much the way it is if you want to make indian food.

definitely check out the cookbooks i mentioned above though - sahni in particular is so detailed and precise in her instructions that making a few of her recipes is like taking a class in indian cooking!

i have joy of cooking too, and betty crocker cookbook. they are great for the basics (like how to cook different vegetables) and there's lots of things that are vegetarian or can be made vegetarian or vegan with slight modifications. one of my standby desserts is the betty crocker apple crisp with margarine instead of butter, for example.

[virgode]

Thanks for all the recommendations !

[treebw]

The Essential Vegetarian is Great!
La Dolce Vegan is a great one as well.