Fantastic book! I am also a culinary medicine physician/lifestyle medicine/obesity medicine physician also of Indian descent. The recipes are wonderful and I love the plant based spin on the recipes. Especially enjoyed the thorough pantry section which gave some really good explanations of the spices utilized in Indian cooking. Highly recommend!

The recipes in Plant-Based India by Sheil Shukla are easy to read and follow, although some of the ingredients may take some research to find in certain areas. The pictures seem a bit colorless but that may have been the computer I was reading the book on. I would definitely recommend this book for vegetarian and vegan readers. There were many different recipes for making a complete, enjoyable meal.

This book is absolutely stunning. The photos are so gorgeous and beautifully displayed across the pages. I love the Indian Pantry chart detailing the commonly used spices, seeds, and roots. It features photos of the spices which is such a great idea as it is helpful to visually familiarize yourself with the ingredients. For someone who hasn't practiced much Indian cooking in my kitchen this chart is a very helpful breakdown. The recipes are insightful and not only educate on how to prepare the meal but also tap into the cultural background of the dish. They also provide the cooking, prep and assembly time which I find extremely necessary in a cook book. The recipes look incredible and I am very much looking forward to trying some. I am thrilled about this plant based Indian cookbook.

This book honestly feels like it popped into my life at just the right time. As much as I love both cooking Indian-style cuisine and also having a mostly vegetarian diet, I’ve been feeling like those two realities have been resulting in the same dishes over and over - chana masala, lentil curries, and rajma, to name the big three.

So to use some quite hearty understatement - I have personally found “Plant-Based India” to be nothing less than a massive and absolute delight. Not only am I now aware of plenty of new recipes that I can try, but I’ve even learned about some ways I can change up my aforementioned core Indian-style dishes. Also, of course I can’t forget the wonderful photos that make simply looking through this book as enjoyable as it is to actually read through it for culinary inspiration.

This is a stunning book filled with gorgeous photographs of incredible recipes. Each page brings new inspiration and an ever expanding grocery list as you realize you NEED to make, well, everything. Highly recommend this one!

Wonderful cook book. The pictures are gorgeous. The story is great. Each ingredient is so healthy and yummy. Each recipe looks delicious. I tried the Tofu Tikkā last night and it was so delicious!!

Thank you NetGalley

Indian cookery books can be intimidating with long lists of ingredients and names we don’t recognize. This book is full of things I don’t recognize and unusual ingredients yet at the same time it is accessible and easy to follow because everything is explained and optional ingredients are pointed out.
There are lots of recipes in here that I would make for my family and I particularly like how suggestions are made for accompaniments and combinations of recipes which work well together.
The photographs of the dishes are beautifully taken and styled which I am sure will stand the test of time. This is a book we will add to the library collection and many people will enjoy cooking from it.

This is a great Indian cookbook. it has a lot of lesser-known recipes. They are also authentic and not westernized, true Indian cooking.

Very well done cookbook with some beautiful photos and very nice looking recipes. I don't really know what most of them are but I would love to try them! I love Indian flavors but I haven't tried a lot of plant based ones. It's a great book. I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

Full of informative, interesting stories, beautiful photography and delicious recipes. I want to work through trying them all!

Let's say you want to eat a more plant-based diet but don't want to give up Indian cuisine, which frequently incorporates lots of dairy and sometimes animal proteins. Or maybe you're preparing meals for vegan family members or friends and want to offer appealing dishes that will accommodate their preferences. Or perhaps you've heard of the many benefits that can accompany a diet that incorporates more fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes. You might already be a passionate cook of Indian cuisine and are looking for new and intriguing recipes that will incorporate ingredients already in your spice box or pantry. Perhaps you're a fan of Sheil Shukla (a Wisconsin-born internal medicine resident physician, artist, and cook who has been vegan since 2015) and his blog sheilshukla.com.

Enter Shukla’s Plant-Based India: Nourishing Recipes Rooted in Tradition.

The recipes, photographed in full-color, are beautifully styled and elegantly presented, but have a personal feel, as though this is how the dishes might be offered in someone's home.

Recipes that I would like to try (too many to list here) include: Citrus. Fennel, and White Bean Salad; Palak Tofu; Creamy Masala Tomato Soup; Shahi Gobi; Green Bean Poriyal; Rasavala Baby Potatoes with Greens; Butternut Squash Chana Nu Shak; Tadka Dal; Vagharela Quinoa; Lemon Rice; and Cardamom Coffee Cake.

Shukla Includes instructions on how to cook rice and quinoa in an electric pressure cooker or Instant Pot and how to flavor the rice with whole spices. Some cooks looking for easy enhancements will find these tips game changing.

Those who enjoy making yogurt at home (or want to give it a try) will appreciate Shukla's method for preparing nondairy yogurt, which can be difficult to find commercially and expensive.

The book's recipe testers weigh in on their favorite recipes. I found this personal touch and a fun and useful feature.

Shukla gives prep and cook times, offers a list of resources (online, books, and documentary films) and notes on the research supporting the benefits of plant-based diets.

There's always room for another Indian cookbook on my shelves, and Plant-Based India inspired me to incorporate more plant-based dishes into my family's diet, and is a book that I plan to add to my collection.

Thanks to The Experiment and NetGalley for the opportunity to take an early look at this beautiful and informative cookbook in exchange for an honest review.

These recipes overall are delicious and easy to follow. If you're looking for the ultimate comfort meal: Creamy Masala Tomato Soup served with Nan.

The recipes in this book all sound ama,zing, it’s hard yo choose what to try first! Thank you NetGalley for giving me advanced access to the masterpiece.
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While I didn’t get to try all the recipes, I can confirm that this recipe book is amazing. The author/chef gives great details on the dish itself and how to make it. They also give the recipes for spices that are used all throughout the book. It’s easy to follow, fun to make, and so yummy! My favorite dishes are definitely the Mattar Tofu and Nan.

A gorgeous cookbook focusing on plant based Indian cuisine:

* Beautiful photos
* Loved the family history
* Brief discussion on the benefits of plant based eating
* Comprehensive section on Indian spices and traditional flavours/cooking techniques
* Beautifully presented recipes with accompanying photos
* Appreciated the descriptions and blurbs with each recipe
* The recipe layouts were user friendly and easily read
* The recipes were broken down into appropriate subtopics
* The book’s colour scheme and general aesthetic was eye pleasing and attractive

Thank you for the opportunity to review this eARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and The Experiment for the advance e-ARC of PLANT-BASED INDIA.

I love Indian cuisine, and while I mostly get take-out, I have been wanting to cook more at home. I am also going more plant-based, so when I saw this book, I thought it was perfect for me. I appreciate the section on having an Indian Pantry, knowing staples to have on hand is always a good thing. The photographs throughout are beautiful and really highlight the food, and make me more excited to make and try them. I will be buying a physical copy of this one to keep on hand in my kitchen.

This cook book is amazing but definitely doesn’t seem beginner friendly. I also think most of these meals are better for dinner partys or maybe a holiday dinner but I don’t see myself cooking most of them for a daily family meal. Not alot of notes for nut free or gluten free alternatives so you can take the recipe as is or experiment. I think anyone who enjoys cooking will love this book.

Plant Based India: Nourishing Recipes Rooted in Tradition is a gorgeous book to behold. I was readying an e galley, but I can't wait to hold the actual book in my hands. Cookbooks without photos are useless to me. I need to see the foods, have my mouth water as I look at the display, in order to be motivated to cook. This book will provide boundless opportunities to be inspired. The photos are breathtaking, and I enjoyed the hennaed hands to give an Indian vibe to the scenes.

The author, who is a physician, tells the story of how he came to regain his appreciation for the Indian cooking he grew up with in his home, and gives multiple reasons for choosing to go vegan. The author's reasons are rooted in both health reasons and ideas related to not making animals suffer and honoring all life. He gives other reasons, too, such as environmental.

The book is divided into easy to follow chapters and there is plentiful recipies for preparing the spice mixtures needed to flavor the dishes. Info is also given as to how to stock an Indian pantry, and the background of some of these key ingredients. This cookbook will be much appreciated by those who love traditional Indian cooking, and also by those who are hoping to add more plant-based meals to their diet, and may be looking for something out of the mainstream recipes to supplement with.

Thank you to the author, The Experiment publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It is clear that Dr Sheil Shukla is passionate about food and photography. His book is filled with gorgeous photographs of delicious looking food. He's also very passionate about the benefits of a plant-based diet. I imagine that if you are a seasoned Vegan many of his tips might not be new to you. However if you have more recently switched to a plant-based diet, there might be some very useful insights, as well as delicious recipes, to be found within this book's pages.
If you are a vegan who loves Indian food, or simply a lover of Indian food who wants to incorporate more plant-based dishes into your diet, this would be a great recipe book for anybody.

Sheil knows what's up!

Here's a couple of things to note: if an Indian recipe is calling for extra virgin olive oil, it should be food that doesn't require super high heat cooking methods, because the oil will smoke and burn, and all those lovely benefits are lost. If you are doing something high heat, such as cooking whole mustard seeds/urad daal as we do in South Indian cooking, you need to use a neutral oil, like sunflower or canola oil. Guess what? That's exactly what Neil has written into the recipes. This is how you know that the recipes are carefully considered for health, flavour, and using what makes sense in the recipe and that the writer knows what they're talking about when it comes to Indian food!

For example, when I made the recipe for Kale & Broccoli Pudla/Cheela (page 40), the recipe calls for extra virgin olive oil. You're not heating up the pan to screaming heights, so it makes sense to use extra virgin olive oil, whose buttery taste works really nicely with the chickpea flour crepes. However, in all the recipes that call for tempering (heating oil to a high heat, and adding mustard seeds, curry leaves, etc), it's neutral oil.

Another thing to notice is that if you follow the recipe, step by step, from start to finish, you'll be in good shape. For example, the recipe for Khaman (page 58) suggests that you prepare the steaming apparatus first, before doing anything else. Anyone who has make khaman/dhokla or any other steamed food can tell you that if you don't prepare the steamer ahead of time, especially when you're working with quick leavened things (such as baking powder or Eno), you have a VERY short window between when you combine the wet and dry ingredients, and getting it cooking, or else the leavening will completely deflate, and it's a waste of ingredients.

There are lots of traditional Indian recipes, as well as twists on old faves. However, if you know anything about Gujarati food, you're going to want to buckle in for the Shaak (vegetable dishes). I was hoping for a tiny bit more variety here, but what was there was imaginative, and tasty. The Sambharo (page 80) is a lot like our South Indian cabbage dishes, but the addition of lime juice really turns up the volume on this one. It's such a nice addition! There is also a recipe for Tindora (page 87), for which I skipped the sugar (Gujarati food does love its sugar!) which was not as much of a chore to make as the typical recipes that you see out there. Definitely a keeper. The Lemon Rice (page 139) has a suggestion to use the lemon zest, which is something I've been doing for ages, because it really does boost the lemon flavour. Smart!

The list of chutneys and sauces are all solid. I never thought that black salt would perk up the date chutney (page 215) quite as much as it does. It does. I'd usually throw some tamarind in there, because it gets way too sweet otherwise, but this version was nice as written.

Another thing to note is that there are a TON of beautiful photos throughout the book. So much good inspiration from just flipping through the book and idly reading it for fun. Lots of stories, explanations, and recipe ideas to spark your imagination. There is a thorough section up in the front of the book that describes the spices you'll want to get your hands on, and what they're used for. There is a good solid works cited page towards the end that lets you know Sheil's sources for any claims he makes. The layout of the book is easy to read, and the ingredients are mentioned both in the ingredients list, and in the recipe itself so that you have a reminder of things you might have unconsciously skipped over.

This is definitely a good read to pick up and cook from when you have some spare time. There is a lot of call for vegan yoghurt, which can be tricky to get your hands on. You can indeed make your own, but that's a level of effort that not everyone will be able to devote. With regards to texture, I've found that the Silk brand unsweetened soy milk yoghurt works the best for the recipes in here, and for Indian food in general. It's a touch on the bland side with regards to sourness, but with texture and creaminess, it hits the spot.

As someone who has traveled to Southern India and a practicing vegetarian of many years, I was excited to receive this book. Plant-Based India is nothing short of amazing! I personally enjoyed the Dosa rolls and the Butternut Squash and Mushroom Biryani.

There are 100 vegan recipes for a variety of Indian dishes ranging from Rice to, naan, to Dal and palak. Dr. Sheil Shukla also includes dessert recipes that I am anxious to try! The photography and design of this book is beautiful and inspiring. Recipes are divided by light meals, snacks, soups/salads, gravy dishes, veggie dishes and of course roti, rice and flatbreads. There are even chapters on drinks and spices!
If you like Indian food, you have got to purchase #PlantbasedIndia
#TheExperiment #NetGalley