Thank you to the Experiment publisher and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this amazing book! Oh my word! This book should come with a warning - extremely appetizing visuals ahead! I had to hold myself back from licking the screen! As I read this fantastic book, The descriptions were so vivid that I was able to smell the spices blooming on the skillet. Loved loved loved the book, the recipes, the photos of each recipe, all the explanations in the beginning of the book, and can’t wait till June (publishing) to put this gem on my shelf! I have time until then to make room on my shelves. Can’t recommend it enough!

This book is absolutely stunning, the pictures are gorgeous and the recipes are formatted well. They aren't too complicated and its wonderful plant based food full of flavor!

A comprehensive collection of vegetarian Indian recipes. There is background information about the author (a doctor from an Indian family) and wide variety of recipes, including appetizers, entrees, beverages, and desserts. There are clear directions for how to make each recipe and beautiful photos to show what the finished dish should look like. A good addition to a vegetarian cookbook collection.

Plant-Based India is an impressively comprehensive, beautifully curated collection of plant based Indian recipes by Dr. Sheil Shukla. Due out 7th June 2022 from The Experiment, it's 256 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is a warmly written, inviting, and gorgeously photographed cookbook with dairy free (vegan friendly) recipes. There is a great deal of additional information included throughout the book with tips on the chemically active ingredients and nutritional value of spices, and other items used in the recipes. I found these tables interesting and very useful.

The recipes are grouped thematically: Starters and Lighter Meals; Snacks and Sides, Soups and Salads, Vegetable Dishes, Gravy Dishes - Curries, Dal - Legume Stews, Rice Dishes, Rotli - Flatbreads, Desserts, Drinks, Chutneys and other Condiments, and Spice Blends. Each recipe contains an introduction/description, yields and prep times. Ingredients are listed bullet style in a sidebar and ingredient measurements are given in American standard units with metric in parentheses (yay!), followed by step-by-step preparation instructions. Every recipe is accompanied by a full color photo. Serving suggestions are appropriate and appetizingly styled. The nutritional information is somewhat surprisingly not included for these dishes.

The photography throughout is superlative, truly standout. The recipes are varied and from a wide number of geographical regions which are helpfully specified in each recipe as well as the chapter introduction pages.

Five stars. This is a wonderfully useful cookbook.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I did not try all of the recipes yet but those I try, I would describe as : yummi yummi and more yummi.
Recipes are simple, easy to make, well explained, beautiful photos.
So yes if you are a fan of Indian food like I am, this is the book you want to have in your kitchen.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is an absolutely gorgeous book with so many beautiful recipes it's hard to know where to start when planning your next Indian meal.

Written by an Indian-American internal medicine physician, the recipes presented are rooted in the native Gujarati foods of his youth, adapted from more traditional versions to focus on a balance between vibrant and locally available plant-based ingredients, healthy preparation techniques, flavor and nutrition. The author also provides a handy nutrition chart which cross references important nutrients (eg protein and the major vitamins) with the recipes providing them.

The book is nicely laid out in sections including: Starters and Light Meals, Snacks, Soups and Salads, Vegetable dishes, Gravy (curry) dishes, Dal (legumes), Rice dishes, Indian flatbreads, Desserts, Drinks, Chutneys and Spice blends. Recipes, as well as section headings, are beautifully illustrated with mouth-watering full-page color photos and brightly engaging drawings.

Recipe Ingredients are straightforward, with dishes featuring tofu, nuts, chickpeas, kidney and other beans and legumes, a host of healthy vegetables including cauliflower, squash, and staples such as rice and yogurt. Along with an assortment of Indian spices (a list of commonly required Indian species is provided) other ingredients fall into the category of what would typically be found in any well-stocked pantry (a pantry list is also provided).

Some of my favorites I can’t wait to try include:

-Cilantro peanut chutney
-Butternut squash and mushroom biryani
-Citrus, fennel and white bean salad
-Creamy chili pasta
-Chili, cauliflower and tofu

A great big thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

Wow. What a BEAUTIFUL cookbook. The photos are just stunning, and the recipes seem very accessible. Granted I live in a major metro area, but nothing in the ingredient list seems too hard to get.

We're actually planning on doing a vegan challenge the first 2 weeks of January, so this was fantastic timing with this cookbook. I was literally tempted to drop everything and make the Creamy Chili Pasta as I was reading the recipe. The fact that I didn't have a potato stopped me. Since it's plant based, this cookbook features tofu, non-dairy yogurt, nutritional yeast, etc, but there's a lot of vegetables! So many vegetables! Cauliflower, zucchini, corn, carrots, there's probably a ton of recipes with your favorite vegetable represented. The takes on traditional, non-plant based dishes seemed very creative and delicious! Can't wait to make a lot of these recipes next week, or really anytime.

If you've been looking for a vegan or plant-based cookbook and you like Indian food, this is the book for you!

Thank you to Net Galley and the author and publisher for sharing an ARC with me!

For vegans and vegetarians, such as myself, Indian cuisine is a very popular cuisine choice. So, I was extremely excited when I saw this new Indian cuisine cookbook on Net Galley and found that my request for a review copy had been granted. I will start by saying that this is one cookbook that I will be buying when it is released for publication. Why might you ask, given the seemingly endless options for finding Indian cuisine recipes on the internet? The simple answer is that this is much more than a cookbook. Not only does it include countless, beautifully illustrated plant-based recipes (all non-dairy), many of which I have never seen or even tried before in restaurants, the author, an internal medicine physician, provides a detailed chart outlining key nutrients and plant-based sources of those nutrients that those following a plant-based diet should be mindful of when planning meals. This chart is supplemented by a list of additional references at the end of the book. The book also includes an easy-to-follow chart outlining the most important ingredients for stocking an Indian pantry, that is, everything that you will need to produce the recipes contained in this cookbook. It should be noted that for those who live in small towns or rural areas without an Indian grocery some of the ingredients may be difficult to find, and thus some recipes may not be possible to make or will require finding substitutions. That said, there are many, many recipes in this book that require ingredients that can be found at any supermarket. Not to mention the author includes in their pantry chart recommendations for substitutions for many of those hard-to-find ingredients.

The recipes in this cookbook are divided into 12 sections: Starters and Lighter Meals; Snacks and Sides; Soups and Salads; Vegetable Dishes; Gravy Dishes (Curries); Dal (Legume Stews); Rice Dishes; Rotli (Indian Flatbreads); Desserts; Drinks; Chutney and other Condiments; and finally Spice Blends. The directions for each recipe are clear, and most sections include helpful tips for working with ingredients common to each section. For example, in the dessert section, the author includes a section on cooking with mangoes.

There are only two minor cons that keep this from being the perfect cookbook for some readers. Those who are gluten intolerant will be disappointed that the bread section does not include any gluten-free recipe options. The author acknowledges such options do exist in traditional Indian cuisine. However, as the author notes, he chose not to include these because he lacks experience in making them. For me, this admission by the author is another reason for purchasing this cookbook, because it indicates that these are all recipes that the author has tested and made for his family and friends. This impression is reinforced by the last section in this book, “Recipe Testers and Their Favorite Recipes,” in which those friends and family members who acted as taste testers spoke about their favorite recipes in the book. The second con is that nutritional information is not included with each recipe; this was surprising given the book’s emphasis on healthy eating. Still these two minor “cons” do not suffice to detract from what is otherwise a truly remarkable cookbook and healthy eating resource and one which I plan to buy.

I would like to thank Net Galley, the publisher, and the author for an advance copy of this cookbook in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a nice recipe book!

Focusing on vegan Indian recipes there is good variety in this book. It includes mains, sides, drinks, and more! The pictures included in the book are beautiful. The recipes have a variety of flavors and can be adapted to different dietary requirements. There's information on different spices and ingredients and how they're used in Indian cooking.

Overall a nice find!

Plant-Based India is a fantastic cookbook that features a variety of mouthwatering recipes. The book features a huge variety of traditional and contemporary dishes. The photography contained throughout is absolutely stunning!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

Before the pandemic hit I spent quite bit of time in India. One of the things I enjoyed most was trying new foods with my Indian friends and colleagues. Most were “Veg” so we’d often find restaurants that would serve only vegetarian food and I liked having meatless meals now and then. They would often regal me with stories about how the spices and herbs used in Indian cooking are medicinal, not just for flavor. That makes cooking these foods even more intriguing. But over the past two years, I’ve really missed the authentic cooking, foods and stories.

While I won’t be traveling to India again any time soon, I will be enjoying some of my favorites with the help of this book. The author does a great job explaining and guiding you through the recipes. You’ll be making your own favorites before you know it.