The Deal

Okay, this is one of the most unoriginal blogs ever. That's fine, you don't have to read it. Like everyone else, I saw Julie and Julia and was inspired to cook my way through a cookbook. Here's the catch, though, I'm a vegetarian. No aspics, no duck boning, no lobster boiling, no boeuf bourguignon. And braised cucumbers are not a meal. So, Julia Child was out. I'm Chicano and could go for Mexican food, but the vegetarian options, while yummy, are not exactly as year's worth of challenging recipes. So, I looked through my cookbooks and came across Yamuna Devi's The Best of Lord Krishna's Cuisine.

I've never found a bad recipe in it, but also haven't wandered very far into it. Two friends--one from Bengal, the other from Orissa--independently confirmed that it is the best Indian vegetarian cookbook out there. A quick perusal of on-line reviews confirmed this. India has a wonderfully rich and developed vegetarian cuising, and Devi does a great job of discussing its history, principles, and techniques. The book has about 170+ recipes, so I thought, this should be a snap. After all, I have a busy schedule and travel a lot, so Julie's 500+ in a year seemed a little unreasonable. Here's the catch, though. It turns out that The Best of Lord Krishna's Cuisine is made up a selections from the real cookbook, Lord Krishna's Cuisine. The shorter one, while more manageable, misses a lot. (The whole breads section, for example.) So, I should really commit to the 500+ recipes in the larger edition, which I obtained yesterday from Powell's.

I'll try to fill out more about the book and my plan later. I am starting today, though, September 1, 2009. I chose a dish I've never made before: White Radish with Chopped Radish Greens (Mooli Sabji), with Sautéed Rice (Khara Chaval) and Simple Mung Dal Soup (Sada Moong Dal).

Here goes!