The Asian Vegan Kitchen

Book excerpt: The Asian Vegan Kitchen is a collection of recipes from across Asia, featuring the spices and the many tasty ingredients that have made these cuisines popular world-wide. It caters to the growing segment of people of all ages who have chosen to eschew animal products, yet still want to add some global spice and excitement to their diet. There is one big difference between this and many other vegan cookbooks. These dishes do not use replacement ingredients for traditional recipes. Instead, author Hema Parekh—a noted teacher of vegetarian cooking styles in Tokyo—has selected recipes that were traditionally vegetarian, and have been enjoyed by diners for decades, even centuries. In doing so, she has had to make only minor changes, if any, for these recipes to be deliciously appealing to everyone: vegan, vegetarian or otherwise. Over 200 dishes have been selected to cover a wide variety of tastes. Here readers will find vegan-ready recipes for everything from Japan’s sushi to northern Indian curries, from Vietnamese spring rolls, to red-hot tofu, Chinese-style. Soups, noodle dishes and some desserts are also included. The recipes are simple, with detailed explanations. Also included are over 50 mouth-watering photos and a comprehensive glossary. Vegan cooking just became a lot more interesting.