When I got married decades ago, my mother gave me a recipe book in Tamil Samaiththu paar by Meenakshi Ammal. It was a bible of sorts for typical South Indian – especially Tamil vegetarian – food. Nevertheless, it required a lot of patience and fortitude to read, take in and follow the recipes!
Rani Bannir and Veronica Maier’s new recipe book Vegetarian also Shiok lah! (Singapore, 2024) which translates to Vegetarian food is also delicious!  is a living testament to how far we have come in this sphere. Rani and Veronica are from Singapore, and have put together an excellent collection of essentially Southeast Asian recipes for vegetarians and vegans too (most vegetarian recipes can easily be tweaked to make it vegan).
Rani, who has been and continues to be a pillar of strength of the Chinmaya Mission in Melbourne, would often get asked for Singaporean recipes by her Indian-origin friends. It urged her to create and collate the most popular dishes from her country of origin in one place. I say ‘create’ because Rani and Veronica must have spent several woman-hours tweaking a variety of meat dishes to come up with vegetarian equivalents that retained the flavour and texture using substitutes for chicken, fish, lamb etc.
Vegetarian Food is Also Delicious! is a very user-friendly recipe book which caters (pardon the pun) to a digitally savvy generation as well as to those who may not have cooked much at all – at least not Southeast Asian dishes.
Southeast Asian cooking is the dominating theme of the book, although there are a few that betray Indian influences like the murtabak, which is like stuffed paratha, and of course, biryani. With Chinese and SE Asian foods gaining popularity in India as well as the Indian diaspora, it’s a great way to try your hand at replicating these dishes at home.
I particularly like the short annotation at the beginning of each recipe that lets the authors introduce the dish – with a personal touch.
The book is visually appealing and easy to use:
- The authors have included step-by-step photos that make following recipes a breeze – and videos of the recipes can be accessed by scanning the QR code provided with every recipe.
- All the ingredients are arranged on the right and the steps colour-coded and explained in easy-to-follow language.
- Detailed step-by-step photos of specific techniques have been included in the recipes, the most important one being the SE Asian ‘pecan minyak’ or ‘oil rising to the surface’ specific to the sambal Tumis dishes.
- There is a pictorial glossary – photographs of ingredients are included so that those not familiar with the ingredients, or available in your pantry, will find it easy to shop for them. As the authors are Australian, they have highlighted the most suitable ingredients available in Australian and Asian grocery shops.
The editor Naleeza Ebrahim has done an excellent job of making the book a visual delight.
The book was released in July at the Burgher Association, 358 Haughton Road, Clayton.
READ MORE: Growing Up Indian In Australia: Review
