Melody of India Cuisine: Tasteful New Vegetarian Recipes
Celebrating Soy and Tofu

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Introduction

MOM AND I started dabbling on our book twelve years ago on a modest 1960 Underwood typewriter, the same typewriter my Dad had used to type his Ph.D. thesis. Frequently, in the morning with my lunch, Mom would hand me several recipes to correct as I would head out to school. Mom was a traditional Indian cook, and I was a student of nutrition and medicine. A complementary relationship developed and in time, the Underwood gave way to an IBM PC and the scattered recipes took shape into this unique cookbook.

Mom is well known for her culinary skills in our extended family and in the community. Among her experiments in cooking she stumbled upon tofu. With each tofu recipe she realized the many potentials of soybean. Meanwhile, I was skeptical of soy “It’s probably some weird-tasting food which scientists feed their laboratory rats.” None of the nutrition literature or books by Shurtleff and Akiko could change my mind.

It wasn’t until Mom disclosed her secret. All the great-tasting dishes which she was preparing were made from soy. She was adding 20 percent soy flour to the chappati (bread) to double its protein content and using tofu instead of milk curd, paneer, to lower the cholesterol content in our food. I was so impressed that I joined Mom full force in promoting soy.

My formal research on soy began through a Medical Perspective Grant. I took my mother’s newly found secret for a pilot test. Near our home town in India, soy was being grown as a cash crop for oil and not used as a food product. With affiliation from local organizations I conducted training programs in 10 villages on the high nutritional value, low cost and easy preparability of soybean. The villagers were amazed by the soy milk, soy yogurt and tofu. We felt we had uncovered a secret treasure.

In the chapters ahead the merits of soy are discussed, yet as a physician I cannot stress enough the advantages of a soy-based vegetarian diet over animal products. The reduction in coronary artery disease (the leading cause of mortality in the United States) and colon cancer can be credited to a low cholesterol and high fiber diet.

Authors
Manoj Jain, MD is a physician and a national leader in healthcare quality improvement. He has co-authored several cookbooks and many scientific articles on health, nutrition and spirituality. He lives with his wife and three children in Memphis, Tennessee.

Laxmi Jain lectures on Indian cuisine and the benefits of a vegetarian diet. She has numerous articles, cookbooks, and cooking shows to her credit. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts and Indore, India.

Tarla Dalal is India’s best-selling cookery author for over three decades with over 60 titles to her name. All her cookbooks are distinctly vegetarian. Her cooking show is aired weekly on Sony Entertainment Television.