Restaurateur Camellia Panjabi celebrates ‘Vegetables: The Indian Way’ in London

London, Sep 5 (PTI) A new cookbook launched in London this week celebrates India’s immense variety and range of vegetable dishes, infused with nutritional and health benefits through the ingredients used and methods of cooking.

‘Vegetables: The Indian Way’ by Mumbai-born restaurateur and author Camellia Panjabi brings together 120 recipes incorporating a broad range of vegetables and lentils from across all parts of India.

Following years of research, Panjabi has incorporated nutritional notes, Ayurvedic influences and insights into traditional cooking techniques that naturally enhance digestion and absorption.

“I felt it was time to look at vegetables differently, instead of it being tucked away at the end of a restaurant menu, often as sides,” Panjabi shared during a launch event at Masala Zone in Piccadilly Circus – one of the flagship restaurants within her family’s MW Eat Indian dining group in the UK.

“I decided, why not group the vegetables, one by one, get their entire story, give all the recipes defined by how they grow – under the ground, on the ground, on a shrub, under the water or on a tree. And, if a recipe did not have oomph and taste fantastic, it would not go into the book. That was the easy part, as I had been collecting recipes all my life,” she reminisced.

As a book that has been in her mind’s eye ever since the release of her bestselling cookbook ‘50 Great Curries of India’ 30 years ago, it took the enforced lockdown of the COVID pandemic to finally bring things together in chapters. Panjabi credits her fellow restaurateur sister Namita and brother-in-law Ranjit Mathrani for encouraging her to “put pencil to paper” while locked down in London, even though much of her research notes were left behind in Mumbai.

The book’s tagline of ‘A definitive collection of recipes from the simple to the special’ references her efforts to dig deeper into each known and lesser-known household dish, from bitter gourd’s link to blood sugar regulation to lentils taking on a complete healthy package when paired with rice, rich in amino acids.

“For Western vegetables, there are lots of books and coverage. So, off I went to the National Institute of Nutrition, which I didn’t know much about until then, and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in the Pusa complex in New Delhi, as well as consulting herbalists and Ayurveda experts. They were not amused by my multiple questions, but it made my research process thoroughly enjoyable,” she recalled.

The recipes, accompanied by Jonathan Gregson’s photography, offer a savoury and sweet mix of dishes associated with vegetables such as broccoli and pumpkin grown on the ground, beetroot and carrot found under the ground, beans and okra found on shrubs and vines, apple and mango found on trees, and lotus stem and water chestnut found under water.

From the gut-friendly benefits of soaking lentils and fermenting batters to the anti-inflammatory power of spices like turmeric and fenugreek, the cookbook is designed to blend ancient Indian food wisdom with modern nutritional science.

Panjabi has been a champion of plant-based recipes through the course of her long career in the hospitality industry, including with the Taj Group of hotels. With her new book, she hopes to shine a light on how vegetables are essential not just for flavour and sustainability, but for metabolic health, gut function and longevity.

‘Vegetables: The Indian Way’, available in bookshops and online from this month, is her way of celebrating Indian techniques like tempering (tadka), sprouting and spice layering that transform simple vegetables into powerhouse meals. PTI AK RD RD