Odiyan Country Cookbook: International Vegetarian Recipes

We've had this vegetarian cookbook for almost 30 years. It was written in the days when "health food cookbook" meant "something really weird like carrot loaf and brewer's yeast," and I don't mean that in a good way. The Odiyan Country Cookbook, first published in the days when the Moosewood Cookbook was revolutionary, reflected a true warm hippieness and Indian/Asian influences. I've always appreciated it. While we experimented with lots of the recipes in this 200-page cookbook, we reach for it primarily for a few favorite recipes. As it turns out, they're mostly the things we make when money is tight, because so many of these earthy recipes also have the virtue of being astonishingly cheap. For example, assuming you've a well stocked spice cabinet (you'll have to buy fenugreek, for all of a 1/4 tsp),lime-tomato dal and rice makes two meals for two people and MIGHT cost five bucks. (Lentils, an apple, 3 tomatoes, 3 limes -- and we often have at least some of those in the house.) Plus it's ready in about 45 minutes, and it reheats beautifully. There's also a one-dish bulgar pilaf with currants and spinach we rely on -- and a really wonderful spinach lasagne in cream sauce and ricotta (add some sauteed carrots and zucchini to one of the layers). As our finances got better (whew!) we turned to this cookbook less often, but we really shouldn't wait until months when money is tight. I still do love that lime-tomato dahl, in a comfy-tummy satisfying way, and it's a perfect protein. While some of the recipes show the cookbook's old-time veggie origins (such as making soymilk from scratch, or a tahini-fruit pudding), my longtime favorites have kept the book firmly on the shelf. And, of course, in the kitchen.

The recipes in this book are wonderful, memorable, truly inspired. And easy! Alas, like many vegetarian cookbooks, its modest presentation and limited distribution causes it to be hard-to-find. It's a "word of mouth" book, pun intended. I learned of it from the best day-to-day home cook I know. I wish I could remember to use it more often, because every dish is a delight. If only it were in hardback!