Notes about Recipes in this book

• Bengal gram curry (Kala chana)

  • jenburkholder on July 07, 2021

    This was fine, but uninteresting. I've had much better black chickpea curries.

• Kitchari

  • jenburkholder on January 17, 2023

    Good, basic kitchari. Used frozen French beans for veg and added halfway through. Comforting dinner with a spoon of yogurt.

• Okra stew with lentils & smoked yoghurt (Bomya or Qorma-e-shast-e-arus)

  • LFL on July 17, 2022

    3 stars. Followed directions pretty exactly except for leaving out the hot pepper and making the smoked yogurt differently. Instead of smoking the yogurt, I added a little liquid smoke (maybe 1/8 tsp) to a cup of cashew yogurt and then followed the other directions in the smoked yogurt recipe. This dish was okay but not wow. The broth could have used more flavor. I thought the smoked yogurt really helped but my husband, who liked the stew better than I did, didn’t think it added much. This is a pretty quick and simple recipe but finely chopping two onions keeps it from being super fast,

• Banana blossom curry: wet (Kehel muwa vanjanaya)

  • Acarroll on January 31, 2026

    Tasty and easy! A good introduction to banana blossoms. I would have used more heat but I kept it mild for the kids. Served over beans and rice.

• Green tomato, cashew & eggplant curry (Thakkali, wamatu, kaju vanjanaya)

  • debkellie on October 29, 2023

    Perhaps the worst dish I have ever cooked ..... a total waste of ingredients .

  • Tommelise on January 15, 2025

    We made some changes to this dish, so in the end the dish might have turned out quite differently from the original. But we really liked the outcome. We did not have any green tomatoes, so used canned plum tomatoes. Cashews was replaced with almonds. We used one ordinary 'western' aubergine. We will double the recipe next time we cook it.

• Black-eyed pea & bamboo shoot tarkari

  • LFL on July 17, 2022

    4 stars. We’ve had a version of it before at a local Nepali restaurant. In addition to black-eyed peas and bamboo Shoots, the predominant flavors were are tomatoes, potatoes, garam masala, mustard oil (we subbed 2 Tbsp of it for 1 Tbsp of mustard paste and 5 oz. vegetable oil) and turmeric. Kuruvita suggests fermenting the bamboo shoots but we just marinated them in his brine recipe overnight. This was really pretty good and not too difficult to make. I think regular old bamboo shoots (instead of marinated) would probably work and streamline the recipe even more. I would make this one again, absolutely.

• Spicy spinach & tofu

  • fscassim on July 12, 2020

    Such a yummy and healthy recipe! I didn't even fry the tofu beforehand, just put it into the sauce, and it was absolutely delicious. The schzewan pepper just adds the right amount of zing.

• Peter’s green lentil & spiced tempeh soup

  • jenburkholder on February 02, 2021

    Very good - mild and warming. The particular spice combo wasn't one I was familiar with, but it was delicious. The only edit I might make is steaming the tempeh beforehand to dispel bitterness. Other than that, protein-rich, full of texture, and great.

• Tibetan vegetable noodle soup (Thukpa)

  • jenburkholder on November 15, 2021

    This was nice. As noted, a good soup for a cold day, warm and flavorful, as well as healthy.