Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India. - book reviews

Vegetarian Times, Jan, 1995 by Bryanna Clark Grogan

In south India, vegetarian cuisine is considered the norm. But to Westerners who are accustomed to the northern Indian dishes served in most restaurants, the dishes of the south may be quite unfamiliar. Fortunately, Chandra Padmanabhan, an Indian cooking columnist, begins her gorgeously illustrated book with a brief description of the etiquette and content of a typical southern meal, along with an explanation of some of the dishes represented--sambars and rasams (Indian soups); poriyals (crisp vegetable stir-fries); kootus (saucy vegetable dishes); and tiffin (snack foods).

Each dish has its own spice mixture. Many of the dishes are tempered by a brief heating in a bit of hot oil with a small amount of dal (dried legumes), which provides a nutty flavor characteristic of southern Indian cuisine. But while they're very flavorful, the resulting dishes aren't excessively hot.

I invited some friends for a meal of six dishes from the book. It was enthusiastically received, from the anything-but-ordinary Ordinary Sambar (a soup of red gram dal--a dried pea--and vegetables flavored with tamarind, chilies, cilantro and a dozen spices) to the salsalike Vegetable Medley (carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes chopped with lemon juice, cilantro, cumin and mustard seeds).

The second course, a thin Tomato Rasam served with rice, would make an excellent light lunch. Potato Masala, a mixture of potatoes, peas, tomatoes, onions, chilies, turmeric, cilantro and a tempered spice mixture, is a piquant and colorful dish. The Masala Beans Poriyal, a crunchy, spicy blend of green beans, coconut and tempered spices, was everyone's favorite.

I included Onion Pakoras on the menu, a deep-fried snack food. If you're going to eat something fried now and then, you might as well make it a delicious and nutritious dish such as this simple mixture of rice and chickpea flours, water, spices and onions.

Although the meal was a rousing success, I wouldn't advise a novice cook or someone unfamiliar with Indian cooking to try such an extensive meal the first time. Some dishes require both a spice mixture and a tempered mixture, and if you are making several dishes for one meal, this can require quite a bit of time and organization. Padmanabhan provides some simple menu suggestions that would be easier to handle.

The recipe directions are adequate for the average cook, but the author assumes that her readers know what kind of rice to serve and how to cook it, a problem since many Americans are unfamiliar with anything more than the boiled white variety. It also would have been helpful if she had provided pictures of the various kinds of Indian dals and some American substitutes (such as yellow split peas for green gram dal), as well as substitution suggestions for some of the hard-to-find items (such as lemon juice for tamarind water, and onions and garlic for asafetida powder).

These minor shortcomings should neither deter the veteran cook nor detract from the book's virtues. The recipes are generally much lower in fat than is usual for Indian cooking, and you'll find recipes for many unusual items, such as homemade spice powders, oil pickles and podis (roasted rice powders that can make an instant meal). Dakshin is a unique and valuable resource for anyone who is serious about Indian cooking.

HARPERSANFRANCISCO, SAN FRANCISCO, ISBN 0-207 18477-1. HARDCOVER, 164 PP., $26.