Simple Spice Vegetarian: Easy Indian Vegetarian Recipes from Just 10 Spices

Todiwala, who has three restaurants in London and hosts BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, gathers a flavorful range of meat-free Indian recipes in this satisfying volume. The author restricts the recipes to using only 10 spices, and while that simplifies ingredient lists, it does make the flavor profiles somewhat repetitious. However, he incorporates a casual tone, and offers flexible instructions with numerous variations (make a zucchini, split pea, and mint salad heartier with feta or hard-boiled eggs). A breakfast chapter includes a hearty oatmeal, spiced with ginger and chilies, and rich unbaked fudge-like bars made with ghee, coconut, and cardamom. A chapter on eggs, in keeping with the author’s Parsee heritage, presents a trove of intriguing options, including a chapatti-wrapped omelet and savory French toast. Desserts include a chocolate cake made with grated zucchini and hazelnut and a refreshing cardamom kulfi. Detracting from the cookbook’s appeal are bizarre moments, such as the warning that “rice is one of the most dangerous foods in the house” that prefaces a rice and bean salad, and unexplained U.K. expressions such as “cabinet pudding” and “drunken wet nelly.” While the recipes don’t break new ground, home cooks new to Indian cooking will find this a decent primer. (Apr.)