Healthy Vegetarian Diet: Delicious Asia Style Cooking

Real Vegetarian Food in Thai

Asian people have long known that living off the land and eating a vegetarian diet is a real and plausible way to live a healthy lifestyle. No one knows this better than the Thai (Thailand) people. However, they do still like to use a lot of meat in their recipes which makes it difficult to find real Thai meals that are truly vegetarian.

There is a woman who has spent a lot of time in Thailand for three years to be exact as a Peace Corps volunteer. This woman is well known as a food writer and cooking teacher who specializes in Thai cuisine. As a healthy vegetarian herself, she spent a lot of her time in Thailand trying to come up with ways to make the food she was eating everyday meatless and conducive to her healthy vegetarian lifestyle. What she came up with ended up in a great cookbook about Vegetarian Thai and has become one of the best sellers all over the world.

So many people love Thai food, but it's not easy to find truly meatless dishes. This Thai cooking expert has developed inventive variations on traditional recipes, providing health-conscious cooks with a repertoire of meatless dishes that captures the vibrant spirit of Thailand.

A helpful glossary introduces readers to the seemingly mysterious yet widely available ingredients and equipment used in Thai cooking and offers tips for finding or substituting them. With an emphasis on the classic techniques, ingredients, and flavors of Thai cuisine, this groundbreaking cookbook provides one hundred delicious recipes for everyday meals and special occasions.

Her cookbook has become one of the prominent cookbooks on the market when it comes to Asian cuisine and it is used by some of America top chefs as the definitive guidebook toward producing great Thai food that will keep with the healthy vegetarian lifestyle. The woman has published a gem of a book that makes people realize that they can enjoy all types of ethnic foods without giving up on their choice of healthy eating style especially the vegetarian diet.

This book has so many great recipes for just about any palate. Sometimes the recipes can look a little daunting and complicated, but it assumes you're using all fresh ingredients, which you don't always have to. Basically, once you take the time to create a few of the "staple" ingredients in this book (red and green curry paste are essential), you can make just about anything in here quickly and cheaply. And it's GOOD!

Indian Vegetarian Cooking

Indian food is another great choice and is also good for health when cooking Asia vegetarian. Indians use a lot of vegetables, rice, and grains in their dishes which make them amazingly delicious as well as friendly for the healthy vegetarian. The best thing about Indian vegetarian cooking is that it is so savory when it is done because of the spices that they use. You will find that the dishes smell great while they are cooking and taste great when you are eating.

Indian vegetarian cooking is actually quite easy, but it does take a lot of different spices that you may not have just sitting around your house. Coriander and curry is essential to Indian cooking, so you will want to find these two spices especially to add to your Indian vegetarian dishes. You will also need to have on hand some brown rice as well as some couscous since these are the main grains that are used in Indian recipes.

Here is one vegetarian Indian recipe that this writer found especially tasty and easy to make:

Creamy Spinach Soup (Palak Soup)

4 cups spinach leaves
2 ups water
1 nion chopped
1 up milk
2 ablespoons plain flour
1 ablespoon fresh cream
2 ablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to season and taste


Wash the spinach leaves and discard the thick stems. Boil along with the water for 8 minutes or till the spinach is well cooked. Cool and puree in a blender. Keep aside.

Heat the butter in a pan. Add the chopped onions and saut on medium heat for 3 minutes or till the onions are transparent. Now, add the plain flour and fry briefly on low heat. Add the spinach puree, milk, salt and pepper. Simmer on low heat for 3 minutes. Add the fresh cream just before serving.

For a spicy alternative of this vegetarian Indian recipe, you can start heating the oil in a heavy-based pan and fry the green chilies and ginger-garlic paste briefly. Add the chopped onions and fry on medium heat for about 3 minutes or till the onions are pink.

Add the mushrooms, crushed black pepper and the rest of the ingredients except for the cream, lime juice and salt. Stir-fry on high heat till it is well coated with the oil and looks glossy.

Mix in the salt, cover and cook on medium / low heat for about 8 minutes or till the mushroom is cooked but not soggy.

Reduce the heat to low. Mix in the cream and lime juice. Remove from heat and keep covered for 2 minutes.

You will find that cooking great vegetarian Thai or Indian meals is not only fun, but it is very delicious and healthy as well!