Healthy vegetarian heritage recipes from India.
Indian food is an internationally popular cuisine, yet, unfairly, it is often considered to be heavy, rich and indulgent. With more people than ever before turning to healthy home cooking there has never been a better time for a fresh and lighter take on Indian food – one that Mira Manek is creating with her vibrant and healthy cooking style.
In Saffron Soul Mira goes back to her roots to show how the basic ingredients: the lentils, vegetables, grains and most importantly the spices, are all brimming with health benefits and, together, create a perfect balance. Inspired by her mother and grandmother’s cooking, Mira’s style of food is a modern interpretation of the Indian classics, creating utterly delicious and naturally healthy dishes. Whether you want to cook a Saffron & Lime Chia Pot, an Indian Summer Salad, a Thali, a Masala Almond Milk or a Mango Shrikhand Cheesecake, Mira’s recipes combine the best of the core elements of Indian cooking with original health-promoting twists.
Inspired by her mother and grandmother’s cooking, Mira’s style of food is a modern interpretation of the Indian classics, creating utterly delicious and naturally healthy dishes. Whether you want to cook a Saffron & Lime Chia Pot, an Indian Summer Salad, a Thali, a Masala Almond Milk or a Mango Shrikhand Cheesecake, Mira’s recipes combine the best of the core elements of Indian cooking with original health-promoting twists.
As well as offering the best and most naturally healthy Gujarati recipes, Mira also recreates some perennial favourites, replacing traditionally used grains and sugar with more nutritious ingredients such as millet, chia and jaggery, and cutting down on oils and fats, to make her dishes even healthier. Whether cooking a filling spicy curry, a soulful brunch, a nutritious light meal or a luscious dessert, Mira’s dishes vibrantly burst with colour and a richness of flavour and spice, creating beautiful food that is brimming with flavour and goodness.
Whether cooking a filling spicy curry, a soulful brunch, a nutritious light meal or a luscious dessert, Mira’s dishes vibrantly burst with colour and a richness of flavour and spice, creating beautiful food that is brimming with flavour and goodness.
Saffron Soul is another mouthwatering page turner from publisher Jacqui Small. One of the things I really love about this book is the passion in the introduction where we learn about how Mira Manek developed her love for cooking and healthy food. This book is not just a cookbook, it’s a family history shared through recipes that have been passed on down the generations, but with Manek’s healthy twists and adaptations.
The ingredients are easily obtainable too, in our UK supermarkets, without having the need to visit specialist stores. In fact, I could prepare most of the recipes now with what I have in my store cupboard, needing only to buy fresh ingredients.
I can see this book becoming opened regularly in my kitchen, even just to look at the stunning food photographs by Nassima Rothaker. Recipes are divided into categories: breakfasts (soulful mornings), anytime favourites, light meals, traditional thalis, desserts and spiced drinks.
For anyone with a love for Indian food, this is a cookery book that needs be in your collection.
Mira Manek is British-born of Indian heritage. Her desire for healthy cooking combined with her love of traditional Indian cuisine led to her tweaking her mother and grandmother’s recipes to create lighter, healthier dishes. She now collaborates with restaurants and cafes to promote healthy Indian cooking and runs supper clubs, cookery classes and wellness events.
Mira’s recipes have featured in numerous publications including Stylist, Red Magazine, The Independent, Country & Town Magazine, Healthy Magazine, The Resident, Waitrose Magazine and Women’s Health. She has also featured on BBC radio shows and on the BBC Asian Network.
Book: Saffron Soul
Author: Mira Manek
ISBN: 978-1-911127-18-5
Publication Date: 24 April 2017
Cover: hardback
RRP: £20 (UK) $29.99 (USA) $38.99 (CAN)
GIVEAWAY
The book publishers, Jacqui Small, have very kindly offered one of my UK readers the chance to win a copy of this hardback book worth £20. Simply fill out the Rafflecopter entry form below to enter!
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This giveaway is open to UK entries only. Entrants must be age 18 or over. The winner will need to respond within 30 days of being contacted; failure to do this may result in another winner being selected.
The prize is offered and provided by Jacqui Small. The prize is to win a copy of Saffron Soul worth £20. There is no cash alternative and the prize is not transferable.
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Closing date is midnight (that’s 00:00 hours, 12 am on Sunday night/Monday morning) on Monday 1 May 2017 (GMT). The winner will be announced afterwards.
Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary was sent a review copy of Saffron Soul. This is not a paid post.
Review: Brioche Pasquier Pains au Lait
i love butter chicken, its not too hot, great for dipping naan!
I love Paneer tikka masala. And the spicier the better
I love to make beetroot and coconut samosas. It’s a combination of two of my favourite things that I would never have thought about putting together.
I love south indian garlic chicken curry as it has some nice heat to it
I quite like making pea and potato samosas – so satisfying and good for a spicy snack.
I love Gujarati kadhi with rice and dal. It reminds me of sunday summer afternoons of India, when it is so hot that one doesn’t want to eat anything with too much of oil or spices. The simple yogurty kadhi is fragrant with sweet ‘limdo’ (curry leaves) and cumin seeds. The cumin seeds and curry leaves splutters in ‘ghee’ (clarified butter), hence spreading a delicious fragrant around the home. This is eaten with the thick ‘modi’ plain dal and rice 🙂
It has to be dahl. It’s so easy to make, it’s cheap, it’s tasty and it’s filling.
My favourite is for a chicken dopiaza as I really love spices with onions.
Spinach with potatoes, and basmati rice. It was my favourite food when I was growing up. And still is.
My favorite Indian food is Kitcheri. It is a poor man feast fit for a king! Very nutritious and inexpensive and easy to make in big amounts.
I love anything made with naga chilies, but my little boy doesn’t like anything too spicy but loves chickpeas!
lamb rogan josh
Everyone relishes my samosa chaat and so I love making it. It is fun adding my own flavours to the the original recipe. I really enjoy it.
I’m addicted to saag paneer. I love spinach and the delicate spicing of this dish is earthy but aromatic. I also love making my own paneer, such a joy and so easy to do!
I adore chann masala with paratha and onion salad. Chickpeas are heros in the veggie kitchen.
my hubbys bombay potatoes and his korma they are so yummy
My favourite Indian recipe is lamb balti because it tastes so good.
My favourite Indian recipe has to be Kerala Chicken Roast it tastes amazing.
chicken tikke masala because it’s so delicious.
I love onoin bahjias
My favourite is the Kheera Cucumber and Tomato Curry I actually found on your blog. x
Paneer tikka masala, because I can never get enough paneer!
My favourite Indian dish is spiced okra curry with white rice, so tasty and very easy to make. Perfect for Friday night curry nigh! 🙂 Thank you very much.
korma because it is spicy and mild at the same time
My favourite Indian recipe is lamb balti, it is such a yummy, indulgent treat for any occasion! 🙂
I like dishes with lentils, tarka dhal is lovely and probably one of my favourites
I like Baingan bharta because of the smoky taste and the smooth texture.
I love trying out different dal recipes, usually they are relatively simple but delicious.
Vegetable biryani. I’m not terribly skilful at making my own vegetarian Indian dishes and often find in restaurants that the vegetarian options can be overcooked and quite bland but I can create a decent biryani and it’s also often a good bet when eating out. Would love to up my game.
Tandoori chicken – love the fantastic colour and smell
Probably Tarka Dhal
My favourite is chicken tikka masala with rice
chicken tikke masala – its not too hot and not too medium
I don’t cook Indian meals or have them as a takeaway so I don’t have a favourite, but I would love to learn how to cook some
A lovely chicken tikka masala with brown rice tickles the tastebuds every time
I like making chicken tikka massala – never tastes quite like the take away but is still really nice
Lamb Balti with raita and a naan side. Proper Friday night treat.
i cant think o the name of the dish but its got chickpeas in it and you eat it with raw onion!
I love to make saag paneer- my fave!
It would be hard for me to pinpoint one recipe as my favourite, I love Indian food. But this week I made an egg korma that was utterly delicious. Authentic? Not at all – but definitely something I’ll make again. Apologies if this comes through several times, I keep getting error messages.
It would be hard for me to pinpoint one recipe as my favourite, I love Indian food. But this week I made an egg korma that was utterly delicious. Authentic? Not at all – but definitely something I’ll make again.
I love chicken tikka briyani – tasty without being too hot.
At the mo I love Mary Berry Everyday as the recipes included are recipes you can cook any day!
Sorry, was thinking about cookbooks! My favourite Indian recipe to cook is good old chicken korma, because the whole family enjoy it, and when I make it from scratch, it isn’t too spicy (I cannot eat spicy food with my sensitive stomach)
BOMBAY CURRY WITH CHICKEN AND FRIED RICE ..ITS SPICY WITH LIME CHUTNEY
I love samosas, especially the ones my friend makes, they’re vegetarian with potatoes and peas in them and lovely and crunchy