Book review: Vegan – An Indian Cookbook

The recipes in Vegan: An Indian Cookbook are both simple enough to cook at home and inventive enough to be appreciated by chefs looking for plant-based inspiration

The introduction to Niaz Caan’s first cookbook starts with his recollection of being a teenager in his mother’s kitchen learning how to make a lamb pathia curry. He’s quick to point out that starting a vegan cookbook by talking about meat is somewhat bold, but it was the pathia’s balance of sweet, sour and spice that had him destined to spend his future in kitchens.

A year later he had his first job in a takeaway, and in 2019 aged just 17 he started cooking at City Spice on London’s famous Brick Lane. And he was instrumental in turning the tired restaurant into an award-winning site which continues to gain rave reviews to this day.

He’s now 22 and executive chef of City Spice. After seeing many of his friends turning to a vegan diet, he has spent time developing vegan dishes for the menu, taking inspiration from his great grandmother’s recipe for begun uribeeshi gatta, as well as modern takes on traditional meat dishes, such as tofu tikka masala and a no butter no chicken curry.

As Caan says in his introduction, vegan dishes should never compromise on taste: “I remember buying a vegan cookbook once to find some ideas, only to find that it comprised 200 repurposed versions of cabbage on a plate.”

From bhindi bangers – a moreish okra spiced chip – to City Spice’s flagship vegan dish, shahi sahakari thali, the book is full of recipes that go beyond plant-based interpretations. Take Caan’s favourite, shobji kufta bhujon, in which a “bonanza of vegetables” are mashed together and rolled into balls which are then deep-fried before being dropped into a thick tomato sauce.

His grandmother’s begun uribeeshi gatta recipe is also there, where Bengali runner beans are paired with aubergine with an array of spices including garama masala, chili powder, curry powder and ground cumin, which turn the curry a “beautiful shade of red”

Caan’s energetic personality is all over this book and the recipes are both simple enough to cook at home and inventive enough to be appreciated by chefs looking for plant-based inspiration. And not a single cabbage in sight.

Vegan: An Indian Cookbook by Niaz Caan (Grosvenor House Publishing, £20.99)