Curd cheese, or panir, is rich in protein and extremely versatile. It can be deep-fried and used in vegetable dishes, crumbled into salads, made into sweets, stuffed inside breads and pastries, and creamed into dips.

Curd cheese is the simplest kind of unripened cheese and is made by adding an acid or other curdling agent to hot milk. The solid milk protein coagulates to form the soft curd cheese, the liquid whey is separated, and the cheese is drained, pressed, and then used as required. Because curd cheese is not commonly available in shops, and the hom-made product is vastly superior, I have included the simple recipe for making your own.

The quality and freshness of the milk will determine the quality of the curd cheese. The higher the fat-content of the milk, the richer the curd cheese. Different curdling agents will produce different types of curd. The most common curdling agents are strained, fresh lemon juice, citric acid crystals dissolved in water, yogurt, cultured buttermilk, or sour whey from a previous batch of curd cheese.

Khichari (pronounced ‘kitch-eri’) is such an important dish for vegetarians that I have included a different recipe for it in each of my cookbooks. The flavoursome, juicy stew of mung beans, rice and vegetables is both nutritious and sustaining. It can be served any time a one-pot meal is required. You can practically live on khichari, and in fact some people do. I eat it accompanied by a little yogurt, some whole-wheat toast, lemon or lime wedges and topped with a drizzle of melted ghee. Bliss!

In the ancient Indian medical science, Ayurveda, bitter melons are well-known for their ability to cleanse the blood, aid digestion, help cure diabetes and encourage a failing appetite. Fried chips of bitter melon are well-loved in India, and are generally eaten in small appetiser quantities at the outset of a full lunch or dinner. To reduce their bitterness, the melons are rubbed in salt before cooking. You'll find bitter melons in Asian and Indian food stores. Always look for small melons that are dark green in colour and heavy for their size.

Kumquats look like miniature oranges, and although they are closely related to the citrus species, they belong to a different genus altogether.

Whereas most citrus fruits are considered sub-tropical, kumquats are very hardy and grow easily in home gardens. The round, ornamental variety of kumquats are common, but I prefer to cook the more firm, oval variety (pictured above). Nevertheless, all kumquats yield a delicious marmalade which is both refreshing and tangy. It is a favourite with those who don’t like their marmalade too sweet.

Ginger is a very important and versatile culinary spice of wide acclaim, but did you know that it is also an extremely powerful healing herb? Ginger is the most popular of hundreds of members of the Zingiberacea family. To be botanically correct, ginger is a rhizome and not a root. It is available in many varieties, from mild to spicy, and requires tropical conditions and fertile soil for optimum growth.

Over millenia, millions of people have enjoyed the benefits of ginger. For spiritual upliftment, digestive comfort and strength, stimulation and relief from infirmity, ginger has been heralded as the herb of choice, and has been included in most traditional Eastern formulas. Ginger is aptly described in the traditional language of Sanskrit as “vishwabhesaj”, the universal medicine.

Ginger has been used historically for wound healing, as an analgesic, anti-arthritic, anti-ulcer, as a stimulant, as well as a powerful treatment for a variety of respiratory, reproductive, and digestive complaints. Ginger also shows great therapeutic potential in the treatment of arthritis and cardiovascular disorders, and as a probiotic support.

The anti-nausea effect of ginger is well documented. Although I didn’t know it at the time, ginger was one of the main ingredients in the carsickness medicine I occasionally took as a young lad.

My first culinary experience of ginger was in 1974 in steamy West Bengal, while visiting the holy city of Sridham Mayapur. On the first morning, about one hundred others and I sat side by side, cross-legged and expectant, along the cool marble-tiled verandahs of the Chandrodaya Temple. Cool breezes wafted in from the serpentine Mother Ganges that slithered majestically through nearby rice fields This was to be our first meal in India – a multi-course breakfast feast, in fact.

While memories of the exact menu have faded, I distinctly recall the elegant yet simple entree – buttery chickpeas, served with wafer-thin slices of tender young ginger with paper-thin pinkish skin and greenish-ivory flesh, drenched in fresh lime juice and sprinkled with salt. It was a sublime and tantalising experience that the subsequent quarter century of eating experiences has not erased.

Ginger still remains one of my well-loved kitchen favourites. I relish its spicy, sweet aroma, its invigoratingly clean, hot sharp taste, its digestive properties, and its cleansing effect on the body.

This is a well-known and favourite rice dish amongst the Iyengars of South India who are followers of the Ramanuja Sampradaya. The recipe is over 1000 years old and is traditionally called puliogre. Makes enough for 4 or 5 persons.

This is my vegetarian version of the classic rice dish from Venice. It is especially served in spring when tiny, tender, young peas are in season. Traditionally, risi e bisi is moist, something between a minestra (soup), and a risotto. Whereas traditional risi e bisi would be served as a first course, my version is drier, cooked in the style of an Indian pulao and can be served any time a tasty rice dish is required. If you can’t get new season baby peas, I suggest you use frozen petit pois as an alternative. Thaw them and stir them in when the rice is almost cooked. Serves 4–6 persons

'Baharat' is the Arabic word for 'spice', (based on the word 'bahar' meaning pepper). It is sort of an Arabic garam masala if you like, an all-round hot-sweet spice mix. Here's my favourite homemade baharat spice, plus a few others.

For best results with this North Indian favourite, use pure ghee as the frying medium. Serve this tantalisingly rich vegetable dish for special occasions. Serves 5 or 6 persons.

The Hare Krishnas of Denver, Colorado, run a very popular restaurant, Govinda's, on Cherry Street. One of their salad dressings particularly appeals to me; as the name suggests, it's packed with strong flavours. Nutritional or brewers yeast is available at health food stores.

This savoury golden bread is a specialty of the State of Gujarat in western India. There’s practically as many recipes for dhokla as there are Gujarati housewives — and that’s a lot!

Some recipes for dhokla call for chickpea flour; there’s another version that uses semolina. Here’s a recipe that’s practically instant, using semolina with a little chickpea flour and rice flour added which requires no batter resting time and a short cooking time.

Because dhokla is steamed instead of baked, the top of the bread is soft and shiny rather than brown and crisp. Dhokla is usually served warm or at room temperature, with meals, or as a snack, with chutneys. It is usually cut into 3.75cm (1 1/2 inch) pieces and served with a colourful garnish of snowy white fresh coconut, fresh coriander and a fried seasoning of mustard and sesame. It’s delicious — once you’ve tasted dhokla, you’ll make it again and again. Makes about 30 pieces

This South Indian soup is traditionally chili-hot. Reduce the chili content for a milder version. Sambar features three main ingredients: toor dal, tamarind pulp, and a special spice powder called sambar masala. All three ingredients are available at any Indian grocer.

Sambar's delightful hot-and-sour flavour can be made more substantial with the addition of practically any vegetable of your choice. Serve it with plain fluffy rice, with any South Indian selection.

Millet is a light, versatile and inviting grain with a mild, nutty taste, distinctive without being unusual. To bring out the flavour in millet, the tiny yellow grains are toasted in butter or oil before cooking in stock or water. Millet is a thirsty grain, so serve this pilaff alongside a juicy vegetable dish or soup.

Pineapple chutney should be "too hot to bear, but too sweet to resist". This recipe yields about 2 cups.

Here's a stunningly simple curry that transforms the humble potato into something special. Serves 4.

Idli are the ubiquitous bread of South India. Although often made of dal and rice, the semolina version is easy and popular. Sambar dal and coconut chutney are the eternal marriage partners of idli. Enjoy the combination for breakfast or brunch and discover the magic. They are steamed in an idli mould – a rack stacked with trays that looks like egg-poaching dishes. This recipe makes 16 idli, so look out for a 4-tier stacker that holds 4 idli per tier.

Cauliflower, after a quick drizzling with olive oil and a spritz of sea salt, roasts really well in the oven, and combines beautifully with cashews, snow peas, fresh coriander and sour cream. It is, in fact, one of the most popular vegetable dishes at my cookery classes. And, for some reason, it is very popular with ladies.

This is a simple but tasty entree. If you double the quantities, and add a rice dish plus a salad or soup, you have a substantial meal. Serves 4.

This is a delicious, dry-textured potato dish with multi-levels of subtle flavours. Avoid over boiling the potatoes.

PREPARATION AND COOKING TIME: about 20 minutes

YIELD: enough for 4 persons

Chickpeas are not only packed full of valuable nutrients, they're also very versatile. These attractive patties come with a tasty oven-caramelised salsa. Add a salad and you have a substantial meal. If you commence the salsa first, it should be ready to serve with the cutlets.

Makes 24 cutlets.

This is a classic rice dish from India, inspired by the Moghul cuisine. Originally, the dish came from Iran, where it was named pollou or pillau (from pollo, rice). This dish was taken to India, where it became pullao, or pulao, one of the most important rice dishes of the sub-continent. Westwards, this most famous Persian dish became the basis of pilav or pilaf in Turkey and Armenia, the pilafi dishes of Greece and the paellas of Spain. It's even the origin of the famous Russian rice dish plov.

Pakoras are popular spiced, batter-dipped, deep-fried, vegetables that make perfect snacks or hors d'oeuvres. Ghee is the preferred medium for frying pakoras, although you can use nut or vegetable oil.

The tradition of frying things in batter is popular throughout the culinary world. In Italy, there’s the delicious Neapolitan fritters known as pasta cresciuta, comprising of things like sun-dried tomato halves, zucchini flowers, and sage leaves dipped in a yeasted batter and fried in olive oil. The Japanese dip all sorts of things, including zucchini, eggplant and carrot into a light thin batter and serve the tempura with dipping sauce.

In India, pakoras (pronounced pak-OR-as) are almost a national passion. Cooked on bustling street corners, in snack houses, and at home, the fritters are always served piping hot, usually with an accompanying sauce or chutney. The vegetables can be cut into rounds, sticks, fan shapes, or slices. The varieties are endless.

Tamarind is the fruit contained in the hanging pods of the tamarind tree, Tamarindus indica. The pods themselves are between 10-15cm (4-6 inches) long, cinnamon-brown coloured with a fuzzy coating. The pulp from inside the pods is piquant with a sour, date/apricot flavour.

There are some interesting etymological origins of the word 'tamarind'. The Arabic tamr hindi simply means “date of India” ('date' being a general name for the fruits of various palm trees); needless to say, tamarind neither stems from India nor is it related to palm trees. It is a native of Africa.

Dried tamarind is available at all Indian and Asian grocers in three main forms - hard, pressed blocks, packets of softer pulp and jars of puree, or concentrate. The dried pulp, which needs to be reconstituted by soaking it in water, varies immensely from source to source. The stuff in jars also varies from liquid to jam-like.

Some pulp appears full of fibre, and others are relatively fibre-free. But this is not an indication of quality; some of the best tasting tamarind puree I have tasted comes from soaking very unappealing looking rock-hard dried tamarind. Shop around, and choose your favourite brand.

There are innumerable variations on this classic chutney. This one is sauce-like and sweetened predominantly with dates. It is very versatile and popular, and especially suited as an accompaniment for fried dishes, such as samosas, kofta, pakoras and vadai. Makes about 2 cups

This recipe is originally from 'Vegan with a Vengeance' by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Highly recommended, especially for those wanting reliable egg-free cakes.

Note that while the cups mentioned are American cups (240ml), I used Australian cups (250ml) with no loss of quality.

This dish originates in Punjab, northern India. However, it is well known all over India, and there are hundreds of variations of the same dish. But the same main ingredients are always there: peas and panir cheese in a spiced, minted tomato sauce. Here's a delicious version that can be served with any meal, anytime. It especially lends itself to special feasts and dinners and can be kept warm for some time, actually improving the flavour of the dish.

This cake is actually somewhere between a shortcake and a sponge. It’s enriched with ground walnuts or hazelnuts topped with strawberry jam, piled with rich vanilla-flavoured cream and studded with vine-ripened strawberries. Irresistible!