Comfort and Joy: Irresistible Pleasures from a Vegetarian Kitchen

Description

Comfort and Joy is a fresh take on vegetarian and vegan cooking; not geared towards health or denial but indulging all the senses with a decadent global larder. It is a cookbook of great bounty, promising fortifying curries and stews, the warm embrace of aromatic fried bhajis and rich, satisfying desserts. For Ravinder Bhogal, food should be made and shared with abundance in mind, and this sense of pleasure is conveyed on every page. From Miso Mushroom Carbonara to Crispy Aubergine with Caramel Sauce, this is food as pursuit of pleasure. Ravinder is one of the best food writers in Britain today and these recipes are punctuated by short, evocative essays on subjects like 'Breaking Bread', a brave and honest meditation on bread and self-denial. Raw, modern and sensual, Comfort and Joy applies Ravinder's creative ingenuity to approachable veg-centric recipes for home cooks. The vegetarian option will never again be relegated to second choice.

Born in Kenya, to Indian parents, Ravinder Bhogal's food is inspired by her mixed heritage and the UK's diverse immigrant culture. Ravinder is a journalist, chef and restaurateur. Her debut restaurant, Jikoni, was ranked 56th in the UK by the National Restaurant Awards within 7 months of opening and achieved a coveted place in the Michelin Guide in the same year. She has authored two books; her last Jikoni: Proudly Inauthentic Recipes from an Immigrant Kitchen,(Bloomsbury July 2020) won an IACP award for Best Restaurant Cookbook and was been shortlisted for the Andre Simon Award, and a Fortnum and Mason Award for Best Cookery Book. Her debut book Cook in Boots (HarperCollins, 2009) won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award for the UK's Best First Cookbook and was awarded the first runners-up prize of the World's Best First Cookbook at the Paris Cookbook Fair in February 2010. In June 2020, Ravinder launched a sustainable vegetarian home delivery brand Comfort and Joy, a sister brand to Jikoni last year. Ravinder has frequently appeared on UK and Indian television, and she is a monthly food columnist for the FT Weekend Magazine and Guardian Feast, a contributing editor at Harper's Bazaar, and regularly writes for The Observer Magazine and Vogue online.

'A gorgeous and enticing marriage of styles and flavours that is uniquely Ravinder's.' * Claudia Roden * 'It's strange that vegetarian food has a reputation in the West for being insipid fare, when every Indian knows its flavours can be explosive. Ravinder brings the textures, colours, and tastes of this cuisine to life, adding surprising twists along the way. With this book she shows that she is nothing less than the most original cookery writer in Britain today' * Sathnam Sanghera * 'Ravinder Bhogal's Comfort And Joy is a revelation-you will never look at "the vegetarian option" in the same way after diving into her inventive, bewitching and mouth watering book. There is so much I want to make and eat within its pages-from the okra fries with kale-the mango gold coin curry-the strawberry faluda cheesecake-and blissfully a whole chapter on Bread. She effortlessly plays with global culinary influences including those from India, Africa and the Middle East and conjures up what the title promises-soul-food comfort and a whole lot of joy' * Meera Syal * 'This is not a book about food but a source of comfort. Bhogal writes with care and an inviting hand, bringing us not just into her kitchen, but her present, her histories, her intimacies.' * Caleb Azumah Nelson * 'This book is equal parts mouth watering, heart warming and identity forming. A tender and soft love letter to her family, that spans three continents. Connecting us with our ancestors, the soil, our roots. Celebrating what South Asians have known for centuries, that vegetables are an entire meal. Just like Ravinder this book is generous, open hearted, Beautiful, sexy as hell and DELICIOUS. I want to eat it all' * Anita Rani * 'Never has a book been so aptly named. Ravinder Bhogal is a sorceress with vegetables. You'll find the unexpected and the startling on every page.' * Diana Henry *