About

My first goal is to show you the diversity in vegetarian cooking by creating recipes unlike the stereotypes often associated with going meatless. You will hopefully be introduced to a world of spices and herbs along with a variety of vegetables that are under explored.

Being vegetarian is not boring or monotonous. It does not just revolve around three overused ingredients – soy, mushrooms and seeds. Vegetarianism is also not about being on a diet eating raw or green foods, and is most certainly not about soy dogs, ribs or something outrageous like that! Vegetarian food is what it is. It does not need to look or taste like meat to be savored.

Can you tell yet that cooking vegetarian food is my passion? :)

My comfort also lies in cooking Indian food. It is so from being born and living there for the first twenty one years of my life. This passion was inspired from a very early age by my mother and uncle who are still the best at it. My hometown Chennai is a bustling metropolis in the southeastern coastal state of Tamilnadu. While living there, you are surrounded by food at any time of the day – on the streets, in restaurants and homes!

My second goal is to show you the diversity in ‘Indian’ food. While I am happy that Indian food is gaining recognition, it is clearly being stereotyped and boxed in. It has become one dimensional and limited to “curry” with naan. I am a fan but it is food from just one northwestern Indian state, Punjab. There are twenty-eight states and seven union territories each with vast diversity in cuisine and ingredients. For example, northern state cuisines use different ingredients and combinations of spices and herbs from the southern states. To complicate matters, individual state cuisines intricately vary across their regions. There is a whole world of northern and eastern coastal food that is under explored and a world of southern cuisine that is unknown.

Living in the US has given me a better understanding and a greater palette for food from all over the world. This has exponentially increased my options for ingredients to work with. It is my belief that any cuisine can be artfully made vegetarian and still remain delicious and beautiful.

As I create dishes whether Indian or international, they will include recipes that stay authentic to its roots and recipes that fuse my Indian influence with my evolving knowledge of international foods.

So please join me in this creative experience and share your comments and feedback as often as possible.

More about me :

I love animals; animal welfare is my other passion.

I enjoy movies, music and books.

‘ Too many’  is a mathematical impossibility  with shoes and jewelry!

Sushi (aka Sushila) is the joy in my daily routine bound life.

sushi-jan-19-2007-025.jpg

–Supriya Raman

29 Responses »

  1. hi

    Do you know anything about Ilayarajas bassist?..Do you have a photo of his?..All i know is he is called one Mr Sasi.

    Reply
  2. Supriya Raman

    Hi Gautam,

    It is Sasi on the bass 90%, but these days I guess people like sada(his guitatist) and even guitar prasanna play for him on and off. I hear of a lot of new talents being on his team too,I dont have a picture sorry, I will keep you posted if I do get one.

    Reply
  3. If you want to see something amazing….check out the guy that Dan Dunn learned everything he knows from. Dan Dunn wrote Michael Israel about 3 yrs ago telling him that Michael was a true inspiration to him. SO, if you want to see the ORIGINAL…check out Michael Israel.com

    Reply
  4. Thanks Gabrielle for this informative comment. Michael Israel sure is a genius and a master of his class.

    Reply
  5. Found your site from the wordpress forum and wow, you have a lot of great recipes here. I’ve bookmarked your site and I can see I’m going to experimenting a lot.

    Reply
  6. Thank you Richard! Do experiment and give me feeback !

    Reply
  7. Supriya, I’ve been tagged in one of the blogging games, and have now tagged you. You can see the details on my blog.

    By the way, I tried your spicy black bean soup recipe and it’s fabulous.

    Reply
  8. Huh! I just figured out what this ‘tagging’ is about.I’ve always heard about it, but I guess I’m sucked in now!

    Reply
  9. Hi Supriya…
    Nice to c ur recipes..keep rocking..

    Rgds
    Mahesh

    Reply
  10. sapda varalamo? nan nanna veg sapduven :)

    Reply
  11. I just discovered this blog – what a find! I’m neither Indian nor vegetarian, but my wife and I love this cuisine. One reason is that my daughter was a vegetarian for a few years, and when I looked through my cookbooks for inspiration, it was Julie Sarni’s classic book that saved us from my dreary misconceptions. I never dreamed that cauliflower and chick peas could be so delicious.

    More recently, we(in the Boston area) have been blessed with a flowering of regional Indian restaurants. There was even briefly a Jain restaurant where Udupi Bhavan is now. I confess, we go all the time to Mysore Veggie, which you panned recently. That’s okay, I appreciate your thoughtful and informed opinions – it helps to know what to look for.

    Most of all, I can’t wait to try some of the recipes you’ve so generously posted. Thanks!

    Reply
  12. Denis In Chelmsford,

    Thank you very much for your kind words. I really appreciate you taking the time to write me. Comments and insights like yours are the reward for my efforts.

    I hope you will try out these recipes and please feel free to write me anytime about questions on my recipes or any clarifications you may need.
    Also feel free to write me about your opinions on any restaurants you’ve been to.

    Reply
  13. DAV -> St.Johns -> Vidya Mandir… :-)

    Reply
  14. Ramasamy Sundaramahalingam

    Hi Supriya,

    Saw your profile in Orkut. I too love Ilayaraja’s songs and have a huge collection. I am not able to order his songs to my satisfaction. I tried to arrange his songs in many different ways (one example is – Duets that have treble based music arranged from slow to fast beat) but could not finish it to my satisfaction. My goal is to have top 200 songs of Ilayaraja arranged in few groups (like duets, solo, sad) and in some “sweet” order within each group. Any thoughts?

    Cheers,
    Ram.

    Reply
  15. There’s a cute cat. A huge veggie foodie here (and music aficionado), learning to cook since I came to the US. Nice blog you have here.

    Reply
  16. nice to know about u!
    join in the sweet event going in my blog!

    Reply
  17. I agree with u. Vegetarian food is far from boring!
    Sushi is cute, tho’ I am not fond of cats… (if they are near me):-(

    We used to live in the North East till about 2.5 years back. I miss the snow now here in Texas… very very much.

    Reply
  18. Spend a day with my adorable cat and I assure you she will change your heart : ) She’s so gentle and actually a dog in a cat’s body :D

    North east to texas is a big move!! I love the winter despite the slipping on black ice and all the shoveling! Especially around the holidays, I want to see white outside the window!

    Reply
  19. R.Chandrasekhar

    I am proud of you Supriya.Whenever I find time I am immersed in your site.Visit http://www.stringtemple.com to know about the ragasaga release of V.S.Narasimhan available is U.S.It is mixed and mastered by me.

    Reply
  20. Dear Sekar Maama,
    Thank you for your message here, that was a surprise! Thank you for your encouragement and I will be sure to check the website for your new music. I am sure it as great as always.

    Reply
  21. keep up the good work, some interesting recipes.

    Reply
  22. Saw your profile in Orkut. I too love Ilayaraja’s songs and have a huge collection. I am not able to order his songs to my satisfaction. I tried to arrange his songs in many different ways (one example is – Duets that have treble based music arranged from slow to fast beat) but could not finish it to my satisfaction. My goal is to have top 200 songs of Ilayaraja arranged in few groups (like duets, solo, sad) and in some “sweet” order within each group. Any thoughts?
    +1

    Reply
  23. Hi. I just found your blog when searching for new pea dishes. I love you sentiment you made about vegetarian food being more than just meat alternatives and I could not agree with you more. Thanks you for writing this blog!

    Reply
  24. Thank you, Apol (love that name!) from mamalovesmonday. Really appreciate that comment!

    Reply
  25. after read this blog i thing your should open one mini hotel and you can ear good with same entrest

    Reply
  26. Pingback: Tofu and I « Ode2Food

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