Ritu Dalmia’s recent book Diva Green is designed strictly for vegetarians. She tells Iknoor Kaur that inspiration came from her Marwari folk
Credit it to health reasons or term it an easy way of watching your waist, turning green is the new fad. Ritu Dalmia’s latest book Diva Green-A Vegetarian Cookbook is for those who follow the green mantra.
Ritu told us that she was inspired from her Marwari family that swears by the leaf. “There was a time when vegetarians travelling outside India faced a tough time finding food. Having personally lived through that, I always felt that in spite of living in a society primarily dominated by vegetarians, they are treated like second class citizens,” said Ritu.
She added, “I never thought I would bring a book exclusively for vegetarians. It is dedicated to my mother who waited this long for me to adopt the green.” The chef said most vegans do not buy cookbook unless it’s completely vegetarian because they are not interested in spending money on something that gives them recipes they can’t cook, “so I thought it’s better to come up with something exclusive for the vegetarians.”
The world renowned chef has used some witty one-liners and added some interesting stories to make a book an interesting read.“The book also shares that being vegetarian does not mean you need to rely on the green stuff. You can create variety and come up with an interesting cuisine,” she added.
The book is a collection of recipes inspired from her personal experiences. Each of them carries a short introduction written by her. “Cooking to me is a personal affair. Everything I cook is based on a memory. I take inspiration from what I eat, see, taste and even feel. There are recipes in the book that are not my concept but are inspired by something I tasted, read about or ate.”
Owner of the popular restaurant, Diva in Greater Kailash II, Ritu has always believed in serving what she likes. Her book is divided into sections with only a set of vegetables and fruits. She said, “All of those vegetables are my favourite ones. I don’t believe in serving my customers what I don’t like. You have to be honest with what you do.”
She also gives options on how one can prepare a non-vegetarian dish with only green ingredients. “For example, Italian cuisine has a dish called Carbonara which is non-vegetarian, but instead of meat I put Boccioni and the flavour is great. Similarly quiche originally non-vegetarian, but it can be made with vegetarian options,” she added saying that vegetarians can cook a lot more than they think they can.
Ritu admitted that she doesn’t like getting fancy with food. “I am a simple girl. I love simple veggies and am not into fancy foods like coloured capsicum and alike. There’s no fun in eating complicated food.”
Commenting on the upcoming trend of vegetarianism, she said, “We were always vegetarians. Majority of people in our country don’t eat beef, others eat only chicken and 70 per cent are vegetarians. We just like to believe we are more non-vegetarians.”
She continued, “Internationally going green is definitely a trend. Today by law all restaurants incorporate vegetarian dishes in their menu. Moreover, people are getting health conscious and that has given vegans a lot of variety.”