My favourite kind of veggies

Despite being part of an extremely carnivorous family (hear them roar!) immediate and extended, I’ve always been a secret veggie-sympathizer. Some of my best friends are vegetarians. There’re the spiritually inclined ones: with the glow and litheness of flesh nourished largely by chlorophyll. The ascetic ones: slightly bent, naturally averse to even the more meaty vegetarian offerings (‘please not baingan, I hate baingan’).

And then there’s my favourite type of vegetarian –the ‘stealth’ veggie – like my friend Shefali, a proper veggie but you’d never know. Her husband does recall the one time she once protested about something that was staring back at her from the freezer (two pomfrets) but she will joyfully introduce you to frog-porridge, discuss pork-floss and when in Tokyo bravely try (and fail) to eat sashimi (“I was in Tokyo! How could I not?”). Married to a man whose cuisine of choice, in a perfect world, would be ‘steak, very rare please’ Shefali can dream up incredible meat-feasts but has introduced us to the often hidden vegetarian gems in otherwise very meat-inclined cuisines, notably Japanese. On a washed-out evening in Singapore recently, she saved the day with a Moroccan inspired dinner conjured up out of bits, bobs and thin air. It reminded me of these recipes – earthy, vegetarian fare from a meat eating culture. The next time she’s in town, I’m making this for her.