Special Treats & Special Ingredients

“Special Treats & Special Ingredients” includes a very brief description of the vegetarian recipes,the food pictures with ingredients are shared on Facebook ( You can search for the pictures on facebook by my name, pictures are made public on my facebook account – My name on facebook is Sandhya Dinesh Tharayil The pictures shared should help you identify the quantity of the ingredients needed and how the vegetables ( chopped or sliced) are included in the recipe. This is my “First Cookbook” which includes few of my favorites.

This is a cookbook with 50 vegetarian recipes. I have tried many variations with a single recipe. The ingredients pictures shared is not really the exact display of ingredients I used in the recipe but I have tried my best to match it with the quantity used in the recipe to display. I have typed and specified the exact quantity used under the ingredients section for each recipe. In cooking one important step is learning to adjust the ingredients needed. This step can be easily avoided if ingredients and quantity is planned in advance. Hence I keep all the ingredients ready before I start to cook to avoid any wastage of food and to achieve perfection in everythiing I cook. Good quality and tatse in any food preparation comes with practice, great planning, perfect proportion of each ingredient and the patience to cook good food everytime.

This book is mainly for people who already have a basic understanding and knowledge of cooking and have the time to cook everyday. It is for both beginners and experienced people who are interested in learning, experimenting something new in cooking. I hope the recipes shared in brief will be easy to understand and to try for everyone with basic cooking skills and experience too. Though traditional menu of sambar, rasam, dal, palya, rice, papad and pickle is the best, for even better health we have to bring in somemore “small” changes in our cooking habits at home. Reduce carbohydrates intake on a daily basis with portion control and balance the meal with nuts, dry fruits, fresh seasonal fruits, greens like spinach, fenugreek leaves, amaranth leaves and vegetable juices as and when possible. This cookbook will give you an insight into various options. Small changes that we can bring in by learning “new” recipes and by working together to achieve the best results with rspect to health and by regular practice and regular discipline each day in our culinary line at the comforts of our home. We always have to look for “best methods” to both “improve and manage” our daily routine and cultivate good habits daily.