Vij's Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine

217 Pages·2006·13.84 MB·English

by  Vikram Vij

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A E L E G A N T
“I don’t know when I last fell so instantly in love
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with a restaurant as I did with Vij’s in Vancouver . . . ” A
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PATRICIA WELLS
VIKRAM VIJ grew up in V IKRAM VIJ AND MEERU DHALWALA,
& I N S P I R E D
Amritsar, Delhi and Mumbai. the husband-and-wife team behind one of North
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He left India at age 20 to study “Fantastic Indian food with a modern twist. America’s most innovative Indian restaurants,
J V i j s
Hotel Management in Salzburg, ’ use local ingredients and original ideas to create exciting
Some of the nicest I have ever had.” ’
Austria. After receiving his S takes on the cuisines of India. The dishes, such as marinated
degree, he worked for several lamb popsicles in fenugreek cream curry and sautéed arugula
JAMIE OLIVER
years in European restaurants and spinach with paneer and roasted cashews, are far from
and hotels, and then moved to E traditional but are spiced beautifully. Each recipe showcases
Canada to work at the Ban¤ L specifi c fl avours, such as mango, tamarind, pomegranate
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Springs Hotel. He opened the “Vikram Vij has become one of Canada’s seeds and cardamom.
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original 14-seat Vij’s Restaurant in Vancouver in 1994, and has Whether you’re new to Indian cooking or a seasoned
hottest chefs . . . One taste and you’ll understand A
since cooked on many television shows and for such events as veteran, Vij’s sets out more than eighty original combinations
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why people line up for his food.”
the Montreal Festival of Lights and the James Beard Awards plus ten recipes for signature spice mixes and other basic
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gala in New York. A certifi ed sommelier, he is passionate about ingredients. A comprehensive introduction to Indian herbs,
BONNIE STERN
&
pairing wines with Indian food. spices and other staples helps demystify the ingredients used in

I the book and brief explanatory notes with each recipe ensure
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MEERU DHALWALA was born in India and moved to great results. Combine several dishes to prepare a complete
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Washington, DC, at a very young age with her parents. In “Dynamic Indian cuisine unmatched I N D I A N meal, including an appetizer of warm eggplant salad or potato
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DC, she worked with international non-profi t organizations pooris, an entrée of yogurt- and tamarind-marinated grilled
by anything I’ve tried before, even in London’s I
on human rights and development projects. She received her R chicken or Pacifi c halibut with black chickpea and yam curry,
master’s degree in Development Studies from Bath University Michelin-starred Indian restaurants.” E served with a side of long green beans in mustard seed curry.
in England. Meeru joined Vikram at Vij’s in February 1995. D Finish this meal with a sweet and nutty meeti roti with chai, or
NEW YORK TIMES
She works closely with the kitchen sta¤, experimenting with I make just this recipe as a delicious afternoon snack. Each main
various cooking techniques and spice combinations. N C U I S I N E recipe is accompanied by a suggested wine pairing.
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Lavishly illustrated with full-colour photographs, this is
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a cookbook as beautiful and sumptuous as the recipes it
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contains. By refl ecting the personal warmth, love of good food
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and good company that have made the restaurant so successful,

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Vij’s is a manifesto for a new style of Indian cooking.
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I V I K R A M V I J
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Douglas & McIntyre M E E R U D H A L W A L A
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vancouver/toronto/berkeley
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www.douglas-mcintyre.com
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Design by Naomi MacDougall & Peter Cocking
Photography by John Sherlock
Printed and bound in Canada
Printed on acid-free paper Douglas &
Distributed in the U.S. by Publishers Group West McIntyre $40.00 canada
VijCoverFinal.indd 1 10/6/06 9:28:06 AM
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V i j s
’
E l E g a n t
& i n s p i rE d
V i k r a m V i j
m e e r u D h a l w a l a
PhotograPhs
by john sherlock
i n d i a n
C U i s i n E
Douglas & McIntyre
vancouver/toronto/berkeley
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V i j s
’
E l E g a n t
& i n s p i rE d
V i k r a m V i j
m e e r u D h a l w a l a
PhotograPhs
by john sherlock
i n d i a n
C U i s i n E
Douglas & McIntyre
vancouver/toronto/berkeley
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Vij’s restaurant
is named for and dedicated to
roshan lal vij,
who lovingly pestered his young
grandson to open the
“finest restaurant in the world.”
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Vij’s restaurant
is named for and dedicated to
roshan lal vij,
who lovingly pestered his young
grandson to open the
“fi nest restaurant in the world.”
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This book is dedicated to our mothers,
Kusum Vij and Urmil (Omi) Dhalwala,
for setting up our arranged love marriage.
Recipes copyright © 2006 by Vikram Vij and Meeru Dhalwala
Text copyright © 2006 by Meeru Dhalwala
Wine notes copyright © by Vikram Vij and Mike Bernardo
06 07 08 09 10 5 4 3 2 1
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence
from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright).
For a copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca
or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
Douglas & McIntyre Ltd.
2323 Quebec Street, Suite 201
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada v5t 4s7
www.douglas-mcintyre.com
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Vij, Vikram, 1964–
Vij’s : elegant and inspired Indian food / Vikram Vij and Meeru Dhalwala.
Includes index.
isbn-13: 978-1-55365-184-0 · isbn-10: 1-55365-184-7
1. Cookery, Indic. i. Dhalwala, Meeru, 1964– ii. Title
tx724.5.14v53 2006 641.5954 c2006-901829-4
Editing by Lucy Kenward
Cover & text design by Naomi MacDougall and Peter Cocking
Photography by John Sherlock except for pages v, viii and 4
Photograph on p. viii (top) by Hamid Attie
Fabrics courtesy of Maiwa Handprints Ltd.
Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens
Printed on acid-free paper
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the
Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council,
and the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry
Development Program (bpidp) for our publishing activities.
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c o n t e n t s
Preface 1
introduction to the recipes 5
seCtion 1: in the indian KitChen
indian Cuisine and Cooking 10
Basics 25
seCtion 2: on the taBLe
appetizers and salads 41
Mains
Meat 69
Poultry 91
fish and seafood 107
Vegetables 125
sides 155
desserts and drinks 183
Metric Conversion Chart 197
acknowledgements 198
index 201
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above: Vikram in the original 14-seat Vij’s restaurant, just after it opened in autumn 1994.
below: Vikram at age five with his mother and sister at the market in Amritsar.
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PREFACE
leven Years ago when I opened Vij’s, I simply wanted
to have the best Indian restaurant in Vancouver. And it was an
underlying ambition of mine to increase the awareness of the
cuisine, culture and country from which I came. On September 10, 1994,
my parents arrived from India with a mission to “settle” their son. This
involved two things: buying me a restaurant and getting me married. By
December 24 of the same year, both goals were achieved.
My parents had only a three-month visa to Canada, so my dad was
in a hurry. The first job was to find a location for my restaurant. One of
the many spaces we saw was a fourteen-seat café and take-out place. My
father liked the hustle-bustle of the busy intersection outside the café and
was stuck on the fact that there would be lots of people walking by. I was
adamant that I wanted to open a proper restaurant and not a casual take-
out joint. My father and I debated this for a while one day, and then I left
for work.
When I returned from my shift, my father informed me that he had
signed and purchased the lease agreement for the café. I was speech-
less. Part of me was very surprised that my father would do something so
rash based on his gut feeling. The other part of me felt proud that, finally,
I was the owner of my own business, no matter that it didn’t meet my
expectations.
As soon as I took possession of the café, I realized that it didn’t have
a full restaurant licence, which meant I couldn’t serve liquor. Nor did
it have the necessary gas hookups or exhaust system to qualify for a full
licence, which meant that there would be serious restrictions on the type
of cooking I could legally do there. Ever the optimists, my parents vol-
unteered that they would cook the food at home and I would take these
dishes to the new restaurant to sell. And this is what they did until I finally
procured the appropriate kitchen licences a good three months later.
After I had run the place as the existing Middle Eastern café for a few
weeks, I changed the name to Vij’sand got as many personal loans as pos-
sible to carry out my new project. I reopened with a whole new menu of
my own recipes. After cooking my curries at home during the day, my
mother and father would take the bus to Vij’s in the evening to help me
clean up since I didn’t have the money to hire anyone. Then we would go
home, and my mother would cook dinner while my father and I had two
or three whiskies and planned the next day.
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