I purchased "Dakshin - Vegetarian Cuisine from South India" by Chandra Padmanabhan. Not only did it have exquisite photographs, but it offered simple proceedures and recipe combinations - if I cooked a hot main dish, I'd need a cooling side dish, a chutney, and simple flatbreads or crepes to scoop up the food. I'm thinking, that if I were vegetarian, I'd be eating strictly east-Indian food. It is just so flavorful, so simple, and...so cheap! With just a handful of aromatic spices and another handful of beans, rice, or lentils, one can make the most of a limited food budget. 
I use the bulk food section of my local Fred Meyers for lentils, beans, brown basmati rice and garbanzos. Several times a year I browse the east-Indian store for whole spices, curry leaves, dried molasses powder, mango powder, and garlic-ginger paste. I use butter rather than ghee, and can find coconut products at our health-food store.
I use the bulk food section of my local Fred Meyers for lentils, beans, brown basmati rice and garbanzos. Several times a year I browse the east-Indian store for whole spices, curry leaves, dried molasses powder, mango powder, and garlic-ginger paste. I use butter rather than ghee, and can find coconut products at our health-food store. 
Now, I'll have to admit, that most of the curries do not photograph well, once cooked. Many of the colors look the same, but the flavors and spices can vary tremendously. There is an art involved, of cooking the food, and of tempering the spices. I avoid cooking vegetables in the curries. I steam them just slightly, then make the sauce and pour it over. This appeals to the 'raw food' preference I have for veggies.
I used a spice blend for these kebabs, and broiled them.
This is a Dosi Crepe, filled with a spoonful of buckwheat groats in the center. I later folded the crepe, and added cheddar cheese. Dosi can be made with a variety of flours. I noticed on Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" that the dosi were huge - about 20 inches, fried, and folded into a funnel shape. Most meals are eaten with the hands in India, using poori, naan, roti or dosai to hold the food. I've made all these breads, and they are so good we just eat them plain, savoring the flavorful crunch of the fried roti or the soft melting goodness of naan.
Our east-Indian market has spice blends pre-packaged in little boxes, with the recipe on the back - rajmah masala, seekh kabab, tikkiya kabab masala, dal curry, and spice blends for all kinds of vegetables . 
These can be quite economical when 19 different spices are necessary for a recipe, as in the Rajmah Masala pictured above! They save time, measuring out each spice as it would occur in the recipe. Perfect for a camping trip - no need to pack a plethora of spices. Just purchase a few vegetables and follow the simple directions.
These can be quite economical when 19 different spices are necessary for a recipe, as in the Rajmah Masala pictured above! They save time, measuring out each spice as it would occur in the recipe. Perfect for a camping trip - no need to pack a plethora of spices. Just purchase a few vegetables and follow the simple directions. When my garden starts producing, I hope to make chutneys that will compliment many of these meals - especially tomato chutney, and a coriander-peanut chutney that has fresh lemon, ground cumin, and my red peppers. It is wonderful on fish and on the steamed bread called Khaman Dhokla. We're getting ready to head out for some camping over Memorial Day weekend, and I've planned two 'ready to eat' meals in a pouch for the cookpot - navratan kurma (vegetables and dried fruit in a mildly spiced gravy) and sambar ( lentils and veggies in a red curry sauce). I keep home-made naan in the freezer, to pull when we are eating east-Indian. I've packed my cookbook, and a few others from the public library: "Mangoes and Curry Leaves" - culinary travels through the great subcontinent has easy recipes from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and Nepal. And, "India Unveiled" by Richard Arnett, a collection of portraits of the people, landscape and culture. As always when experimenting with new recipes, there are surprises. For me, it was coming into my kitchen a day after I made 'Rajmah Masala'. The fragrance of Cardamon was still there!
